Republican-led NCGA overrides 3 of Gov. Cooper’s vetoes; New laws include changes to campaign finance laws, mask ban targeting protesters

North Carolina Republicans spent the last week and a half of the legislative short-session struggling to agree on just how bad of a budget they want to pass. There was no intra-party struggle on several other important issues, though – like overriding three of Gov. Roy Cooper’s latest vetoes.

On Wednesday, House Republicans overrode three of Cooper’s legislative vetoes. On Thursday afternoon, the Senate voted to override those same bills, meaning that they are now the law in North Carolina. The bills covered issues ranging from juvenile justice reform to cutting down trees to creating loopholes in campaign finance laws to allow money to be funneled directly into Mark Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign. 

One bill will undo some of the juvenile justice reforms the state implemented in 2019.

Another bill will allow billboard companies to cut down more trees on the side of the road to make their billboards more visible and will also raise toll road late fees by up to 50%.

The third – and most controversial bill – bans some people from wearing face masks in public, enacts new criminal and civil penalties that specifically target protesters, and will change state campaign finance laws to create loopholes around the state’s ban on groups or people making unlimited or anonymous donations to political candidates.

The section of the law that changes campaign finance laws was a late addition to the bill and is meant to help Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign, which is struggling to raise money because people don’t want their donation and name associated with a hate-monger like Robinson.

According to campaign finance watchdog Bob Hall, the proposal would give wealthy donors new ways to give as much money as they want (potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars) to support a specific state candidate without their name being identified with the donation.