Adventures with Overridden Roy

One of the main functions of the North Carolina General Assembly is passing a budget for the State. The current session is what is known as “long session” and it is the session in which we pass a budget for the two-year cycle. 

The individual agency budgets were prepared and completed last month.  The Speaker of the House, Tim Moore, and Senator Phil Berger Berger, the leader of the Senate, have been negotiating various parts of the budget in which there was disagreement. This has also enabled conversations with the Governor to take place on any differences that need to be addressed.

I am the Chair of the Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee. Our budget was completed and will not likely have any changes. One of the priorities for me was to increase wages for direct care workers for our skilled nursing facilities and in-home health care workers. We were able to do that in our HHS budget. This will ensure that our State’s elderly and vulnerable populations are taken care of. Currently, it is tough for nursing homes and other establishments to find good help. 

We should have a completed budget within the next few weeks if the Governor signs it. 

The Governor has vetoed a number of bills this year. He likes to think that he can rule by fiat sometimes… maybe someone needs to remind him that there was an election in 2022 and that he cannot do that anymore. We are going to override his vetoes. Here are a few of the bills that will soon become law thanks to all that you did in 2022: 

SB 49 – Parents Bill of Rights:

• Establish a Parents’ Bill of Rights enumerating certain rights of parents related to the education, health, privacy, and safety of their child. 
• Require public school units to provide parents with information related to parental involvement in schools, legal rights for their child’s education, and guides for student achievement. 
• Require public school units to provide notifications on student physical and mental health, require age-appropriate instruction on certain topics in kindergarten – 4th grade, and create remedies for parents to address concerns over implementation of these requirements. 
• Require health care practitioners to obtain written consent from the parent of a minor child before providing treatment.

To many of you this bill seems like common sense. It seems like common sense to me too. Young children should not be subjected to topics that are not age appropriate. We’re talking about kindergarten through 4th grade and to me that’s a no brainer.

HB 574 – Fairness in Women’s Sports:

•  Prohibit male students from playing on middle school, high school, or collegiate athletics teams designated for females, women, or girls. 
• Require a student’s sex to be recognized solely based on reproductive biology and genetics at birth for purposes of athletic participation. 
• Create a civil cause of action for students who are harmed as a result of a violation of the bill, or who are retaliated against for reporting violations. 
• Create a civil cause of action for public school units that suffer harm as a result of following the requirements of the bill.

Biological males should not be allowed to compete against women. There’s no dispute that they are stronger naturally and have larger hearts and more lung capacity. Title IX was a federal law passed many years ago to protect women and allow them to compete against each other. This is in violation of Title IX.

HB 808 – Gender Transition Minors

• House Bill 808 would prohibit medical professionals from performing surgical gender transition procedures on minors and prescribing, providing, or dispensing puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones to minors, with some exceptions. 
• Medical professionals who violate these provisions would have their licenses revoked, and minors who underwent a surgical gender transition procedure or who were prescribed or provided with puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones would have a private right of action against the medical provider who performed the procedure or prescribed or provided the drugs. 
• State funds could not be used for surgical gender transition procedures on minors and prescribing, providing, or dispensing puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones to minors.

These are life altering procedures and are not reversible. Children should not be allowed to make these decisions even if approved by parents. It should be a slow process and only should be allowed after adulthood is reached

As you can see, we have some work ahead of us. I will do my best to continue to keep you updated.