(The Center Square) – Education and building code bills were vetoed by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday.
The proposals were among five rejected this week. Cooper, who nears the end of his final term, has vetoed 13 bills this session and 88 since taking office in 2017.
Lawmakers will likely challenge the vetoes when they return to session Monday.
The first bill Cooper said no to would have created a Charter School Review Board to manage charter school contracts on behalf of the state.
In his veto message, the governor said the North Carolina Constitution “clearly gives” the state Board of Education oversight authority for public schools, which include charters.
He called the bill a “legislative power grab” meant to transfer power “to a commission of political friends and extremists appointed by Republican legislators, making it more likely that faulty or failing charter schools will be allowed to operate and shortchange their students.”
“Oversight of charter schools should be conducted by education experts not partisan politicians,” he wrote.
Proponents of the law say that accountability comes from parental oversight, inclusive of their preference for traditional public schools or charters.
The other legislation Cooper vetoed would have reorganized the state Building Code Council, and created the Residential Code Council. Amending provisions in the building code and land development regulations were among the other inclusions, as was increasing the cost minimum for applicability of general contractor licensing requirements.
Cooper said the unconstitutional legislation usurps his authority and allows “the legislature to put its thumb on the scale” as it relates to safety.
Per state law, the 170-member General Assembly can override gubernatorial vetoes if each chamber has three-fifths majority in favor – 30 Senate, 72 House, if all are present. Republicans have exactly that many seats in the chambers, respectively.
Lawmakers are 31-for-31 overriding Cooper vetoes when Republicans have supermajorities, and 0-for-13 when they didn’t in between the midterm elections of 2018 and 2022.
North Carolina became the last state to permit vetoes in 1996, and had 35 from 1997-2016 prior to Cooper taking office – 19 of which were in former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue’s final two years (2011-12).
The governor allowed two bills to become law without his signature: one involving property owners protections, and another modifying laws related to public safety. His signature was affixed to 11 other bills, notable among them establishing threat assessment teams in public schools, and a modification to pretrial release laws.
