It may be chaos in Washington, but keep your eye on these bad bills in NC right now | Opinion
A new legislative session means the introduction of a flurry of bills on every subject imaginable. There are the big ones, like the plan to seize more power from the Democratic attorney general and the push to require more law enforcement cooperation with ICE. But for the most part, what’s happening in Raleigh has been overshadowed by the chaos that’s happening at the national level.
That doesn’t mean that the nature of North Carolina politics has changed, however. It just means that, right now, it isn’t making the biggest headlines. But there’s still plenty of concerning legislation to keep an eye on.
There’s the stuff that just sounds like a bad idea, like House Bill 5, the attempt to allow permitless concealed carry that comes up every year. Repealing the requirement that people must pass tests on firearm safety and accuracy in order to carry a concealed handgun is a recipe for disaster. So is the provision that would allow people to carry concealed handguns at places where they are not currently allowed, such as public events and parades. As a result, firearms, which are famously very deadly weapons, would no longer be classified as a “deadly weapon.” Great.
Also probably a bad idea is House Bill 89, the so-called University Vaccination Freedom Act, which would repeal immunization requirements for people who attend a college or university in North Carolina. Currently, whooping cough and measles cases are making a resurgence, in part due to falling vaccination rates, but hey, at least people would have their freedom! Another bill, House Bill 380, would provide for a “conscientious objection” to vaccine mandates, in addition to the medical and religious exemptions that already exist, which seems like it would render the whole idea of a “mandate” pretty moot. (That’s probably the point.)
Don’t forget Senate Bill 227, the legislature’s attempt to ban “DEI” in schools. It’s already passed the Senate and will likely also pass the House. The whole thing is pretty ridiculous, but most ridiculous is the fact that it says that things like “the historical oppression of a particular group of people based on race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion or geographic region” must only be taught through “impartial discussion.” Why, exactly, would we want to teach oppression, which includes things like slavery and genocide, in an “impartial” manner?
There’s also one bill that can’t really be described as anything but cruel. House Bill 270 would revise state law on the death penalty to make the electric chair the default method of execution. Death by firing squad would also be an option if the person chooses it, as would lethal injection. It’s like choosing between cholera and the plague. North Carolina has not executed anyone on death row since 2006, but lethal injection has been the only legal method of execution in the state for nearly 30 years. Death by firing squad has never been legal in North Carolina, and the state has not used the electric chair since 1938.
The last two bills propose radical changes to the state constitution. House Bill 234 would change the composition of the N.C. Senate so that each senator represents two counties, rather having a roughly equal number of residents in each Senate district. Under such a model, Mecklenburg County would have just one state senator, who would also represent a neighboring county. Currently, Mecklenburg County has six senators, seeing as more than 1 million people live here. It would completely nullify the “one person, one vote” principle, which would violate the U.S. Constitution.
The other bill, House Bill 64, would erode one of the only powers that North Carolina’s governor has left: the power to grant pardons or reduce criminal sentences. The bill would make it so the governor could not grant clemency without majority approval in the state House and Senate. One can only wonder what Republicans will do if the tables ever turn on them, and a Republican governor is left virtually powerless against a Democratic legislature.
Not all of these bills will pass, and there are also some good bills out there, including some sponsored by Republicans, like a bill that would make Election Day a state holiday and a bill that would protect access to IVF. But if every step forward comes with two steps backward, North Carolina won’t be making any progress at all.
This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "It may be chaos in Washington, but keep your eye on these bad bills in NC right now | Opinion."
