Four days after Gov. Josh Stein vetoed a bill that would prolong detention of suspected undocumented immigrants, it appeared on the House calendar for a veto override vote.
Hours later, after lawmakers debated and voted on dozens of other bills, House Bill 318 was the sole item remaining. The North Carolina state House adjourned without considering it.
A few weeks later, the bill appeared on the calendar again; as before, it was eventually withdrawn from consideration.
House Speaker Destin Hall said onlookers should get used to this. Vetoed bills may linger on the day’s orders of business for a while, but from his perspective, it’s not a matter of whether lawmakers will override most of Stein’s vetoes — it’s a matter of when.
Override math on vetoed bills
The 2024 legislative elections handed North Carolina Democrats a small but significant victory in the state House. They now hold just enough seats to block Republicans from a supermajority, which would be able to override the governor’s vetoes without any Democratic support.
But the margins are slim. An absence or two could make all the difference. Several Democrats in swing districts voted for vetoed bills the first time around, and their support could be crucial in eventual veto override votes.
Rep. Charles Smith, D-Cumberland, originally voted against the majority of his party on three ultimately vetoed bills. Now, he has to decide whether to sustain Stein’s vetoes or override them.
He said that while Democratic leaders like the governor and House Minority Leader Robert Reives, D-Chatham, haven’t “held his feet to the fire,” he feels the pressure regardless.
“There is just pressure there inherently, if you're standing on an island — not that I am by myself, but just being in that position,” Smith said.
Smith joins a small group of House Democrats in the spotlight. Rep. Shelly Willingham, D-Edgecombe, is a swing voter on six vetoed bills. Rep. Carla Cunningham, D-Mecklenburg, will be a critical vote on five bills. Reps. Cecil Brockman, D-Guilford, and Nasif Majeed, D-Mecklenburg, may break with their party on a couple override votes, based on their voting record this session.
All declined interviews for this story.
It’s hard to predict how swing Democrats will vote, as they are keeping their cards close to their chest. But the legislature will next meet on Tuesday, July 29, and House Bill 318 is once again on the calendar. As are most of the other vetoed bills.
“I would suspect, though, if I had to venture a guess, that there will be folks who will be inclined to sustain the vetoes,” Smith said.
So, what did Stein veto?
Gov. Stein has vetoed 14 bills so far this session, ranging from legislation loosening gun laws, hardening immigration enforcement and eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in various areas.
Gun bills
Republicans have a particularly steep override battle on two vetoed gun bills.
The first, which would allow North Carolinians to concealed carry without a permit, not only failed to win any Democratic support, but garnered two Republican “no” votes in the state House the first go around.
The bill also would lower the legal age for concealed carry from 21 to 18.
Supporters say they want to fix a delay in the permitting process, and strengthen North Carolinians’ Second Amendment rights while they’re at it.
Bill opponents say the age change and waiving of training requirements included in the concealed carry permit process will make North Carolinians less safe. Huntersville Mayor and former legislator Christy Clark said the bill is a threat to public safety in an Everytown for Gun Safety press call.
“This is not a recipe for freedom or safety,” she said. “It's a recipe for more road rage, shootings, more gun thefts and more everyday arguments turning deadly.”
Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said the bill would put guns in the hands of younger adults who tend to take more risks without thinking through the consequences.
“We have a process in place,” he said. “That process works, and if it doesn't work, we need to address where it's not working, rather than throwing the whole thing out.”
The second vetoed gun bill would allow non-public school employees and volunteers to carry a firearm on campus with written permission and a concealed carry permit.
Originally, Rep. Willingham was the sole Democrat aye. If he sticks with the Republican caucus on the veto override vote, the bill will become law.
Immigration bills
Under current law, anyone detained in a jail might be asked about their immigration status and asked to present documentation if they’re charged with certain offenses.
The Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act — House Bill 318 — would expand the qualifying offenses to all felonies and impaired driving. Additionally, it would allow officials to detain people for up to 48 hours after their originally scheduled release if they have an ICE detainer or administrative warrant, to give time for an ICE officer to bring them into custody.
In his veto message, Stein said he supports holding people who commit serious crimes accountable, but that it’s unconstitutional to detain people after they’re supposed to be released based on a suspected immigration violation.
Originally, Rep. Cunningham voted for the bill.
Another immigration bill, the North Carolina Border Protection Act, is under reconsideration. It would require several state law enforcement agencies to work with federal immigration officials to determine whether persons in their custody are legal citizens.
It would also require several social service agencies to add verification processes ensuring no non-citizens can receive social services like unemployment insurance and housing benefits. Non-citizens are already barred under law from receiving these services.
"The Republican-led General Assembly made it clear that harboring criminal illegal aliens will not be tolerated in our state,” Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger said after the bill originally passed. “It's time for Gov. Josh Stein to show North Carolinians that he stands with them and supports the rule of law by swiftly signing this bill.”
Stein declined to do so. Instead, he vetoed the bill, saying it would take law enforcement away from their duties to act as immigration agents.
The bill originally passed along party lines.
Power Bill Reduction Act
The vehicle has changed, but the idea lives on — Senate Bill 266 was gutted of its original language and replaced with the text of Senate Bill 261, which would remove an interim 70% carbon reduction goal by 2034 on the way to electric public utility carbon neutrality by 2050.
It also allows electric public utilities to charge ratepayers higher rates during the construction of electric generating facilities, as opposed to waiting until after a facility is built and operating.
Stein cited North Carolina State University research, which estimates that removing the interim target would significantly increase natural gas generation and ratepayer costs, in his veto message.
The study predicts that natural gas generation would rise about 40% between 2030 and 2050 and ratepayers would pay $23 billion more in natural gas costs if the interim goal were removed.
“This bill not only makes everyone’s utility bills more expensive, but it also shifts the cost of electricity from large industrial users onto the backs of regular people — families will pay more so that the industry pays less,” Stein wrote in his veto message.
“Additionally, this bill walks back our state’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions, sending the wrong signal to businesses that want to be a part of our clean energy economy.”
Originally, 11 House Democrats voted for the bill, including Cunningham, Willingham, Majeed and Smith.
During the break, Smith asked questions about the original modeling, which bill sponsors said would result in $13 billion in savings. He also inquired about the reliability of the NC State study and the fluctuating costs of renewable energy and construction costs given national economic and environmental policy.
“It's very easy for sides to manipulate facts and arguments to suit their interests,” Smith said. “I like to try to get through some of that to make an ultimate decision that I think is impartial, and that can be hard.”
Sen. Graig Meyer, D-Orange, said it’s fairly likely that lawmakers will override Stein’s veto, even after seeing the effects of climate-related disasters like Helene and Chantal.
“Just getting down into the brass tacks of who's most likely to override that veto, a lot of it was Charlotte-Mecklenburg folks, and a lot of that is because Duke Energy is their hometown company,” Meyer said.
DEI bills
Three bills designed to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in public education, higher education and state agencies were passed by a Republican majority and swiftly vetoed.
The bills begin by stating that “so-called ‘DEI’ programs promote a worldview that demands people, especially young students, judge others based on their race, sex or other factors and attack true diversity of thought, stifle opportunity and stoke division.”
The educational bills eliminate DEI offices and positions, ban certain allegedly discriminatory practices, bar bias incident teams on college campuses and prohibit instruction on one of several “divisive concepts.”
These include the ideas that “an individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive” and “a meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist.”
The state agency bill eliminates DEI programs and policies in hiring and benefits.
Rep. Cunningham did not vote on the higher education DEI bill, while Rep. Majeed was absent for the public education bill. Otherwise, all three votes were along party lines.
Other vetoed bills
Among the other vetoed bills are:
House Bill 805, which originally protected against revenge porn, but now includes several anti-trans measures. Rep. Dante Pittman, D-Wison, was the only Democrat to originally vote for it.
House Bill 402, which lowers the standard for General Assembly review of agency rule changes. Three House Democrats initially voted for it.
Senate Bill 254, which would shift power over certain charter school decisions from the Democratic Superintendent of Public Instruction to the charter school review board. Nine House Democrats supported the bill.
House Bill 549, which gives the Republican state auditor greater access to databases and digital records of not only state agencies, but any publicly funded group that receives some state or federal funding. Only Rep. Willingham voted to support the measure.
House Bill 96, a squatting bill that includes an unrelated measure allowing puppy mills to exist. Many Democrats originally voted yes.
And finally, Senate Bill 416, which would ban government agencies from releasing the donors or nonprofit organizations. Three Democrats voted for it the first time.
This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
