North Carolina Lawmakers Proposing Range of Constitutional Amendments

The North Carolina General Assembly continues to discuss potential amendments to the state Constitution this week with votes in the House and Senate. Some proposed amendments have already been approved by both chambers to appear on the November ballot.

Most are being sponsored by GOP lawmakers, including amendments creating voter ID laws, lowering the cap on income taxes and shifting judicial appointment power to the legislature.

Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners Mark Dorosin spoke with WCHL’s Aaron Keck on the amendments last week. As a Democrat, Dorosin said he views these proposals as last-ditch efforts by Republican lawmakers.

“All of those amendments will have really devastating impacts for the state,” said Dorosin. “The attempt to enshrine them in the constitution is to prevent a future legislature from changing those laws.”

Dorosin was critical of the voter ID amendment, saying it would need to be vastly different from the law struck down by a federal appeals court ruling in 2017. In the decision, the court deemed the ID law as unconstitutional and tailored against African Americans.

Dorosin also voiced his opposition to lowering the income tax cap. He said dropping it from 10 percent to 5.5 percent would greatly restrict the state and cause other areas to receive cuts if a recession occurred.

“This is a legislature that has focused its tax-cutting energies on programs directed toward helping the neediest in our communities,” said Dorosin. “They cut the earned income tax credit; they cut unemployment benefits. We now have the stingiest unemployment benefits in the country. There’s no doubt that, should revenues become constricted further, it will be those programs that continue to get cut.”

Ultimately, Dorosin criticized the mentality behind these amendments, saying they are attempts of GOP lawmakers to dilute any incoming Democratic power ahead of this November’s elections.

“It’s one thing to have policy disputes about what’s the best policy,” he said, “but it’s another to try to manipulate the rules. The voter ID law and these judicial appointments that give the legislature the power really undermine the process itself.”

The proposed amendments need three-fifths of the vote in each of the North Carolina chambers, which equals 72 votes in the House and 30 votes in the Senate. Any amendments that pass would then be seen on the ballot by all North Carolina voters in November.