RALEIGH, N.C. — Republican lawmakers who lost their grip on the North Carolina House in the Nov. 3 election will reconvene the General Assembly on Monday, Nov. 16, for the first of two late-year sessions in which they still hold the majorities they had before voters reshuffled the chamber.
The schedule sets a four-day meeting from Nov. 16 to 19, then a final session that opens Nov. 30 and could run until Dec. 18. Leaders have not released a detailed agenda. The adjournment resolution narrows what can come up: votes to override vetoes, some appointments, proposed amendments to the state constitution, election-law changes, compromise conference reports, and bills that need only one chamber to concur.
Democrats won the House for the first time since 2011, and new members take office in January. Republicans are expected to keep the Senate, but their projected edge shrinks to 26-24. About two dozen GOP legislators were unseated, ending the Senate supermajority that has let the party override vetoes on its own.
Filling open posts is high on the list for House Speaker Destin Hall. Legislative leaders appoint people to hundreds of boards and commissions, including public university governing boards, and Republicans are likely to fill as many vacancies as they can before the handoff.
Four bills Gov. Josh Stein vetoed are still eligible for a House override vote: Senate Bill 50, allowing permitless concealed carry for eligible adults; House Bill 958, shortening early voting in primaries; House Bill 377, a broad judicial measure; and House Bill 437, dealing with camping on public property and drug-free zones. On the Senate side, an override of his veto of House Bill 171, the ban on state government DEI programs, was approved by the House in June but never completed by senators. With 71 of the 120 House seats, Republicans sit a single vote below the 72 required if all members are present.
Money is also on the table. The roughly $34 billion budget adopted this year, after the state went more than a year without one, left about $1 billion of General Fund money unappropriated as of Sept. 30, according to the legislative Fiscal Research Division. Options include more Hurricane Helene recovery aid, more funding for state agencies that had to cut jobs under the budget, and further technical fixes to the spending plan.
House Bill 328, which would sharply limit intoxicating hemp products, also is still in limbo; senators signed off on a conference report in July, but House Republicans have disagreed over it. Senate leader Phil Berger, who lost his March primary, is serving his final weeks in office.
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Filed under: Raleigh NC Politics News
