NCGA Update
Budget
Republicans continue to fail to deliver a budget -- now the delay is due to a disagreement over casinos. Senator Berger demands that casinos be in the budget or the senate won’t take it up. As a result, Republicans are prioritizing casinos over pay raises for teachers and Medicaid expansion and have now wasted over $3 million dollars ($42,000 a day) of taxpayer dollars due to a lack of budget.
Republicans Mock School Shooting Survivors
Students from UNC, NC A&T, and other schools joined Democratic lawmakers at the General Assembly to hold a press conference, a rally, and to protest the inaction by Republicans and their leadership on common sense gun legislation.
Speaker Moore belittled the students by comparing their protest to a pep rally. Speaker Moore then told reporters that “criminals are going to have guns. And, the best deterrent against a criminal with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” This has been debunked. According to Giffords:
People successfully defend themselves with guns in less than 1% of crimes in which there is contact between a perpetrator and a victim.
States with higher rates of gun ownership have higher rates of gun death, confirming the commonsense conclusion that more guns create more opportunities for injury and death, not fewer.
In response, NCDP Chair Anderson Clayton said, “For the second time in two weeks, UNC students were placed under an emergency lockdown because of a gun on campus. Speaker Tim Moore’s response? More guns. In comments yesterday, he pushed the dangerous, debunked “good guy with a gun” myth. While students call on Republicans in the General Assembly to take up common sense gun safety legislation, Speaker Moore is questioning the efficacy of ‘gun free zones,’ mocking student protestors, and parroting irresponsible, reckless rhetoric. Democrats stand with the students and call on the Republican majority to pass gun reform legislation.”
NC Senate Holds Only 3 Redistricting Hearings
Earlier this year, in an unprecendented action, Republicans newly elected to the North Carolina Supreme Court took up three cases their own court had settled previously. All three cases were rulings on voting rights, and in all three cases, they overturned the previous ruling to find in favor of making it harder to vote for ordinary people.
One of the decisions that was overturned related to legislative districts for the NCGA. Now, the Republican supermajority will redraw the lines, and you can be sure they're not looking to provide fair and equal representation for all voters in North Carolina.
Senate Republicans know these districts won't stand up to public scrutiny, so they're limiting public comment on redistricting more than ever before. Next week, the NC Senate will hold only three public comment sessions for the whole state on the proposed new districts. The session held furthest west will take place in Hickory, 75 miles east of Buncombe County, on Tuesday, September 26, at 4 p.m. at the Atrium Room at Appalachian State University's Hickory Campus.
Don't let Republicans get away with preventing public comment on these districts -- show up and speak out for democracy at this hearing! You can sign up to give public comment at the link below, or in person starting at 3 p.m.
Need a ride? Sign up to carpool with us! We'll meet up at Buncombe Dems HQ and head over by 2:30 p.m.
Action Item
Join us tomorrow evening for our regular monthly meeting. We'll be talking about exciting upcoming plans and next month's officer elections. See you there!