Photo: Tim Barnwell
by Nelda Holder –
The opinions expressed are solely those of the author, who is fond of awards and hence her generosity.
She acknowledges there were bills that successfully carried on the actual business of the legislature and/or created good change in the state’s laws. The following awards, however, are aimed at spotlighting serious legislative missteps. The state’s citizenry would do well to demand correction.
1st Place: NC State Budget 2023-2005 (Part I)
After failing to produce a budget bill (HB 259) on time (just how is it that legislators get away with that one super-important task? Who else gets to produce their annual budget three months late?), the Republican majority’s $30-billion plan for our financial year ahead was finally presented to the people of North Carolina. Only—What’s this? A provision in the BUDGET that gives the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations policing powers, or more precisely the power to conduct investigations with seemingly no oversight.
More precisely, as outlined in a fairly hair-raising “Secret Police” article reported by Truthout on Oct. 2, Gov Ops could investigate “Possible instances of misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, mismanagement, waste, abuse, or illegal conduct” by other state or local agencies or private companies or individuals who receive state funding (emphasis added). Those “others” could include contractors, subcontractors, state-run universities, and charities.
If this doesn’t alarm you, I’m curious exactly what it will take! But let me add that, as enumerated by Truthout, “individuals under investigation would be forbidden from speaking publicly” about possible misdeeds by investigators. They would also be barred from “consulting with legal counsel about their rights, and searches of properties … could occur without the need for a warrant.”
I ask you, Good Citizen: Does this sound like the kind of government we…
Read the full article here
