In the span of a few months, state Rep. Tricia Cotham has gone from pushing to codify abortion rights to joining the party that's taking the
This is HORRIBLE news. Guys... NC has an awesome Dem governor. BUT, this will give the GOP a supermajority in both chambers and they'll be able to override his veto.
Abortion care. Look at maps on abortion care. I can hardly breathe. This is so bad. All those poor women!
And education. Of course, this... traitor... supports charter schools. Guns. Equality. Just... everything.
Oh, God. One liar. So many terrible ramifications.
The measure would add to the state's definition of violent terrorism a separate category of "economic terrorism," a Class H felony.
A bill introduced in the state House today could label some disruptive protesters as "economic terrorists" and criminalizes blocking streets while participating “in a riot or other unlawful assembly.”
House Bill 249, which has the short title "Economic Terrorism," was filed today by Representatives John Torbett and John Faircloth, Republicans of Gaston and Guilford counties, respectively.
The bill seems to fall in line with others filed recently by Republican legislators nationwide in an attempt to curb protesting. While much of the bill refers to activities that are already criminalized in North Carolina, one provision would add a new penalty for blocking streets during an unlawful protest.
The measure would add to the state's definition of violent terrorism a separate category of "economic terrorism," which would be considered a Class H felony — which doesn’t sound Orwellian at all.
"The right to protest and to criticize government officials and actions is a fundamental constitutional right, and it’s also a fundamental American value," says Mike Meno, communications director for the ACLU of North Carolina, "and I think regardless of your politics, people should view these attempts to either outright curb protests or have a chilling effect on people's ability to protest as a really great threat."
A person would be guilty of economic terrorism if he or she "willfully and maliciously or with reckless disregard commits a criminal offense that impedes or disrupts the regular course of business, the disruption results in damages of more than one thousand dollars," and does so with the intent of intimidating the general public, a specific group, or any unit of government.
Brooks Fuller, who teaches media law at UNC, questions how the bill could be applied in real life.
"Objectively speaking, the bill seems to broadly prohibit impeding economic activity through acts of vandalism and with the intent to intimidate. The real question here is how methods of protest can be said to be intended to intimidate the civilian population and how such methods are linked to monetary damages [if the alleged offending conduct isn’t property damage]," he says via email. "Conceivably this would be an easy statute to apply if it was used to punish people who burn down buildings, smash windows, etc., but it seems like it could be problematic if law enforcement tried to apply it outside of such circumstances."
By itself, rioting is a Class 1 misdemeanor in North Carolina, and rioting that results in more than $1,500 in property damage or serious bodily injury is considered a Class H felony. The provision adds that standing, sitting, or lying in the street while participating in a “riot or unlawful assembly” would be a Class A1 misdemeanor. (State law already prohibits blocking streets, but the section referring to doing so during a riot or unlawful assembly is new to HB 249.)
Mayors and sheriffs would be directed to have roads cleared "after first learning that a mass traffic obstruction exists." The proposal defines “mass traffic obstruction” as a gathering of ten or more people as part of a protest, riot, or other unlawful assembly.
The bill also states that a person convicted of unlawful assembly, rioting, or obstructing traffic would be civilly liable for public safety costs incurred by responding to such an event. (The Arizona Senate tried to employ a somewhat similar strategy, but that bill died in the state House.) Furthermore, a state agency or division of the state could bring civil action against a person in order to recoup public safety, legal, administrative, or court costs.
Meno says that while Americans have a right to peacefully protest, driving down the street isn't a constitutional right. He cites a 1939 Supreme Court ruling in which Justice Hugo Black wrote: "Wherever the title of streets and parks may rest, they have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public and, time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions. Such use of the streets and public places has, from ancient times, been a part of the privileges, immunities, rights, and liberties of citizens."
At least sixteen other states have considered bills taking aim at the right to peaceably assemble and talk of doing so in North Carolina isn't exactly new. After protesters shouted "shame" at former governor Pat McCrory in January, Senator Dan Bishop suggested that heckling public officials should be punishable by five years in prison.
Phone calls to Representatives Torbitt and Faircloth were not immediately returned.
I think the real “economic terrorists” are the legislators who vote for giant tax cuts to the mega-wealthy, or who slash funding to education and healthcare.
The failure to repeal HB 2 is a crushing blow for Charlotte, Roy Cooper, and the entire state of North Carolina.
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; for Charlotte and Governor-elect Roy Cooper, who helped broker the deal, it's a failure that leaves them with no ordinance and no opportunity for other cities to protect their marginalized populations from discrimination.
At the beginning of the day, crowds — most of them on the anti-HB 2 side — gathered on the third floor, just as they had done last week. As the day went on and the size of the crowds waned, there were rampant rumors throughout the General Assembly about divisions in the House. After Senate Democrats, including Senator Mike Woodard, D-Durham, filed a straight repeal bill, Senate leader Phil Berger filed his own repeal bill, which included a 180-day moratorium on all new ordinances similar to Charlotte’s. (Earlier, as the INDY reported in this week’s paper, municipalities such as Durham and Carrboro had indicated their intention to push for similar laws should HB 2 be repealed.)
Senate Democrats were incensed. "This wasn't the deal," Senator Jeff Jackson said. "This bill breaks that deal. Charlotte would not have repealed its ordinance if this was the deal."
After the House passed an adjournment resolution, and as rumors swirled that Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore didn't have the votes in their respective caucuses for repeal, Berger attempted to split his bill into two parts: a straight repeal of HB 2, and the moratorium. Eventually, those bills would have been passed as one bill and signed as one law.
The motion to divide the legislation passed, but the repeal of HB 2 failed, with all sixteen Democrats joining the more conservative members of the Republican caucus in voting against, albeit for different reasons.
Republicans and Democrats each launched accusations at the other of sabotaging the deal. After the bill's defeat, Berger blamed Cooper, accusing him of calling Democrats and telling them not to vote for the bill — something that Senator Floyd McKissick vehemently denied, but that Cooper later confirmed in a press conference that he had done.
"We have heard over and over again from the Democrats that the most important thing for us to do was to repeal House Bill 2,” Berger told reporters afterward. “Unfortunately, it appears to us [that] one side of this equation does not want to repeal House Bill 2. They want House Bill 2 as an issue, just as it was an issue in the campaign."
Berger, of course, wasn’t being entirely on the level. He knew — as Democrats had made clear — that they wouldn’t support a moratorium. Splitting the bills was effectively his way of making Democrats vote against the HB 2 repeal so that he could accuse them of hypocrisy, which he later did.
At the end of the day, Senate Democrats got what they said they wanted - a straight up or down vote to repeal HB 2. Remember: They didn’t even show up to vote for House Bill 2 back in the spring. And nearly a year later, after the Charlotte City Council finally rescinded the ordinance that forces men into women’s bathrooms and changing facilities, Senate Democrats claimed to want to repeal HB2, and hit reset on the issue. They had their chance. And they voted HB2 down. Unanimously.
"What a mess," National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Kiesling told theINDY after the vote. "This legislature controlled the process, they controlled the substance, they called the special session, and they weren't competent enough to do the one job they called the session to do."
"For 273 long days, HB2 has put LGBTQ North Carolinians at risk for discrimination and violence. Every single day, we have lost businesses, new residents, tourists, concerts, and sporting events," Equality NC executive director and Democratic state representative Chris Sgro said in a statement afterward. "Today's failure to repeal HB2 is a blow to not just the LGBTQ community but to the entire state of North Carolina. With HB2 still on the books and the Charlotte Ordinance fully repealed, we will only continue to lose businesses and put LGBTQ North Carolinians in harm’s way."
For now, however, Charlotte's ordinance is gone, and HB 2 remains in place.
Cooper, who after the original Charlotte repeal on Monday, said he was assured by Berger and Moore that they had the votes for repeal, held a press conference on Wednesday night at the PNC Arena, where he said Moore and Berger "didn't have the guts" to stand up to their caucuses.
"My mom and dad used to tell me that when you sat down and looked somebody in the eye and told them something, you should keep your promise," Cooper said. "But people want us to work together. The people of North Carolina are not what these legislative leaders are saying with this law."
After a meeting with Gov. Pat McCrory, one Democratic senator said Thursday he expects a vote on a measure that would make revisions to House Bill 2.
After a meeting with Gov. Pat McCrory, one Democratic senator said Thursday he expects a vote on a measure that would make revisions to House Bill 2.
“I think there will be a good chance of a bill coming to a vote,” said Sen. Jeff Jackson, a Charlotte Democrat.
Jackson made his comment as senators returned from the governor’s mansion, where they met with McCrory for about an hour.
Any vote could hinge on discussions by House Republicans, who were reportedly discussing possible revisions to HB2 at a closed-door caucus. Lawmakers are trying to gauge the consensus for introducing and acting on a revision bill before adjourning their session this week or next.
At the same time, Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group, joined other HB2 critics at a morning news conference. They want the bill repealed, not revised.
He called the bill “a ridiculous proposal that would do nothing more than offer cheap political cover.”
He said said draft revisions “are nothing more than doubling down on HB2 and making it worse.”
“Anyone who supports this phony fix is not a friend or ally to the LGBT community,” he said.
Rep. Chris Sgro, a Greensboro Democrat and executive director of Equality NC, echoed the call for full repeal, saying “gay and transgender lives are hanging on the balance.”
Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue of Raleigh declined to give specifics of the meeting with the governor. He said McCrory did not specifically ask Democrats to support a compromise measure. Asked if Democrats were split on such support, Blue said, “The sense of our caucus all along has been that HB2 is a big mistake.”
McCrory’s meeting with Democrats could signal that Republicans would need Democratic votes to pass any revisions.
There has been a flurry of discussion about HB2 since draft revisions were leaked Tuesday. GOP lawmakers discussed the law Wednesday in a closed-door meeting with McCrory, who has called for changes to the bill he signed in March.
HB2 was the legislative response to a Charlotte ordinance that would have extended anti-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and would have allowed transgender people to use the bathroom or locker room of the gender with which they identify.
A few hours ago, I got word that the initial proposal fro $60M for the film grant has dropped to $40M in the latest version of the state’s two-year budget. This is what we anticipated. What I can tell you is that it could have been worse. Our concern at this point is what the Senate will do. They are a much tougher sell, than the House, just like last session. Best case scenario, they leave…
NCFILM UPDATE: $60M for film for 2015-2016 and 2016-2017
NCFILM UPDATE: $60M for film for 2015-2016 and 2016-2017
The 1st draft of the NC House budget for 2015-2016 has come out. And of course I went straight to film (page 162). I am not sure how this makes any sense what so ever. If you look at the numbers column you will see $0 for 2015-2016, but $60M for 2016-2017. HOWEVER, the verbage says otherwise:
Provides funds to the Film and Entertainment Grant Fund established NR in G.S. 143B-437.02A, to…
NCFILM UPDATE:
According to Representative Chuck McGrady, a complete draft budget will go on-line at some point today.
“When the budget is approved by the full Appropriations Committee, most likely on Tuesday, a new version of the budget will be available on-line. It will be that version that the House is expected to take up on Wednesday and Thursday (and hopefully not Friday).” SEE MORE NOW
