NC Senate approves tougher penalties for rioting, sending bill to Gov. Cooper

A House bill that would impose tougher criminal penalties for rioting, which Republicans say is necessary to deter people from destroying property or engaging in violent behavior, passed the Senate on Thursday.

The Senate voted 27-16 to approve House Bill 40, with all Republicans present voting in favor of the bill and all Democrats but one (Sen. Mary Wills Bode of Wake and Granville counties) voting against it. The bill passed the House last month, and now goes to Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk, setting up a potential showdown if Cooper vetoes the bill as he did with similar legislation in 2021.

Six Democrats joined Republicans to approve the bill when it passed the House last month, and at least one, Rep. Shelly Willingham of Rocky Mount, told The News & Observer that he’ll support it in a veto override vote, if it comes to that.

Republicans need only one Democrat to join them in order to override a veto from Cooper in the House, and have the required three-fifths supermajority in the Senate, which means that the GOP-controlled legislature will likely be able to enact the bill into law on its own, if Cooper decides to block it.

Asked if the governor plans to veto the bill, Jordan Monaghan, a Cooper spokesperson, said: “The Governor has worked to increase public safety and protect Constitutional rights and he will review this legislation.”

The bill, sponsored by House Speaker Tim Moore, would increase felony penalties for certain existing rioting charges and is similar to legislation Moore introduced in 2021, in response to some of the violence and rioting that occurred during the 2020 protests against police brutality in downtown Raleigh.

Moore, who presented the bill to a Senate committee earlier this week, was in the Senate chamber on Thursday to observe the vote.

Senators debate bill on the floor

Sen. Danny Britt, a Robeson County Republican, said the bill was “commonsense legislation” that seeks to ensure peaceful protesters can protest safely.

Among other increased penalties, the bill makes it a more serious felony to “willfully” engage in a riot and cause serious bodily injury or property damage greater than $2,500. It also allows authorities to hold anyone charged with rioting and looting for 24 hours, to serve as a “cooling off” period.

Other increased penalties include engaging in a riot and causing someone’s death, or assaulting a police officer or other emergency personnel.

“What this bill does is it protects First Amendment rights of those who want to protest safely, who want to be able to express their opinions, while keeping them safe and also keeping law enforcement safe, property owners safe, and others safe,” Britt said on the floor.

Multiple Democratic senators spoke against the bill and offered amendments, all of which were rejected.

Sen. Natalie Murdock, of Durham and Chatham counties, said she was speaking in opposition to the bill on behalf of people across the state and the country who protested for racial justice in 2020.

“Let’s never lose sight of why those folks were marching and protesting across the nation. It was a response to a North Carolinian that was brutally murdered,” Murdock said, referring to the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

“Millions of people protested and risked their lives in the middle of a global pandemic, because they wanted a criminal justice system that sees and protects them,” Murdock continued. “Unfortunately, instead of listening to their calls and passing truly bold changes, HB 40 doubles down on the punitive system that created the scars of mass incarceration that we’re still dealing with today.”

Bode, who was the only Senate Democrat to vote for the bill, said that she supported it because she felt lawmakers “must do everything in our power to discourage and hold accountable violent rioters who endanger lives, personal property, businesses, and our First Amendment rights.”

“There is no place in our democracy for January 6 style rioters,” Bode said in an email. “They must be held accountable.”

She also said she would defend anyone’s right to peacefully protest, regardless of their ideology or beliefs.

“In our divisive times, we must have the courage and common sense to recognize the difference between peaceful protests and violent riots, encouraging and respecting the first, while discouraging and holding accountable the latter,” she said.

Democratic sponsor rejects idea bill is ‘racist’

Critics of the bill have raised concerns that the increased penalties could intimidate or deter people from exercising their First Amendment rights.

Some activists have also said they believe the bill would result in specific communities or movements being targeted, but bill sponsors including Democrats who voted for it in the House have vehemently rejected that notion, and said that the law would apply to everyone.

During a committee meeting on the bill in the House last month, Dawn Blagrove, the executive director of Emancipate NC, said HB 40 was a “racist” bill “designed to harm and limit the voices of Black, brown and marginalized people.”

Kerwin Pittman, a social justice activist with Emancipate, has called the bill an “anti-Black Lives Matter bill,” and suggested that lawmakers supporting this bill want to silence protesters who speak out against police brutality.

“Only when marginalized communities spoke up against law enforcement brutality, you’ve seen legislation like this come out,” Pittman said during a Senate committee meeting on Wednesday.

Pittman also addressed Democrats who had voted for the bill or were considering voting for it.

“My message is to any Dems who (want) to sign onto this type of legislation: Make no mistake. We’ve organized from one end of the state to the other, and you will be held accountable for sponsoring as well as supporting this type of legislation that distinctly targets marginalized communities,” Pittman said.

Willingham was at the Senate committee meeting to speak about the bill, and responded to Pittman. A former police officer who served in Washington, D.C. in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Willingham, who is Black, said he felt the reaction to the bill was “really not justified,” and said that most law-abiding people wouldn’t have a problem with it.

“If you’re thinking that this is something that was done in reaction to ... what’s been happening with Black Lives Matter or any other kinds of (demonstrations), then I’ll tell you that you’re wrong,” Willingham said.