GOP curbs teachers? union

Staff and wire report

Scotland County?s Rep. Garland Pierce said he was ?very disappointed? that House Republicans used a hastily called 12:45 a.m. session Thursday to override a gubernatorial veto and score a political victory against the state?s teacher?s union.

The action outraged Democrats, who said neither they nor voters had official notice of the session until close to midnight on Wednesday.

?This was a sad day for the state legislature, in the dark of night, and hid from the view of the public that the Republican leadership would move forward on legislation that would affect pro education members, hardworking educators, and the public without having their voice heard,? Pierce said in statement.

The measure in question strips the N.C. Association of Educators, a 60,000-member group that functions similarly to a teacher?s union, of their ?dues check off? privilege. Under current rules, school systems will take money for dues from NCAE members? paychecks and transmit it directly to the organization. This is a practical boon to an organization that would otherwise have to collect thousands of checks every month.

Senators had voted to override Perdue?s veto in July but House members could not muster the votes until this week.

Under the bill that will now become law despite the governor?s veto, NCAE no longer has that ability, making it harder for the teacher?s group to operate. However, other state worker groups retained the right, including the State Employees Association of North Carolina.

?I urge our members to take politics out of the classroom,? said Rep. Paul ?Skip? Stam, the Republican majority leader. He said the legislature was merely taking away a special privilege, not something that was a right.

Democrats countered that the bill was a political one, aimed at settling scores with an organization that had opposed Republicans during the election and during the summer?s budget votes.

?This was a slap in their face,? Pierce said of educators. ?They would not have the freedom to support their professional organization that would end automatic deduction of dues from their check. This privilege is enjoyed by other professional organizations, but not by NCAE. It is a shame they would single out NCAE because of their stance to protect public education in North Carolina.?

Republicans said they were well within their rights to pursue the early morning session and that nobody should have been surprised by the actions.

?Everybody knows that any time we come into a general session, that those matters are on the calendar and that this should be a learning experience,? House Speaker Thom Tillis.

Racial act

Lawmakers had been called back to Raleigh on Wednesday to handle a veto override on a completely separate bill.

In 2009, the General Assembly passed the Racial Justice Act, which allows death row inmates to challenge their conviction with statistical evidence of racial bias. At the time, Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.

When Republicans took control of the General Assembly in January of 2011, repealing the Racial Justice Act was a goal, if not a top priority. The Senate put the finishing touches on a repeal measure in early December.

Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat who signed the original bill into law, vetoed the repeal measure. Lawmakers were called back to a ?reconvened session? Wednesday to decide whether to override her veto.

In order to win an override vote, each chamber needs a supermajority of three-fifths of those present and voting.

The vote was never in doubt in the Senate, which voted along party lines, 31-19, to override.

By contrast, the House vote was a dicey proposition all day.

Republican leaders maneuvered to find the votes they needed to accomplish the veto, but gave up shortly after 7 p.m. In stead, House leaders referred the racial justice bill to a Judiciary Committee and appointed a special working group to look at potential to the still-standing Racial Justice Act. Those two actions were an admission that the GOP didn?t have the votes to accomplish the override.

Two conservative Democrats, Reps. William Brisson of Dublin and Jim Crawford of Oxford, brokered the deal with Republicans to send the measure back to committee.

?It?s not something that?s going to be a quick thing and a quick fix,? Brisson said. He added that the working group may be able to find ideas that satisfy both Democrats concerns about unequal use of the death penalty and worries by District Attorneys and victims? families that convicted murderers might go free under the law.

Brisson didn?t specify how he convinced Republicans to back off the Racial Justice Act Wednesday night, when two more GOP members were on their way to Raleigh and could have delivered the winning votes.

However, he and Crawford were the only two Democrats to vote with Republicans on the override of the NCAE check off bill.

Brian Lewis, a lobbyist for the teacher?s group, says Brisson told him he traded the delay on the racial justice bill for a vote on the dues check off legislation.

Tillis denied Republicans cut such as a deal, and staff members for the speaker dismissed the claim as ?ridiculous.?

As late as 11 p.m., there was a still a great deal of confusion and speculation as to what the Republican-lead House might want to take up instead of the Racial Justice Act and how they might legally do anything else.

The state constitution says that when the governor recalls the General Assembly to consider a veto, lawmakers ?may only consider such bills as were returned by the Governor.?

House Republicans got around that strict limit on what could be heard by passing an adjournment resolution that called for a new special session to begin at 12:45 a.m. Thursday morning.

A resolution, House leaders said, is not the same as a bill that is destined to become a general statute.

The Senate also needed to vote for that resolution for it to take effect. While members in that chamber agreed to let the House move forward with its bills, Republican Senate leaders refused to take up any more business of their own.

According to the head of the legislature?s bill drafting division, there is precedent for lawmakers to tweak adjournment resolutions during reconvened veto sessions.

However, Democrats argued that the circumstances in those cases were different and neither had the effect of allowing the General Assembly to take up measures with no notice.

Lewis vowed that NCAE would take the newly enacted law to court, claiming the procedures used to pass it were unconstitutional.

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