The day after the legislature’s failure to repeal HB 2, North Carolina NAACP President the Rev. Dr. William Barber, surrounded by people who had been arrested at the North Carolina General Assembly during last week’s protests, announced that he would convene the state chapter’s executive committee after Christmas to “engage in serious deliberation and write […]
Paul Blest
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What the Hell Happened at the General Assembly Yesterday?
The fifth special session of the year adjourned with no repeal of HB 2 Wednesday evening, after, earlier that day, the city of Charlotte fully repealed the nondiscrimination ordinance it passed back in February (after having repealed part of it Monday). For Republicans, it’s a missed opportunity to shed the constant monkey on their back; […]
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Special Session Number Five: Here’s What We Know So Far
Under the protest of ten Republicans, the fifth special session of the year is under way, and the state is waiting with bated breath to see if the legislature will repeal HB 2. Earlier today, Charlotte fully repealed its February 22 ordinance in full and didn’t attach the 12/31 deadline for HB 2 repeal: Charlotte […]
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Will the Triangle’s Local Governments Take Advantage of the (Supposed) HB 2 Repeal?
Just when you thought the year in North Carolina politics had finally come to a merciful end, well, welcome to special session number five. On Monday afternoon, the outgoing Governor McCrory called a special session for Wednesday, in which legislators willtheoreticallyrepeal HB 2, the controversial law that led directly to McCrory’s narrow defeat last month. […]
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Do the Legislature’s Republicans Really Have a Stronger Mandate Than Roy Cooper?
Despite the protests and arrests that surrounded last week’s fourth special session, Republicans had an easy time moving their agenda through because they have supermajorities in each chamber—enough to override any veto. And they’ll maintain those supermajorities when the new legislature is sworn in. In the state Senate, Republicans netted one seat in the November […]
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Sneak Attack: Inside the Legislature’s Surprise Assault on Democracy
As Senate Democratic leader Dan Blue II walked out of a hastily convened caucus meeting Wednesday afternoon, a reporter asked him what had just happened. He paused. “If I could figure it out,” he eventually replied. “I don’t know what’s going on.” About a half hour prior, Blue and his Senate colleagues had voted, in […]
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The HB 2 Compromise Is a Bad Idea
Yesterday, the Charlotte City Council signaled its intention to wind down the HB 2 fight with a grand bargain to repeal the city’s ordinance protecting the rights of LGBTQ people to not be discriminated against in public—including when it comes to what bathroom transgender people can use. In exchange, state Republicans have given their word […]
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Breaking: Charlotte Repeals Nondiscrimination Ordinance That Prompted HB 2, Legislature Reportedly to Repeal HB 2 Wednesday*
In a shocking and sudden move, the Charlotte City Council has repealed the nondiscrimination ordinance providing protections for transgender people, in exchange for what Mayor Jennifer Roberts calls a promise from the legislature to fully repeal HB 2 by the end of this year. From The Charlotte Observer: Mayor Jennifer Roberts said this is the […]
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State Rep: Protesters Were “A Group of Malcontent Thugs Who Were Likely Paid”
All week long, Republican legislators, including Speaker Tim Moore, Senate leader Phil Berger, and Representative David Lewis, expressed their disdain for the protesters who shouted down House and Senate votes during the special session. “I asked a couple of the protesters what they were protesting, they weren’t sure,” Lewis told reporters after the House went […]
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Special Session Update: McCrory Signs SB 4, HB 17 Passes
The General Assembly’s fourth special session of the year ended Friday as the House passed the SB 4, an electoral and judicial reform bill. The Senate also ratified SB 6 and SB 7, nominations to the Special Superior Court of Adam Conrad and Drew Heath, McCrory’s budget director, and the nomination of Yolanda Stith, wife […]