Post by Logan on Mar 27, 2016 3:01:10 GMT -6
LGBT special session continues NC legislature’s limits on local government power
The state legislature’s special session to strike down a Charlotte nondiscrimination ordinance is the latest effort by lawmakers to limit the power of municipal and county governments.
Wednesday’s session was the first time in at least 20 years that the legislature has made an unscheduled return to Raleigh to revoke a local government decision. Republican leaders said they had to act before the ordinance would take effect April 1. They were concerned about a provision that allowed transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify.
The discrimination bill’s sponsor, Rep. Dan Bishop, a Republican from Charlotte, said his city’s ordinance is an example of special interest groups bypassing the checks and balances of the state government to pass their agenda.
“Here’s a neat trick: Let’s just go to a city council where you can find a handful of radicals – under the influence of an activist group that’s got a lot of money from out of state – and get six of those people to enact something that goes to the heart of statewide interest,” Bishop said. “That is the picture of subversion of the rule of law.”
Read more here: www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article68482947.html
The state legislature’s special session to strike down a Charlotte nondiscrimination ordinance is the latest effort by lawmakers to limit the power of municipal and county governments.
Wednesday’s session was the first time in at least 20 years that the legislature has made an unscheduled return to Raleigh to revoke a local government decision. Republican leaders said they had to act before the ordinance would take effect April 1. They were concerned about a provision that allowed transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify.
The discrimination bill’s sponsor, Rep. Dan Bishop, a Republican from Charlotte, said his city’s ordinance is an example of special interest groups bypassing the checks and balances of the state government to pass their agenda.
“Here’s a neat trick: Let’s just go to a city council where you can find a handful of radicals – under the influence of an activist group that’s got a lot of money from out of state – and get six of those people to enact something that goes to the heart of statewide interest,” Bishop said. “That is the picture of subversion of the rule of law.”
Read more here: www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article68482947.html