NC House overrides Cooper veto of school vouchers, ICE bill

However, the N.C. Senate opted to postpone its veto override vote until 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a statement Friday that “I expect the Senate to override Gov. Cooper’s veto of House Bill 10.”

House Bill 10 passed the legislature on Sept. 11, but was vetoed by Cooper on Sept. 20.

The state House has now overridden all nine of Cooper’s vetoes this session.

That includes Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 445, titled “Recording of Court-Filed Documents, by the same 72-44 vote Tuesday. SB445 became law following the House veto override vote.

HB10 contains $460 million for the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program for the 2024-25 school year. Funding for the waitlist is retroactive, with eligible families qualifying for a tuition reimbursement from their schools.

HB10 also would force all North Carolina sheriffs to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, beginning Dec. 1 for offenses committed on or after that date.

ICE sheriffs’ cooperation

Cooper, who successfully vetoed versions of the ICE legislation in 2019 and 2022, has expressed concerns about potential criminal penalties for sheriffs who decline to cooperate with ICE in detaining inmates.

Bill sponsors said HB10 contains language they believe addresses those concerns, such as requiring jail administrators to “adopt a policy for compliance” with ICE cooperation requirements.

Although more than 90 sheriffs in North Carolina voluntarily comply with ICE requests, several in metro counties — including Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough of Forsyth County and Sheriff Danny Rogers of Guilford County — have limited their cooperation.

Kimbrough and Rogers could not be immediately reached for comment on the House’s veto override vote.

Kimbrough said after Cooper’s 2022 veto that “we will continue to do what is moral, what is legal and what is right. We have been and will continue to be a law-abiding law enforcement agency.”

The compromise retains the Senate version’s language that requires all sheriffs to hold suspects in certain crimes for at least 48 hours when their immigration status is unknown, or they are in the country illegally.

“They would be held long enough for ICE to come in and do their job in a more controlled environment rather than in local communities in a much more dangerous environment,” state Rep. Destin Hall, R-Watauga, said during the House floor debate. Hall is the projected House speaker for the 2025-26 sessions.

Hall said President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, having campaigned on a pledge of a “Day One” launch of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, should show the will of Americans on the ICE cooperation issue.

However, several House Democrats argued the victory of Democrat Gov.-elect Josh Stein over Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson — who supported Trump’s undocumented immigrant deportation stance — shows the will of North Carolinians on the issue.

Hall said the number of undocumented immigrants “is an issue that does tear at the fabric of our society of victims, so the bill puts an end to this insanity and is the best thing for our state for public safety.”

Rep. Carla Cunningham, D-Mecklenburg, said that while she did not support the expansion of the school voucher program, she felt there is a need for sheriffs to cooperate with ICE agents to help reduce the presence of individuals engaging in human trafficking of undocumented immigrants, along with the amount of criminal activity in Mecklenburg.

“These cases highlight the vulnerability we face and underscore the need for collaboration between local law enforcement and federal agencies like ICE to protect American lives,” Cunningham said.

The N.C. Sheriffs’ Association issued a statement Tuesday declaring its support of the current HB10 version.

“The association appreciates the legislature for its willingness not to impose onerous recordkeeping requirements on our state’s 100 sheriffs, and not to interject the attorney general into these judicial matters.”

School vouchers

The language in HB10 allows North Carolina parents — no matter how much they make — to get vouchers to help cover tuition for K-12 private or religious schools for their children.

There are more than 72,000 voucher applications for this school year, but only about 16,000 students were approved before the money ran out.

Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, said there have been 27,256 applicants in Tier 1, which includes the lowest-income household, as well as 13,060 in Tier 2, 25,750 in Tier 3 and 12,228 in Tier 4, which Lee said half of which come from Mecklenburg and Wake counties.

Cooper has declared a state public education emergency in response to the proposed Opportunity Scholarship expansion. He spent the past week making a final appeal to Republican legislators — particularly those in western North Carolina — to keep Hurricane Helene disaster relief funding as their top priority.

“Helene was the most devastating storm our state has ever seen, and there is a long and expensive road of recovery ahead for Western North Carolina,” Cooper said in a statement.

“Legislators should invest billions of dollars in western North Carolina recovery instead of locking in billions for private school vouchers.”

Berger said in his statement that “Republicans have a strong track record of fiscal responsibility, which means we can expand parental school choice while at the same time building a healthy savings reserve to ensure we can respond to natural disasters like Hurricane Helene.”

Republican legislative leadership pulled the veto override vote during the two Helene disaster relief funding sessions, where a combined $877.1 million has received bipartisan support to be withdrawn from the state’s rainy-day fund of $4.7 billion.

The foremost impact from the massive funding of school vouchers would begin to be felt in fiscal 2025-26 with a $625 million commitment, up from $415.5 million previously pledged.

After a $675 million commitment for fiscal 2026-27, the funding would increase by $25 million per fiscal year to reach $825 million for 2033-33.

Rep. Julie von Haefen, D-Wake, said Tuesday “I don’t understand the thinking” about how legislators — whose counties do not have a single private or religious school that could benefit from the school vouchers — are supporting sending money to parents in Mecklenburg and Wake counties who can afford private and religious school tuition costs without a voucher.

“These legislators who are voting to override this bill today are not voting in favor of their own constituents and the children who live in their districts,” von Haefen said. “They are taking action that will support other counties.”

Von Haefen also cited the lack of financial and academic accountability, compared with public schools, in many of the schools that accept school vouchers.

“This state is the most unaccountable private school voucher program in the entire country,” von Hsefen said.’

“Do we require testing of schools that receive vouchers? No. Do we require our private school teachers to be certified? No. Do we require accreditation of our private schools? No. Do we require vetting of the curriculum of private schools? No.”

Rep. Tricia Cotham, R-Mecklenburg, defended the school voucher program and called for an ending “to political posturing from the executive level to (the legislature), the political theater.”

Cotham’s stunning switch from Democrat to Republican in April 2023 created the House super-majority that has led to the ability for overriding Cooper vetoes. Increased Opportunity Scholarship funding has been her priority since her shift.

“This is about parents being able to pick what is best for their child,” Cotham said. “We do not need to set up a false choice between hurricane relief, public school funding and funding for the Opportunity scholarships.

“We should not try to set up a war of public schools, school choice and charter schools. They can all work together.

“It’s not an either-or situation, and the accountability piece should be the parents.”