[Updated (12/16/2016, 3:14 p.m.) to note that Governor McCrory signed the legislation.]
Both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly on Friday
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[Updated (12/16/2016, 3:14 p.m.) to note that Governor McCrory signed the legislation.]
Both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly on Friday passed a bill to drastically curtail the governor’s power to appoint trustees to the University of North Carolina system’s 16 campuses. The measure, known as House Bill 17, is part of a slew of bills taken up by the Republican-controlled legislature that would reduce the power of the incoming Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, who narrowly defeated the incumbent, Pat McCrory, in November.
Mr. McCrory signed the bill into law on Friday afternoon. Until now the governor has had the authority to appoint four trustees to the boards of each of the 16 institutions of higher education in the system. The new law instead gives the General Assembly that power.
Members of the legislature have all but admitted that the prospect of a Democratic governor is, in part, what motivated them to limit his powers. “Some of the stuff we’re doing, obviously if the election results were different, we might not be moving quite as fast on,” the chair of the House’s rules committee told The News and Observer. “But a lot of this stuff would have been done anyway and has been talked about for quite some time.”
A special session called by the legislature to consider the bills has triggered allegations of a “power grab,” from the state’s Democrats and from observers nationally. Mr. Cooper has said he would sue the legislature should it pass laws that limit his powers.
