NC bill takes more power from governor and gives it to GOP-held roles

The Republican-dominated General Assembly is planning to take more power away from the governor before the end of this legislative session.

The latest of three power-shifting bills that five former governors oppose is Senate Bill 512, which already passed the Senate and is now moving ahead quickly with some changes from the House. It could be on Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk within days. If he vetoes it, there are enough Republicans to overturn it.

House Speaker Tim Moore, who usually does not go to committees, spoke on Tuesday about his chamber’s changes to a wide-ranging bill that reduces the number of people the governor gets to appoint to state governing boards.

Republicans, who have a supermajority in the legislature, have shifted some power from the governor to legislative leaders, and with this bill they would continue that while also giving additional power to other elected officials in the executive branch. The legislation would take some appointment power away from the governor to give it to the state treasurer, insurance commissioner and agriculture commissioner. Those three elected offices are currently held by Republicans and are part of the 10-member Council of State.

A bipartisan group of five former governors sent a letter to legislative leaders this spring opposing this and other bills taking away or reducing the governor’s power to appoint members of statewide boards and commissions, The News & Observer previously reported.

The governors wrote that the legislature “already has enormous influence” over the boards and commissions and said the changes threaten the separation of powers.

A new law this year took away some powers of the governor to declare the length and frequency of states of emergency, ceding some control to a majority of the Council of State. That was a direct response to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s handling of restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. But now, Cooper will leave office after 2024 because of term limits. Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein is the apparent nominee for his party in the governor’s race, while the main three Republican candidates are Treasurer Dale Folwell, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker.

“Essentially what this is, is an opportunity for the legislative branch to assert its constitutional mandate when it comes to a lot of these boards and commissions,” Moore said. “We’ve seen some litigation over the last couple of years that some of us think went the wrong way.

“And there probably will be litigation as a result of this. Plenty of job security for the attorneys in the state.”

Here’s what the latest version of the bill does:

Board of Transportation changes

▪ All of the current Board of Transportation members’ terms would end within a month, on June 30. New members would be appointed on staggered terms if they qualify. The 20-member board would have 14 people appointed by the House speaker and Senate leader and six appointed at-large by the governor. No more than three voting members could live in the same highway division.

One of the DOT board members is Valerie Jordan, a Democrat who lost her 2022 race against Sen. Bobby Hanig, a Currituck County Republican. The campaign included an elections complaint filed against Jordan claiming she actually lived in Raleigh, where she parked her DOT cars, instead of the Warren County home she claimed as her residence in the 10-county district.

UNC Board of Governors expanded

▪ The bill would expand membership of the UNC Board of Governors from 24 to 28 members.

Moore described the changes to the Board of Governors as a move toward how the board was when he served on it more than 20 years ago. He was a member in 1997, when he was 26 years old, and served a four-year term.

Moore said over time people thought the size of the Board of Governors had “become unwieldy” so it was reduced from 32 to 24. Now, with this bill, it would be back up to 28.

Reducing the number of governor’s appointees

The bill also makes several changes to various board and commission appointees, reducing the number made by the governor. Most add appointments made by the House speaker and Senate president pro tempore, which are top leadership positions now held by Moore and Sen. Phil Berger, both Republicans.

In some of the major change:

▪ The speaker and Senate pro tem, or people they designate, would be added as members of the Economic Investment Committee.

▪ The commissioner of agriculture would appoint two of the nine governor’s appointments on the 15-member Environmental Management Commission.

▪ The governor’s appointees to the Commission for Public Health would be reduced from nine to five.

▪ The governor’s appointees to the Coastal Resources Commission would drop from nine to six, and the legislature’s picks would rise from four to six. Another person would be appointed by the commissioner of insurance.

▪ The number of state Wildlife Resources Commission members appointed by the legislature would grow from eight to 10. One of the governor’s two at-large appointees would be picked by the agriculture commissioner.

▪ The governor’s appointees to the North Carolina Railroad Board of Directors would be reduced from seven to six. The state treasurer would appoint one member.

Moore told reporters after a committee meeting on Tuesday that he expects the latest version of the bill to pass the House this week. The Senate would have to take a final vote on the bill, since the House changed it, before going to Cooper’s desk.