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ID Fix Approved, Helene Bill Rejected, Stein Wins Court Split

Carolina Journal Radio / Nick Craig
The Truth Network Radio
June 25, 2025 6:28 am

ID Fix Approved, Helene Bill Rejected, Stein Wins Court Split

Carolina Journal Radio / Nick Craig

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June 25, 2025 6:28 am

North Carolina's General Assembly continues to work on disaster relief funding, with a $700 million package stalled due to Republican disagreements. Meanwhile, a bill aimed at curbing the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda in public schools is moving forward, and a court ruling has restricted Governor Josh Stein's ability to appoint judges. The state is also working to resolve a lawsuit over missing voter ID numbers, with a plan to collect information from over 195,000 voters.

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I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. It was a busy day yesterday in Raleigh as the North Carolina General Assembly continues work ahead of their July the 4th recess. And this morning, we are tracking millions of dollars in disaster relief funds that have officially stalled in the GA. This is as Republican leaders continue to debate over the budget and continue to deal with a stalemate there.

Yesterday, it was the North Carolina House that voted unanimously to reject a $700 million package passed by the Senate on Monday, which we talked about yesterday morning, dealing with Hurricane Helene relief, also being described by some as a mini-budget from the North Carolina Senate. House Speaker Destin Hall, the Republican out of Caldwell County, said members of his chamber took issue with how state senators changed a proposed previously approved bill by the House. The original House plan would have spent a little over $450 million in state funds in Hurricane Helene, in addition to the $1.6 billion that was already approved. The House plan also included grants for small businesses, a proposal that the Senate did not concur with. Speaker Hall said the House wants to continue pushing for the grants.

The House also objected to the Senate's plan to fund transportation projects and other provisions of that $700 million package, which you can read this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. That means that the negotiations continue between Republican leadership Destin Hall, the House Speaker, and Senate leader Phil Berger. Hall said that he is, however, comfortable taking some time to deal with the bill's problems and continue to negotiate as the state has already approved billions of dollars in Hurricane Helene relief. To this point, more than $1.6 billion has been appropriated to help folks out in the western half of North Carolina.

As we look at the calendar this morning for the North Carolina General Assembly, both the House and the Senate are set to convene once again this morning. Maybe more votes today and tomorrow. We'll be keeping a very close eye on those details in the coming days on not only the budget, but some of these other proposed pieces of legislation that are being sent back and forth to the chamber. Still awaiting for some veto overrides potentially as well from the North Carolina House and Senate as well. We're keeping an eye on all of it over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com and right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.

There has been a lot of international attention this week on the Middle East between the United States, Israel, and Iran. Of course, a major topic of discussion over the last couple of days. One of the big discussions has been the thought of a potential sleeper cell attack here in the state of North Carolina and really across the rest of the United States of America. To walk us through some details of a phone call between Governor Josh Stein and federal officials earlier this week, Teresa Opeka with CarolinaJournal.com joins us on the news hour. Teresa, there were a lot of individuals that have had the opportunity to come into the country over the last four years, elevating some of the risks of a homeland attack here across the United States.

Tell us a little bit about this phone call that Josh Stein had earlier in the week. Yeah, good morning, Nick. Thanks for having me.

So, yeah, Governor Stein, he was one of the nation's governors who, our nation's governors, rather, was briefed on a conference call earlier in the week by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam about the elevated threat level after, of course, President Trump's airstrikes on nuclear facilities in Iran on Saturday. Again, they were a success, you know, according to the president, on three different facilities. And that's all due to the conflict that has been arising between Iran and Israel.

So as we're going through this, again, Josh Stein was not the only governor on the call, but it was an important call nonetheless to go through all of that. The federal officials were urging governors and their staff to be on the lookout, be vigilant for an uptick in not only maybe any physical threats, but also cyber activity. The country of Iran is known to have cyber attacks on various websites. They have done that in the past. And of course, they also told them to look out for anything that they deem suspicious and to notify any relevant state agencies and others who may be at risk.

That also includes Jewish institutions or groups associated with Israel. That's not something that I've really seen a lot in the news.

So, like any synagogues or anybody of a Jewish faith in the state, they're note having them notify them as well.

So, that was the backdrop of the phone call. You know, you talk about those cyber attacks and some of the risks there. Yes, websites are a big concern. But Teresa also is our infrastructure. There's reports going back five or ten years of Iranian hacking groups or Iranian proxy hacking groups going into and getting access to water utilities and electrical facilities and utilities across the United States.

That's a big risk, and especially with some of the elevated heat this week, many electrical grids are already strained to the max. You can only imagine what a cyber attack could do in one of those situations. Talk about catastrophic effects. That would definitely be the case. Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

You mentioned the heat this week. And of course, we had that a few years ago, right around Christmas time, where the one substation went out and because of damage that I'm not sure if they did Catch the people or know who did it, but the one substation was taken out in the state around Christmas time. And it was actually one of the coldest Christmases on record for the state.

So we had the opposite problem.

So, yeah, the power grid is definitely at risk. You've got water, you have water treatment plants, anything could be at risk. Also, who knows what else can happen? But, yeah, all that is definitely a factor and something that needs to be kept an eye on. What were some of the other things that Christy Noam passed along, as you noted, not only to Governor Josh Stein, but many other governors on this call as well.

What were some of the other points her or other officials had to make, again, for these governors and various state agencies to keep an eye out for? Sure, as I mentioned, they said to keep vigilant for the cyber activity, you know, anything including groups or Jewish institutions, synagogues, things of that nature. Also, the heightened threat environment as the conflict continues. And this is what Governor Stein said on X. He had a post that public safety officials in North Carolina are in close coordination with the federal, local, and state partners, vigilant against any retaliatory threat, whether it be physical or cyber, and stuff of that nature.

And we're pivoting back to what you're mentioning about the sleeper cells. There was a really disturbing report that came out yesterday. It's also included in the story: how the ICE picked up 11. Uh Iranian uh um Illegal immigrants that should not be here. They picked them up over the weekend.

They were in eight states.

So it's just very and very, very concerning. Actually, one of those was on the terror watch list.

So, yeah, so you know, there's been other reports that have come out over the years, of course, with the Biden administration being so lax and letting all these people in the country. There's about 15 over 1,500 Iranian nationals who were caught crossing the border illegally during the Biden administration. And, you know, there's more gotaways, as they call them.

So these sleeper cells, terror threat cells, more and more information is coming out.

So, I mean, it's just a scary, scary time right now when you see that and being on heightened alert in the state. As you mentioned, there's so many things: infrastructure, we've got our military bases, Fort Bragg, things of that nature. And so, you know. Governor Stein says he's fully aware. He's keeping an eye on everything, making sure everything, you know, he's taking full charge of that.

But also, questionable at this time is the immigration bills that he vetoed. You know, one in particular about having law enforcement work with ICE.

So it's just, you know, on that note, that's a little concerning when it all comes down to it, because we just don't know who's here right now. And the Biden administration didn't do this country any favors when they, you know, let people just come through. Absolutely. There's a lot of different moving factors in all of this. Teresa, thanks for the update this morning.

Where can folks go and read some additional details? Sure, they can head on over to CarolinaJournal.com. Teresa Opeka joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 521. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour.

News Talk 1110-993-WBT. A good Wednesday morning to you. We've got some pretty big news this morning from the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Unanimously yesterday, they approved a three-part plan to collect missing identification numbers for more than 195,000 voters that exist on the voter rolls across the state. At last week's meeting, Executive Director Sam Hayes said that they had come up with a plan that would work to obtain driver's license numbers or the last four digits of social security numbers for registered North Carolina voters who lack either number in their voter records.

This missing information has been required, has been a requirement of a federal regulation known as HAVA, the Help America Vote Act, which took effect back in 2004. The choice to provide either form of identification was more important than the U.S. Marked as optional on the state's voter registration form until Resident Carol Snow filed a complaint with the North Carolina State Board of Elections back in 2023, which was something that had been discussed pretty frequently over the last couple of years. The registration application was corrected in January of 2024. With those issues and some of those voters not having the proper information, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state and the North Carolina State Board of Elections last month regarding the missing information.

State election officials hope that the plan will resolve that lawsuit and others, as well as bringing the state into compliance with a recent North Carolina Court of Appeals order. Sam Hayes said, I've said from day one that I am committed to bringing North Carolina into compliance with the law, and I believe that this three-part plan is the best way to ensure that this happens. We are making this process as simple and straightforward as possible for affected voters.

So here's how this is going to work: the three-part plan. Part one. Will be mailings from the state board of election to affected voters. Starting next month, July, the North Carolina State Board of Elections will send a mailer to approximately 98,000 registered voters who registered after HAVA became effective in 2004 and whose records apparently lack either a driver's license number or the last four of their social security number and who have not otherwise complied with HAVA. These voters will be provisional until they provide the information.

A second mailing will go out this summer to approximately 97,000 voters who have complied with HAVA but for whom election officials do not have the driver's license number or Social Security number on the voters' current registration record. This list includes voters who initially provided that data but did not validate subsequent compliance with the law by providing an alternative form of ID. Called a HAVA ID when voting. These voters will continue to vote with regular ballots. After the rest of the plan is completed, the state board will send a reminder to those who still need to provide the required information.

Part two of this plan is when the data is received and correctioned by County Board of Elections. Once that information is sent out now through August, the 100 County Board of Elections across North Carolina will review records in the voter registration database for active voters who still have missing ID numbers and correct records where the voters provided the information, but it was not entered correctly or not entered at all by the county board of elections. County boards will also correct records where voter registered before HAVA took effect, but the database shows the wrong registration date. Election officials say that this happened for several voters whose records were digitized. In the early 2000s, because county staff conducting the data entry into the electronic system keyed in the registration date as the date that the record was, in fact, digitized, even though that voter had been long registered in North Carolina.

For inactive status of voters, county boards will also provide the state board with information on any necessary corrections to the voter records, which the state board will correct. And then, part three of this plan is provisional voting for voters with missing driver's license or the last four of their social in future elections. In-person voters who lack the required information in the voter registration database will have to vote with a provisional ballot, which will count as long as the voter provides the required information. The State Board is creating a flag to appear on these voter records in electronic or paper poll books used at voter sites to alert poll workers that these voters must provide, rather, that these voters must vote provisionally and provide the missing information for their ballot to count. County Board of Elections will be required to train poll workers to work accordingly.

The chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, Jason Simmons, said in a press release yesterday, the State Board of Elections is acting to correct numerous errors which have been identified for years as issues. This is an encouraging step towards restoring trust in state elections. Also yesterday, North Carolina State Auditor Dave Bollick released the list of appointed chairs to the county's 100 board of elections. This is all part of changes that took place throughout the last couple of months, shifting the control and the appointment authority over the North Carolina State Board of Elections from the governor to state auditor Dave Bollick, with that of the boards, which were 3-2 Democrat majority, are now a 3-2 Republican majority. And we continue to track those details.

If you're wondering about HAVA and some of these voter ID and voter registration numbers, and maybe you think you've heard something about this in the past, well, this, of course, was a very large portion of the ongoing lawsuit that, or the what was once ongoing lawsuit between Jefferson Griffin, the North Carolina State Board of Election, and Allison Riggs that we tracked on this show and many others for about six months as that took place in the November election. Many Of the voters that Jefferson Griffin was challenging had to do with the lack of a driver's license number or the last four digits of a social security number. We know that that caused some major issues in the state of North Carolina as that case went as high as a federal court, then sent back down to state courts. It was a very lengthy process.

Now, the North Carolina State Board of Elections, in conjunction with the 100-county Board of Elections, are working to get all of that data corrected and updated. We will continue to track this progress. And as those mailers go out, you can imagine that the state board will be providing information as to what the response to that has been as they try and get more than 195,000 voters across the state in compliance with the Help America Vote Act. Again, passed all the way back in 2004. We'll continue to track those details online and right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, where it's now 5.29.

News Talk 1110-99.3 WBT. It's 536. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110-99.3 WBT. Turning our attention back to the General Assembly this morning.

Disaster relief funding is on hold this morning. It is stalled in the North Carolina GA as Republican leaders continue to clash over budget proposals and key portions of the provision. Yesterday evening, the state House voted unanimously, both Republicans and Democrats in the House, to reject a $700 million relief plan passed by the Senate Monday afternoon. The Senate proposal would have also directed nearly $2 billion in federal funds to a range of projects. House Speaker Destin Hall said that his chamber took issue with how senators rewrote a proposal that the House had previously approved.

The House's original plan called for just over four hundred fifty million dollars in additional state funds for Halleen recovery. This would be alongside the more than $1.6 billion that lawmakers had already allocated. The House proposal also included grant funding for small businesses, provisions that the Senate removed. House Speaker Destin Hall said that House Republicans are standing firm on restoring that funding and also criticized the Senate's decision to prioritize some other projects in their plans. Even though Republicans control both chambers in the General Assembly, but party disagreement continues and is holding up some of the negotiations.

Hall said that he is in no rush to pass the bill, noting that the General Assembly has already committed that $1.6 billion in state funds, noting that a deal could be reached potentially later this week or sometime after the July 4th holiday. Just having watched the General Assembly over the last two days pretty regularly, it doesn't seem super likely. I wouldn't necessarily gamble on the fact that something will be passed this week. Lawmakers are set to take a couple week break for July the 4th, and then they will be back in the middle and latter parts of next month. We'll keep an eye on it over on our website and right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.

There's been an interesting power struggle over the last couple of months that we've been tracking here in North Carolina between the Republican-led General Assembly and Democrat Governor Josh Stein. As we talked about yesterday morning, one of those legal challenges was set to be in front of a court, and we do have a decision this morning to walk us through those details. Mitch Kokai with the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, I guess we're talking about judicial appointments and the very important North Carolina Utilities Commission. What's the latest that you're tracking this morning?

Yes, there was a split decision in this case that was before a three-judge panel in Wake County. And basically, what happened was that Governor Josh Stein, as part of his ongoing legal battle with the General Assembly over some changes in the state government structure, put together three different pieces of recent legislation that the governor didn't like. One of them was was a piece of 2024's Senate Bill 382 that changed judicial vacancies and said that if the governor is going to appoint someone for a statewide judicial vacancy, either the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court, the governor would have to appoint someone from the same political party as the departing judge or justice, and the names would be recommended to him by as a three, a choice from among three names recommended to him by those political parties.

So it really would restrict what the governor could do because right now, without that provision, the governor could appoint anyone in the state who's a lawyer to fill that role.

So it really would restrict his ability on the judicial vacancies. Another piece of Senate Bill 382 that's also lumped into the same lawsuit shifted one of the governor's three appointments to the State Utilities Commission. shifted one of those appointments to the state treasurer. Brad Breiner.

Now, this is the one that has the most immediate impact because that is supposed to take effect on July 1st. And the treasurer has already said that Don Vandervaart, who is now the head of the Office of Administrative Hearings and used to be the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality in North Carolina, that Don Vandervaart is the person who would take that role. Josh Dein challenged that. And then there's a third piece that has to do with the Building Code Council and some changes in the way that the Council could vote to get anything accomplished. All three of those were lumped together in one lawsuit.

And a three-judge panel heard a couple of hours of arguments on the lawsuit on Tuesday morning. And then, by Tuesday afternoon, really just a few hours after the hearing, came out with an order. It was a two-page order, very short. It basically said that Governor Josh Stein had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the judicial vacancies change was unconstitutional.

So they threw that piece out, and unless Lawmakers win an appeal. Josh Stein will be free to appoint anyone he wants to to fill a statewide judicial vacancy moving forward, just as he has, just as previous governors have in the past. But on the other side, the three-judge panel, which has a Republican, a Democrat, and an unaffiliated judge, so very, very multipartisan, bipartisan panel, said that the governor failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the other changes were unconstitutional, which means that they stand and that Brad Briner's appointment of Don Vanderbaard to the Utilities Commission should take effect without any sort of successful appeal from Stein on July 1st. Also, the Building Code Council changes that were spelled out in a piece of legislation called Senate Bill 166, those would be allowed to go forward as well. Let's tackle this judicial vacancy part first.

Mitch, folks may have had something like this happen maybe in their county or their municipality, whether a county commissioner or city council member steps down, moves to a higher office. It is pretty typical that a political party, that of the elected official, is replaced by that same political party. What exactly was the unconstitutional part that this three-judge panel ruled as it relates to Josh Stein being able to appoint somebody from potentially a different political party for one of these judicial nominations?

Well, the judges didn't tell us because the order was only two pages, and basically, what they said was almost exactly what I said to you: that the governor ruled, that the governor proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the judicial vacancies piece was unconstitutional.

Now, there were some signals about why they felt that way during the hearing. One of them is that the text of the state constitution spells out some details of what has to happen when other judicial appointments are made. But when it comes to these appointments to Superior Court, Or to the Court of Appeals or the state Supreme Court. This is Article 4, Section 19, and it basically just says the governor will appoint someone. And it doesn't say anything about as prescribed by law or as spelled out elsewhere in the Constitution.

It basically is, it stops right there. It says the governor will make the appointment. And the argument from Governor Stein, which seemed to get support among the judges as they were asking questions, was, you know, where in the Constitution does it say that the General Assembly can go back and change that? The argument from lawmakers was, Where does it say in the Constitution that they can't? That the Constitution basically is a limit on the power of the General Assembly.

And if it doesn't tell the General Assembly it can't do something, then it can do it. That was the argument from the lawmakers. I don't think that the judges on that panel bought that argument because they basically, in their question, said, Well, other parts of the Constitution dealing with these replacements, they'll say as prescribed by law or as spelled out otherwise, but on these parts. Judicial appointments, the Court of Appeals, Supreme Court, and also the alumpton Superior Court, because the governor makes appointments there too. Basically, it just says the governor will make an appointment.

and it doesn't say anything about the General Assembly having any sort of role.

Now, as we look at the Utilities Commission part of this, a little bit of deja vu as it relates to the North Carolina State Board of Elections. I feel like we heard some of the same arguments from the governor and his attorneys during that process as well. Is it essentially the same case there, just a different entity instead of the State Board of Elections? We're talking about the Utilities Commission? Very similar in the sense that the argument that the governor made was that he needed to have control over the Utilities Commission as an executive branch agency that is housed technically under the Commerce Department, so under one of his cabinet-level agencies.

And remember, in the State Board of Elections case, the major piece of this was whether the General Assembly could move appointments from one statewide elected executive branch official, the governor, to another statewide elected executive branch official, the auditor. And in the latest court ruling, basically, the Supreme Court said. Yeah, that can happen. And it has not been completely resolved, but the state Supreme Court has stepped in and sided with the ruling that would move elections board appointments to the auditor Dave Bollock. In this case, the argument was.

That The governor had three appointments. All three appointments are remaining with the executive branch. Two of them are remaining with the governor, but the other one is going to another elected statewide executive branch official, a member of the Council of State, the treasurer Brad Briner. And that seemed to be compelling to the judges. In fact, the one judge who asked the most questions during this hearing was Graham Shirley.

And he seemed to be very critical. Of the legislator's arguments in the judicial vacancies case, but he also seemed very critical of the governor's arguments on the deal with the Utilities Commission.

So as Graham Shirley went, that seemed to be where the full panel went on this case. Mitch, thanks for walking us through the details this morning. You can read additional coverage over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Mitch Kokai from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. How to have fun anytime, anywhere.

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Turning our attention back to the General Assembly this morning, a bill aimed to curb the diversity, equity and inclusion DEI agenda in North Carolina public schools was on the move in the North Carolina House this week. Senate Bill 227. aims to remove DEI offices, staff, and divisive concepts from school, ensuring that education focuses on core curriculum without promoting ideologies deemed inconsistent with equality. The legislation outlines 12 divisive concepts, such as the belief that one race or sex is inherently superior to another, the idea that the meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist, and the belief that the United States was founded to oppress certain groups. The measure, which passed the Senate in March along party lines, was presented to the House Judiciary Committee yesterday by one of its key sponsors, the Senate majority leader, Republican Senator Michael Lee of New Hanover County.

Lee addressed examples of DEI-related trainings in K through 12 schools that he says perpetrated divisive and deepened societal issues. These sessions, he noted, included teachings on witnesses as whiteness as property, interest covergent, and a concept suggesting that racial justice is only supported by white individuals when it benefits their own interests. Lee said, quote, these sessions often cost tens of thousands of dollars. And he also shared a personal story to underscore his perspective on the issue. He told the lawmakers in the house, quote, my father moved from Taiwan in the early 1960s and married my mother in 1964.

It wasn't even legal in North Carolina for my parents to get married because it didn't become legal until after 1967. He noted that he said, quote, I do have a sense of some of these issues, but to be training teachers and administrators on these type of concepts that say that some races are better than others or think that they're better than others is not.

Something that we need to be doing in our public school. As you can imagine, the bill has drawn significant criticism from Democrats who expressed concerns over its potential implications for teaching history. Representative Brandon Lofton, the Democrat out of Mecklenburg County, said, It's common sense that we obviously don't want schools to teach that one race or sex is inherently superior to another, or that people are inherently racist, or people should feel guilty. What concerns me is the chilling effect that this bill will have on the teaching of history. He doubled down by saying, I find that particularly troubling that we would want to say that you're only safe if you have an impartial discussion of historical oppression.

I think we ought to be able to say unequivocally that slavery was wrong and that it is evil and that segregation was wrong and to not have that as an impartial discussion. Republicans in the legislature began a push to ban DEI and critical race theory from classrooms in 2021, but those efforts fell prey to then-Governor Roy Cooper's veto stamp. In 2023, the House passed an anti-CRT bill and sent it over to the Senate.

However, the chamber didn't take up the measure. Dr. Bob Lubke, the director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation, said, quote, it's unfortunate that we even need to take additional steps to ensure that our children and those that work in our schools are treated equally and don't become victims of unjust discrimination. Senate Bill 277 bolsters the ideals of equality and non-discrimination enshrined in not only the United States but North Carolina Constitution and would end the teachings of these concepts about race or the inferiority of one group or another as well as the superiority of one group or another group. In my view, these safeguards can't come soon enough.

Obviously, diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI, critical race theory, and others have been a rather hot-button political issue over the last couple of years. We will continue to track the progress of Senate Bill 277 right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour and on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.

Well, that's going to do it for a Wednesday edition. WBT News is next. Followed by Good Morning, BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3, WBT. Step into the world of power, loyalty, and luck.

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