RALEIGH, N.C. — The outgoing North Carolina General Assembly is due back for a post-election session starting Monday, and Republican leaders have yet to say what they plan to take up, when votes will happen or how long they will stay.
The current legislature keeps its makeup until Dec. 31 even though Democrats won the state House in this month’s election and Republicans gave up Senate seats. Until then, Republicans hold a veto-proof Senate and a House majority they describe as a working supermajority. In earlier cycles when they lost ground, GOP lawmakers used post-election sessions to move power away from Democrats.
The joint resolution that set this year’s calendar spells out what lawmakers may consider when they reconvene Nov. 16. The list is limited to veto overrides; appointments and confirmations; action on the governor’s nominees; litigation over state laws; election law and redistricting bills; impeachment; constitutional amendments and bills carrying them out; and conference reports on bills that had negotiators named by Aug. 6. Lawmakers are set to break Nov. 19 and return Nov. 30, with a possible final adjournment by Dec. 18.
Five vetoes by Gov. Josh Stein are still waiting for a House override attempt, including bills ending the permit requirement for carrying a concealed handgun, rewriting election rules and changing eviction law. The Senate has not yet scheduled a vote to override his veto of a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state government.
Lawmakers also must decide how to carry out the property tax limits voters approved in a constitutional amendment, though that work could wait until 2027. Control of appointments to state boards has been a recurring lame-duck fight, and both Stein and former Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed earlier attempts to shift that authority.
Democrats say they fear the majority could spend down state reserves or change which office prosecutes public corruption cases. At a news conference Tuesday, incoming House Speaker Robert Reives warned that a repeat of past lame-duck sessions would tell his caucus Republicans have no interest in working together next year. He said he would prefer lawmakers handle only the minimum, such as budget cleanup.
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Filed under: Raleigh NC Politics News
