Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, a Democrat, on Tuesday vetoed a bill passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature that would strip his office of important powers and shift more authority to G.O.P. officials.
Republicans, who have a legislative supermajority and could override Mr. Cooper’s veto, presented the bill as focused on relief for areas of North Carolina devastated in September by Hurricane Helene. But only 13 of the legislation’s 131 pages deal with storm aid, and both Republicans and Democrats in the state’s hardest-hit areas opposed the measure and called for more recovery funding.
The rest of the bill amounts to a significant power grab by Republicans, who are likely to lose their supermajority next year, and with it the ability to force legislation past the veto pen of the incoming Democratic governor, Josh Stein. Mr. Stein, the state attorney general, handily won this year’s race to succeed Mr. Cooper, defeating Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican whose highly controversial past torpedoed his candidacy.
“This legislation is a sham,” Mr. Cooper said in a statement, arguing that the bill was unconstitutional and “does not send money to Western North Carolina but merely shuffles money from one fund to another in Raleigh.” He said that while “this legislation was titled disaster relief,” it would take away the next governor’s power to make appointments for key posts and reduce the influence of other Democratic officials.
The bill’s many provisions include shifting authority over the state election board from the governor to the auditor — who will be a Republican next year and who would likely create a G.O.P. majority on the five-member board. The legislation would also limit the governor’s ability to fill vacancies on state courts; curtail the ability of the attorney general (also a Democrat next year) to challenge laws passed by the legislature; and make it harder for voters to fix errors with their mail ballots.
The veto sets up an extraordinary test of priorities and unity within the legislature’s Republican ranks. The party has just a single-vote supermajority in the lower chamber, and key Republicans will wrestle with whether increasing their party’s power is worth supporting a bill that they see as falling short of the hurricane relief their constituents need.
Some Republicans were already grappling with that decision last Wednesday. State Representative Mike Clampitt, a Republican from Swain County on the state’s western edge, said in a brief interview that he had been deeply disappointed and surprised by the bill, particularly because it did not provide sufficient money for disaster aid.
Asked if he would vote to override a veto from Mr. Cooper, Mr. Clampitt said: “I’ll have to cross that bridge when I get to it. We’re not there yet.”
Democrats were unified in their opposition to the bill. Last Wednesday, before the State Senate was set to vote, Democratic state representatives from Western North Carolina held a news conference in the Capitol, denouncing the bill as “not enough” and arguing that it was being used as a facade for usurping power from the governor.
“We heard from the other side of the aisle early on in this disaster that we shouldn’t make it political,” said Eric Ager, a Democratic state representative from Buncombe County, home to Asheville. “Well, this is about as political as you can make it — calling something a hurricane relief bill and then stripping powers from the people who got elected by the people of North Carolina to do these jobs in North Carolina.”
Though the State Constitution sets no specific timeline for when the legislature must act on a potential veto override, this year’s legislative calendar is quickly coming to an end. Both chambers will not meet during the Thanksgiving holiday, and they will be out for Christmas as well.
The new legislature will be seated in mid-January.
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