Special sessions, politics and political pawns

Democrats and some in the media have gotten their panties in a wad over the legislature’s refusal to call a special session in response to Governor Stein’s request.

It wasn’t the first time this happened. In June of 2017, Governor Cooper called for a special session to redraw legislative districts. The US Supreme Court had declared 28 legislative districts were unconstitutional because they were racially gerrymandered. The legislature refused to call the special session Cooper requested - lawmakers said they were already in session. Besides, the governor had no authority regarding the drawing of legislative districts.

Let’s be clear about special sessions. The Governor may declare one, but the legislature doesn’t have to convene a special session at a governor’s call. Article II Section 2 of our Constitution states that a special session can only be called by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House. However, Article III, Section V (7) states, “The Governor may, on extraordinary occasions, by and with the advice of the Council of State, convene the General Assembly in extra session by his proclamation, stating therein the purpose or purposes for which they are thus convened.” The language about “with the advice of the Council of State,” was recently added – a response to Governor Cooper’s handling of COVID.

We doubt that the entire Council of State gave the “advice” called for. Nonetheless, the question is whether this is an “extraordinary occasion.” Governor Stein and Democrats say yes. Republicans, especially Senator Berger and House Speaker Hall say that what the governor and Democratic legislators are doing is a political stunt. They don’t plan to convene and take any votes until after the first of the year.

Governor Stein has gone on the counteroffensive, saying the lawmakers, “made the time to damage our democracy with the gerrymander. But when it comes time to protect people’s health care? When it comes time to enact a comprehensive budget? They’re on vacation, and they’ll see us next year. All while North Carolina families pay the price. That’s unacceptable.”

Here's my spin on this back-and-forth finger pointing.

If what Stein is engaging in is a “political stunt,” Berger, Hall and the Republicans can easily and quickly end it by just paying the Medicaid balance. After all, they claim they are already in session; besides, they have billions socked away in Rainy Day Funds. They are going to end up paying the amount sooner or later. If they don’t, they really will come off looking stingy and uncaring.

Lawmakers knew there was some $319 million more needed to ensure we fully funded Medicaid when they appropriated $600 million in the minibudget passed in July. But because they couldn’t reach agreement about funding for other projects, they adjourned without acting. They had another chance when they recently came back into session to redraw congressional maps, but they didn’t. Both Houses have agreed to pay, they are snarled in disagreement about the budget itself.

Understand that this isn’t just the ever-present Republican-Democrat disagreements. What we are witnessing is an inter-party disagreement among Republicans in the House and the Senate. When these issues occurred in the past, the Senate has pretty much run roughshod over the House, but new House Speaker Destin Hall has stiffened the spines of the House and Senator Berger isn’t used to that. Besides, Berger is distracted. He is facing his most serious primary election challenge in more than a decade and he is being cautious in taking political positions.

We are one of only two states in the nation that doesn’t have a budget in place, again because of differences between the House and Senate Republicans. The latest word from lawmakers is that no attempts will be made to pass a budget until after the new year. This means pay has been frozen for some 161,000 teachers and state employees for at least six months after the new budget year was supposed to begin.

If this truly is a political debate, the Republicans are losing it. They are looking like their brethren in Washington, unable to reach agreements. They aren’t doing the jobs their constituents sent them to Raleigh to do. And they surely don’t seem to care about those on lower incomes with healthcare needs.

It’s not a good look for them. Meanwhile, Governor Stein is winning points with the media, Medicaid patients, with more compassionate Republicans (and there are some) and especially with Democrats. The March primaries are rapidly approaching

The real main issue is that more than 3 million residents of our state who are Medicaid patients are threatened with losing their healthcare insurance. It is unconscionable that they are being used as pawns in a political discussion.

North Carolina used to be better than that.

Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolina public policy issues since 1965.  Contact him at tomcamp@ncspin.com