House Republicans stand up to questionable process
Published July 8, 2016
by Patrick Gannon, The Insider, published in Rocky Mount Telegram, July 6, 2016.
By the time the N.C. General Assembly adjourned in early July, Republican N.C. House members were fed up.
Their frustrations were not only with legislation considered on the final days of session. They also were irritated with the process by which bills ended up in front of them. They were not happy with the N.C. Senate either.
Those frustrations spilled over during debates in a House committee and on the House floor on the session’s final day.
In each case, the House stood up to a powerful senator, sending messages that they were not participating in political games and questionable process.
The first sign of House Republicans’ discontent came during a Finance Committee meeting. If normal procedures were followed, a bill to change the way the city of Jacksonville is allowed to spend room occupancy tax revenues would not have been in front of the committee. Typically, occupancy tax bills go through a special House subcommittee to determine whether they comply with House guidelines to ensure municipalities do not abuse their power to raise cash through extra taxes on hotel stays.
House Bill 46, which would have helped Jacksonville build a sports complex, did not comply, but it never went to the subcommittee. Its sponsor was powerful N.C. Sen. Harry Brown, a Jacksonville Republican, the N.C. Senate majority leader and that chamber’s chief budget writer. N.C. Rep. David Lewis, a Dunn Republican and House Rules chairman, openly acknowledged that the bill was being heard because Brown helped certain House bills move in the Senate.
Brown said senators were frustrated by the House guidelines and that if his bill was not approved, the Senate might stop hearing certain House bills. But Republican committee members argued that passing Brown’s bill would open a slippery slope and would not be fair to other legislators who followed the occupancy tax guidelines.
N.C. Rep. Harry Warren, a Salisbury Republican, said he was bothered by Brown’s comments inferring “retribution of some sort” if Senate bills did not get through the House.
“I ran for office, and I was hoping that my perception that legislation is evaluated on its own merits is the way we pass stuff here and not on the basis of ... what type of cooperation we get from the opposite chamber,” Warren said. Brown responded that he thinks it happens on both sides and “it’s a shame it does.”
The committee shot down Brown’s bill, 18-9.
Republican frustration again was on display on the floor later that day as the House considered a bill to create Asheville City Council districts. Its sponsor was another powerful senator – N.C. Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Hendersonville Republican.
Other Asheville-area legislators opposed the proposal. Local bills are not supposed to be heard in short sessions unless they have unanimous support among the local delegation.
But the Asheville bill was deemed an elections bill, rather than a local bill, even though similar bills during other sessions have been local bills.
N.C. Rep. John Blust, a Greensboro Republican who often speaks out about bad process, started his comments against the bill in a loud, angry tone and was gaveled down by N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore.
“When you start playing these games you do become part of the problem,” Blust said. He accused House leaders of giving in to pressure from the Senate and allowing the bill to be heard.
A couple of legislators commented that the integrity of the House was at stake in the vote.
N.C. Rep. Michael Speciale, a New Bern Republican, insisted the bill was a local bill and urged fellow legislators to consider how that would feel if such a change would be made in their district without their support. A single, powerful senator should not be able to draw election districts and force them on the residents of a city of Asheville’s size, he said.
“I just think it’s bad business now, and it would be bad business when it happens in your district,” Speciale said. The House voted against the bill, 59-47, with two dozen Republicans joining Democrats voting no.
Speciale was right, and the House did the right thing by killing it, regardless of the repercussions.
