no-debate quick-vote kinds of stunts.

After midterm gains, Republicans across the south are reducing transparency and cutting Democrats out of key votes.

‘A Shameful Power Grab’

In North Carolina, this year’s legislative session began with a temporary House rules change eliminating the requirement for legislative leaders to give two days’ notice before holding a vote to override a veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who has vetoed more bills than all of his predecessors combined. This would make it easier for Republicans in the House — where after last year’s midterms the GOP is just one seat shy of holding a veto-proof supermajority — to hold override votes without all Democratic members of the chamber being present. Republicans hold a supermajority in the state Senate after gaining two seats last year.

North Carolina’s Republican legislative leaders have a history of scheduling proposed veto override votes to frustrate Democrats’ efforts to block them. In 2019, for example, House Republicans were able to override Cooper’s veto of their budget plan by taking the vote when some Democrats were missing because a GOP legislative leader told them it would be a non-voting session. That same year, Democrats say GOP lawmakers tried to capitalize on a lawmaker’s breast cancer diagnosis to overturn Cooper’s veto of an anti-abortion bill.

Noting the previous attempts to ram through controversial limits on abortion, Jillian Riley of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic called the change “a shameful power grab meant to thwart the will of the people,”

A coalition of civil rights organizations and other progressive groups recently held a press conference to protest House Speaker Tim Moore’s rules change and demand greater transparency and accountability from the state legislature. Participants said the change will undercut the democratic process and result in the passage of regressive policies on abortion access, LGBTQ rights, and protections for immigrants and the environment.

“Again and again, Speaker Moore has demonstrated that he prefers to do anything necessary to enact his extreme agenda,” said Dan Crawford, director of government relations at the NC League of Conservation Voters.

Among the legislation that the opponents of the rules changes are particularly worried about is the so-called “Parents’ Bill of Rights“, which would prohibit education about sexual orientation and gender identity in K-4 public school curriculum and require schools to notify parents about any changes in the name or pronoun used by their child. Republican lawmakers have also discussed proposals to further restrict abortion and to require voter ID.

A vote on making the temporary rule change permanent is expected in the coming weeks.