Lawmakers file dozens of new bills on familiar topics as 2023 legislative session begins
On the first day of the year that they could propose new laws, North Carolina lawmakers submitted dozens of bills addressing issues of state and national consequence, such as redistricting, immigration and abortion access.
The new session follows November’s general election in which Senate Republicans gained a supermajority but House Republicans fell one vote short. While Republicans still control both chambers, they may need a Democrat’s vote in the House to override a veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
House Speaker Tim Moore said House Bill 10, which would require local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officers, might be one of the first tests of whether Republicans can garner the votes needed to push legislation beyond Cooper’s purview.
Republicans have not successfully overridden one of Cooper’s vetoes in nearly five years.
“We’ll know particularly this year when the bill comes to the floor if it passes that we not only have the votes for passage in here and into law but to also pass this override,” Moore said.
HB 10, known as the Require Sheriffs to Cooperate with ICE act, would strengthen requirements for law enforcement officers to identify prisoners’ residency status and coordinate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, if legal residency cannot be determined. Democratic leaders and immigration advocates have pushed back against similar bills, saying they instill fear among immigrant communities.
Democrats also filed several bills Wednesday. Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, a Wake County Democrat, and others in his caucus filed Senate Bill 19, which would codify access to abortion procedures previously protected under Roe v. Wade. North Carolina is one of the few states across the South that continues to allow abortion procedures up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Many regard North Carolina as a potential haven for those unable to receive an abortion within states that prohibit the procedure.
Moore said it’s unlikely SB 19 and other measures to further abortion access will reach committee hearings in either chamber.
“They certainly have a right to file the bill,” Moore said. “But I don’t anticipate a majority will want to take that.”
Another contentious Democratic proposal was reintroduced Wednesday in House Bill 9, the Fair Maps Act, which would require an independent, nonpartisan commission to assign voting districts, taking power from partisan legislators. A previous version of the bill, filed in 2019, included more than 50 sponsors, some of whom were Republican. HB 9’s 17 sponsors are only Democrats, but House rules indicate legislators still have several days to join as sponsors.
Moore said one of his chamber’s priorities this session will be timely passage of a new state budget, which will fund several state sectors, including health care, education and law enforcement. He expects some committees to start reading through legislation next week.
Heidi Perez-Moreno is a freelance journalist for The News & Observer’s N.C. Insider, a state government news service. She is a senior at UNC Chapel Hill.
