Representative Tricia Cotham has officially switched her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. With this move, GOP lawmakers now have veto-proof control over Democratic Governor Roy Cooper. Cotham's announcement last Wednesday alarmed North Carolina Democrats, who had made Cooper's veto power a top priority in their campaigns last fall.

Cotham, a former educator who served in the State House for nearly ten years through 2016 before returning this year, blasted Democrats for attempting to control her and rejecting her opposing viewpoints. She claimed last week that the Republican Party best reflected her values, but that this did not imply how she would vote on every matter.

Notably, nine Democrats in addition to Cotham voted for the House Budget, perhaps signaling increasing willingness to vote across party lines. A GOP supermajority might pave the way for other priorities that the GOP has not had the numbers to pass over Cooper's opposition since 2018.

Cotham will not be able to cast a vote as a Republican until the legislature reconvenes in Raleigh, following its spring break.

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REDISTRICTING ON THE HORIZON?

Republican Tim Moore, Speaker of the House, made news by announcing that his party anticipates redistricting North Carolina's maps for Congress, the State Senate, and — most significantly — the State House, at a press conference on Wednesday. Republicans were long expected to revisit the first two maps, but Moore's remarks show that they may intend to redraw the State House map as well.

The Republican-drawn Congressional and State Senate maps were overturned by the State Supreme Court in December 2022, and the Court ordered that new maps be drawn in 2024. The plaintiffs' challenge to the GOP's State House map, however, was rejected by the court in the same ruling. The justices decided that the State House map was "established" and thus binding for the remainder of the decade because North Carolina's Constitution forbids mid-decade redistricting of legislative districts without a court order.

Some anticipate that the GOP majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court will overturn December's decision and reinstate gerrymandering, but question whether that alone would give the GOP the power to redraw the State House districts since last December's decision rejected claims that it did so in an illegal manner.

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OPIOID EDUCATION

Last week, the House unanimously approved House Bill 287, also known as "Educate Patients About Opioid Antagonists," and it is now moving through the Senate.  Representative Wayne Sasser (R-Stanly) introduced the bill that would require pharmacists and medical professionals to inform patients who have been prescribed opioid medication or who are receiving treatment for opioid use disorder about the potential risks of opioids and how overdoses can be avoided. Nearly eight North Carolinians die each day from opioid overdoses while more than 28,000 people across the state died from drug overdoses from 2000-2020, according to state data. One-on-one interactions with patients or posting the necessary information on signs are two ways to accomplish this. As part of House Bill 287, physicians and pharmacists would also have access to FDA-approved medications like Naloxone, a drug that quickly reverses overdoses.

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STRENGTHENING NC’S GOOD SAMARITAN LAW

Senate Bill 458 would strengthen the State's Good Samaritan Law in the face of a worsening overdose crisis, and numerous senators and harm-reduction advocates rallied for its passage at a press conference last Wednesday.

According to the Good Samaritan laws, those who suffer a drug overdose or witness one and seek aid for the victim are not subject to prosecution for having small amounts of drugs, drug paraphernalia, or underage alcohol.

Only those who have overdosed and those who call for help are currently exempt from most prosecutions for drug possession. Even those people occasionally find themselves in legal trouble. The new legislation would protect everyone present at a scene from being detained and charged with nonviolent offenses.

One of the bill's sponsors, Senator Bobby Hanig (R-Currituck), said, "North Carolina's Good Samaritan Law was passed in 2013. Although it was done with good intentions, we have since discovered that it has some limiting effects.” Hanig noted that the drug supply has altered as one factor. Drugs sold on the street increasingly contain fentanyl as well as other powerful opioids and tranquilizers.

The key modifications in Senate Bill 458 are as follows:

• Protection from arrest and prosecution for everyone present at the scene of an overdose (at present, only the overdose victim and the caller are granted immunity).
• Immunity from charges related to fentanyl possession and death by distribution.
• Protection for students who contact campus security in drug-related emergencies.

In contrast, the State Senate passed Senate Bill 189 this year that would make it more difficult to provide the fentanyl that causes an overdose. The so-called Death by Distribution bill would make it easier for prosecutors to charge someone with second-degree murder if they sell drugs to someone who later overdoses and dies as a result. The House has not yet held a vote on that bill.

Advocates say such bills discourage people who use drugs together from calling when there is an overdose because often they’ve sold drugs to one another, frequently to support their own habits.

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ACLU CHALLENGING ANTI-RIOT LAW

The new anti-riot law in North Carolina is being challenged in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). According to the lawsuit filed on Monday, "multiple provisions" of the new law are "facially unconstitutional." The North Carolina ACLU is requesting an injunction to stop the new law's contested provisions.

In its complaint, the ACLU cites a section of the law that makes it illegal to "urge another to engage in a riot." According to Brandenburg v. Ohio's interpretation of the First Amendment, "all of these 'urging provisions' target blatant advocacy of illegal behavior. The Fourth Circuit declared a nearly identical provision of the federal Anti-Riot Act to be facially unconstitutional for this very reason.

Despite language in the bill clarifying that “[m]ere presence alone without an overt act is not sufficient to sustain a conviction,” ACLU lawyers argued, “It criminalizes mere participation in a demonstration — as well as other activities that North Carolinians have a fundamental constitutional right to engage in — where some members of the group threaten or cause property damage or violence. North Carolinians could be arrested and prosecuted under the Act even if their own actions were entirely peaceful.”

The legislation, also known as House Bill 40, passed the North Carolina House by a vote of 75 to 43 and the Senate by a vote of 27 to 16. Republican majorities joined with six House Democrats and one Senate Democrat to support the legislation. Both margins were greater than the three-fifths majority needed to override the Governor's veto. On March 17, Governor Cooper declared that he would not exercise his veto power, so the law is set to go into effect on December 1.

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SAVING THE SAVE ACT

Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) often see thousands of patients a year, and they are filling a need for more providers in the State’s healthcare system. In North Carolina, however, APRNs are not allowed to see patients without a "supervising physician." Consequently, APRNs spend about 15 minutes a year with the supervising physician and pay $30,000 a year for sign-off on their work because the doctor is frequently not involved in the day-to-day activities of the office. If that doctor retires or leaves, they must close their doors until another supervising physician is found.

The SAVE Act, (House Bill 218 / Senate Bill 175), introduced in the General Assembly in late February, would alter this regulation, reducing regulatory red tape and enabling APRNs to practice to the fullest extent of their education and training. Numerous organizations support the legislation, including AARP, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Concerned Veterans for America, and the John Locke Foundation. When Medicaid expansion was recently approved by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Roy Cooper, there were calls for it to also include the SAVE Act. However, this did not happen.

The SAVE Act, according to its supporters, uses a wide range of qualified healthcare professionals and aims to increase the shrinking pool of medical providers. However, the N.C. Medical Society and the N.C. Society of Anesthesiologists, two organizations opposed to the bill, claim it jeopardizes patient safety.

Even though SAVE Act opponents outspent nurses nearly three to one on elections, supporters believe the legislation is gaining steam this session. The House leadership was pressed to put it up for a vote by Senator Gale Adcock (D-Wake), a nurse practitioner herself. Adcock stated, "I'm finding that more and more people here want it passed if only their leadership would allow them to take a vote. Everything seems impossible before it actually happens. That's what happened with Medicaid, and it will happen the same way with the SAVE Act.”

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