Legislating in the age of Covid-19: Progress, slowly, in Raleigh [Free read] – Port City Daily

The North Carolina General Assembly isnt scheduled to go back to work until late April. Many legislators want to start up sooner than that, but there are logistical challenges. (Port City Daily photo/Courtesy NCGA)

RALEIGH The North Carolina General Assembly has a lot of work to do, including dispersing and supplementing the federal aid package and addressing the states limited unemployment benefits. There are two problems though the assembly isnt due to convene for another month and legislators still arent sure how to convene with tight restrictions on public gatherings in place.

With the passage of over $2 trillion in recovery and stimulus funding at the federal level, state representatives will need to map out how to disperse that money; in some cases, that will also involve matching state-level money with federal funds.

Theres also the issue of North Carolina unemployment system which, in short, is designed as a stopgap between jobs, not a support system for hundreds of thousands of workers who lost their jobs as a direct result of Governor Roy Coopers executive orders aimed at halting the spread of Covid-19. While Cooper included measures to relax some of the restrictions on the system, the Governors office cant increase the weekly maximums or the length of time over which benefits are paid.

State legislators can do that but they arent set to return to the General Assemblys short session until late April, a month after Cooper put the entire state on lockdown and a month and a half after his orders shuttered many restaurants and bars.

According to State Senator Harper Peterson and Representative Deb Butler, the assembly will need to meet sooner than that but so far, its not clear when. Or how.

Theres a lot of priorities for front-line healthcare workers we need testing, thats crucial, and we need equipment, PPEs and other resources. We also need small business relief. And of course we have to tackle enhancements for unemployment. In terms of the [federal] relief package, we need to get that money into local hands. Its all important, nobody gets put in the back seat but we cant wait, I cant imagine we wait until the end of April, Peterson said.

Butler also noted the importance of addressing the states disgraceful benefits level, among the lowest in the nation. Still, Butler noted its going to be some time yet before the General Assembly gets to work on the problem.

The main issue: by law, legislators are required to vote in person. Does this present a Catch-22, where legislators would need to vote to change the laws on how the vote, but would be unable to do so because they cant currently convene a sufficient number of representatives to vote on anything?

Peterson said he wasnt sure, but that its a daily conversation. He noted that on Wednesday, the House held its first-ever online committee meeting.

According to Business Insiders Colin Campbell, the Houses coronavirus committee meeting began with the squelch of microphone feedback and was occasionally interrupted by bad connections the run-of-the-mill issues that almost everyone shifting to a remote-working routine is dealing with right now.

While getting the hang of online committee work is a good start, theres still the issue of voting. House Speaker Tim Moore suggested earlier this week that votes could be held open for a longer period of time; Butler also said that votes taken in a staggered fashion was a good possibility.

Send comments and tips to Benjamin Schachtman at ben@localvoicemedia.com, @pcdben on Twitter, and (910) 538-2001

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Legislating in the age of Covid-19: Progress, slowly, in Raleigh [Free read] - Port City Daily