North Carolina legislature overrides Governor’s vetoes on transgender and charter school bills

RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) – The North Carolina House of Representatives and Senate voted along party lines to override several of Governor Roy Cooper’s vetoes on Wednesday afternoon. All of the bills that had their vetoes overridden now become law.

House and Senate members first voted to override House Bill 574, which is better known as the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. The bill would ban all transgender girls and women (biological boys or men) from competing in women’s athletics at the middle school, high school, and college levels in North Carolina. After passing the House, the Senate then overrode the governor’s veto as well along party lines..

Also on the calendar Wednesday was House Bill 808, a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for children. This bill prohibits doctors in North Carolina from treating any child under 18 years old with drugs associated with gender transitioning. The House overrode the Governor’s veto of that bill by a vote of 73-46. The NC Senate then voted to override the veto by a vote of 27-18.

Senate Bill 49, also known as the Parents Bill of Rights or also by the nickname “Don’t Say Gay bill” is a bill that would force educators from kindergarten through high school to notify parents if a child asked school personnel to use other pronouns or other names for them. Senate Bill 49′s veto was also overridden in both chambers of the General Assembly Wednesday as well.

The House and Senate also voted to override House Bill 219, known as the Charter School Omnibus Bill, by a House vote of 74-45 and a Senate vote of 27-18.

House Bill 219 allows charter schools in the state to expand without seeking permission as long as they’re not considered low-performing. It would also allow them to give preferential treatment to applicants instead of using the lottery system as well as begin to allow enrollment and charge tuition for out-of-state and foreign exchange students.

House Bill 219 would also allow county governments to use funds collected from property taxes to pay for charter school buildings and other capital projects, under current law using public funds for this reason is not possible.

Both chambers also voted along party lines to override Governor Cooper’s veto of HB618 dealing with charter school review boards.

House Bill 488, a bill allowing for Code Council Reorganization and various code amendments was also overridden in both chambers on Wednesday along party lines.

Upon adjournment, House Speaker Tim Moore (R – Cleveland County) told members that there would be no legislative votes for the rest of this week or next, and possibly the week beyond that, meaning that the General Assembly will not be taking up a state budget until at least September, well after the start of the new year for North Carolina’s public schools.

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