North Carolina governor signs 12 bills still left on his desk, vetoes 1 more

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law on Monday nearly all of the bills remaining on his desk from the pile that the Republican-dominated General Assembly sent him before this year’s work session ended. But he vetoed another measure and will let the legislature’s annual “regulatory reform” measure become law without his signature.

Cooper signed 12 pieces of legislation. Those measures in part locate $68 million to replace expired federal child care center grants for the next six months, ensure anticipated teacher raises for this school year are carried out and resume the automatic removal of criminal charges that were dismissed or that resulted in “not guilty” verdicts.

The state constitution gave Cooper until late Monday night to act on the 14 measures. The vetoed bill, which received near-unanimous legislative approval, partly addressed how certain court-filed documents are formatted. But Cooper said in his veto message that another provision “creates legal ambiguity” about eviction orders that could harm low-income people and make it harder to appeal them in court.

The vetoed measures bring to five the number that he formally blocked from the batch of almost 30 bills that the legislators left him in late June. Since Republicans hold narrow veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate, the chances that these vetoes will be overridden are high.

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