By Christopher Cooper
Update: The veto override was successful, all three "Republicans to watch" identified below voted for the override and two Democrats were not in attendance. Oh, and although it missed the happy hour deadline I identified below, there was a lawsuit filed on one component of the law by the second happy hour after bill passage.
Please see the Time/Made by History piece linked below (and here) for the historical context and an argument for why NC seems to be home to so many bills like this.
Original post below
Sometime around noon today, the North Carolina House of Representatives will gavel into session and decide whether to override Governor Cooper's veto on S 382--a bill that was initially intended to streamline licensing for dentists who practice at medical schools, changed to one that included Helene relief in the title, and ultimately transmogrified into one that allocated some money to Helene relief, and added another 120 or so pages that, if passed, will fundamentally change who has access to the levers of power in North Carolina government.
In a piece in Made by History/Time Magazine, I wrote a bit about the history of these sorts of power grab bills in North Carolina and why North Carolina and other competitive states provide the perfect petri dish for more of the same to follow in the future.
These same themes are also explained in the introductory chapter of my recent book, Anatomy of a Purple State.
None of this should imply, of course, that the current bill is unimportant, or business as usual. If passed, it will represent a fundamental restructuring of who has access to the levers of powers in North Carolina.