Former state legislators and close associates of Republican lawmakers will join powerful state boards and commissions under a bill approved Wednesday.
The legislature is filling more seats this year on boards that oversee things like elections, utilities, transportation, and the judicial system. That’s because of a bill passed earlier this session that takes appointment powers away from the governor and gives it to the legislative branch. Gov. Roy Cooper is suing to block the change, but so far, he hasn't gotten a judge to put the law on hold.
Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, says the changes are unconstitutional.
"It does away with the ideas of checks and balances, because there are no checks on the legislature, and it severely tilts the balance in favor of the legislature," he said.
That leaves the legislature to fill the overhauled board seats before they largely adjourn for the year.
The bill that passed along party lines Wednesday puts former Republican legislators Tommy Tucker and Bill Brawley on the Utilities Commission. Former Rep. Roger West, R-Cherokee, and House Speaker Tim Moore's policy advisor Dan Gurley will join the Board of Transportation. Former Rep. Larry Yarborough, R-Person, will finish West's current term on the Ethics Commission.
Sen. Mike Woodard, D-Durham, criticized the transportation board appointments because five of the 14 highway divisions (the way the Department of Transportation divides the state) won't have a board member from their area.
"Large swaths of the state will no longer have a DOT representative," he said. "You’ve done away with regional representation with this process and with these appointments."
The bill also names the Republican members to the new State Board of Elections, which will replace the current board appointed by the governor. Wake County elections board member Angela Hawkins and former Lincoln County Commissioner Martin Oakes will join current Republican elections board members Stacy "Four" Eggers and Kevin Lewis. Legislative Democrats will also appoint four board members.
This year's changes also give the legislature more appointments related to the judicial branch, including special Superior Court judge positions that were previously picked by the governor.
The new judges — who could serve on three-judge panels to review lawsuits that challenge legislation — include House Speaker Tim Moore’s former chief of staff, Clayton Somers, and Beth Freshwater-Smith, a former candidate for N.C. Court of Appeals. Cooper criticized the judicial appointment changes.
The GOP legislature creates new judge positions that the people can’t vote on, appoints the judges themselves, sets their salaries and allows them to rule on cases that challenge the constitutionality of laws the legislature passes. Wonder how those cases will turn out? - RC
— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) October 24, 2023
Moore’s former law partner, Justin Brackett, will join the Judicial Standards Commission, which oversees disciplinary action against judges and is currently investigating comments made by N.C. Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls.
Other notable names in the appointments bill include:
- Longtime conservative donor and discount store owner Art Pope will join the board of NCInnovation, which is getting hundreds of millions of dollars in the state budget to help start-up businesses. Pope had been critical of funding the organization.
- Former Rep. Duane Hall, D-Wake, is being reappointed to the governing board of PBS North Carolina.
- Raleigh developer John Kane will join the State Board of Community Colleges.
- Former N.C. Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, will join the UNC Health board of directors.
2023 session finally mostly done
The appointments bill was one of the final votes as the legislature largely wraps up this year’s session. Lawmakers had hoped to reach this point by July, but a months-long stalemate between House and Senate Republicans over the budget bill dragged the session into the fall.
Senate leader Phil Berger says it's unlikely that the legislature will return to vote on bills until next year's "short session" begins on April 24. But the adjournment resolution sets dates for sessions roughly once a month until then.
Berger says those will likely be no-vote sessions, and they're on the calendar in case lawmakers need to address court orders in various lawsuits challenging new laws, or if other unforeseen needs arise. The first of those "skeletal" sessions is set for Nov. 29.
This week closes out a session in which Republicans were able to enact much of their agenda with a veto-proof majority, thanks in part to the defection of Rep. Tricia Cotham, who left the Democratic Party in the spring. Lawmakers passed new restrictions on abortion, a major expansion of private school vouchers, sweeping changes to election laws, and limitations on transgender healthcare and sports participation.
But they'll adjourn without passing the Senate's proposals to legalize medical marijuana and add four new casinos in rural areas. And the Senate never took up a House bill that would require sheriffs to comply with ICE immigration detainers.'
Legislative leaders have signaled that some of those proposals could resurface again next year.
