NC Weekly Policy Update for 8/23/20

Covid-19

• This week, four separate UNC system universities moved to shift all undergraduate classes online. UNC Chapel Hill, NC State University, East Carolina University and UNC Charlotte have all seen increases in COVID-19 cases associated with students returning to campus. UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz expressed surprise at the “velocity and magnitude of the virus’ spread” and cited a failure of students to follow mitigation requirements off campus as a factor in the spread. NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson cited a spike in cases and in the number of students in quarantine and isolation, expressing disappointment with non-compliant off-campus gatherings. Newly appointed UNC System President Peter Hans says his office will continue to look at campus-specific needs across the UNC system, but medical experts, public health officials, campus town leaders and students have long been highly critical of the decision to reopen in-person classes.

• On August 13, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest dropped his lawsuit against Gov. Cooper, in which he had claimed the governor did not have the right to issue executive orders related to mitigating COVID-19 without the concurrence of the council of state. He had asked the court to stay the governor’s powers until after the case was decided, but Wake County Superior Court Judge Jim Gale dismissed Forest’s argument as unlikely to succeed, and Forest declined to pursue the case further.

Voting Rights

• While absentee voting in the state has historically made up only a small percentage of total votes, State Board of Elections data shows requests for mail-in ballots - now numbering over 300,000 - are on track to exceed the combined number from North Carolina’s last two general elections. As of Thursday, 53% of requests have come from registered Democrats, 15% from Republicans, and about 30% from unaffiliated voters.

• Attorney General Josh Stein joined attorneys general from five other states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit seeking to block changes to the US Postal Service, asserting the changes will reduce the Postal Service’s ability to handle a projected substantial increase in mail-in ballots due to coronavirus concerns. Stein said the lawsuit “seeks to immediately reverse the agency’s actions and guarantee safeguards and standards for election mail.”

Economic and Housing Policy

• North Carolina applied for and received funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that would enable the state to pay $300 weekly unemployment benefits retroactively for the first three weeks of August. That represents half of the $600 benefit that expired July 31. Because the new funds are not paid through the existing unemployment systems and program, it remains uncertain as to when the payments will actually be made. NC Division of Employment Security officials have cited “additional burdens” imposed by the new program and the necessity to “reprogram its benefits system” to meet payment schedules.

• According to the NC Division of Employment Security, while the overall number of North Carolinians employed increased in June, the July unemployment rate rose from 7.5% to 8.5%. This rate is more than double pre-coronavirus rates, but it is an improvement over the peak COVID-19 rate of 12.9% in April.

Health Care Policy

• State Treasurer Dale Folwell announced new incentives, including reduced co-pays, to encourage State Health Plan participants to sign up with health care providers who agree to be part of the “Clear Pricing Project,” a new payment model. Folwell has claimed that the model, which ties health care providers’ reimbursement rates to Medicare rates, is a more transparent and less expensive insurance plan for state employees, teachers, state retirees and their families. Major hospital systems in the state have refused to join the plan, saying the reimbursement rates would force cuts in services. Duke University professor Ronnie Chatterji, Folwell’s Democratic opponent in the upcoming election, strongly criticized Folwell and the Clear Pricing Project, calling instead for expanded Medicaid and a reimbursement strategy based on data-driven assessment of hospital healthcare outcomes.

Criminal Justice

• On Tuesday, Governor Cooper signed an executive order that will eliminate the requirement to disclose criminal convictions on applications for many North Carolina state jobs. As a result of this move to “ban the box,”applicants for many jobs will not be required to routinely report having a criminal conviction, an admission that often automatically excludes a person from consideration for a job even if the conviction is very old or unrelated to the position sought. Jobs related to security clearance or law enforcement are not included in the order. The order goes into effect Nov. 1.

• A three-judge NC Superior Court panel heard arguments Wednesday challenging the state’s felon disenfranchisement law. The current law restores voting rights to those convicted of a felony after they have served their complete sentences, including prison and probation or parole; the lawsuit calls for the return of voting rights after a person is released from prison. Citing both a history of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system and uneven application of judicial prerogative in sentencing, the plaintiffs argue the law will prevent around 60,000 North Carolinians from voting in November. Lawyers for the defendants, including the state of North Carolina and the Republican-led legislature, say changing the law is up to the legislature, not the courts. The panel of judges expects to issue a decision by September 4.

NC Weekly Policy Update for 8/17/20

Voting Rights

• In a letter delivered Friday to NC Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, the US Postal Service warns that “certain deadlines for requesting and casting mail-in ballots are incongruous with the Postal Service’s delivery standards.” As a result, state election officials are recommending that voters cast their absentee ballots early -- and at least a week before Election Day. Voters can request absentee ballots now, which will begin mailing on September 4. Completed ballots may also be delivered in person to your county board of elections office or to an open early voting site during the early voting period.

Education Policy

• On Wednesday Governor Cooper announced nearly $100 million in emergency education spending from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER fund), part of the federal CARES Act. Nearly half of the money will go toward increased hiring of school nurses, counselors, social workers, and psychologists; the remainder will be spent on increased programming for at-risk and disabled students, tuition assistance to students in Community College programs for high-demand fields, emergency assistance for college students in the state, and support for the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics and the UNC School of the Arts. While Republicans in the General Assembly had asked the Governor to use GEER funds for additional bonuses to teachers and other public school employees, he maintained that such use of funds was not allowed by the law.

• On Monday employees at UNC system schools filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court, seeking a restraining order to stop the UNC system schools from forcing employees to work in unsafe conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The suit was filed the same day that UNC-Chapel Hill Provost Bob Blouin defended administrators’ decision not to reveal a recommendation from the Orange County Health Department to move all classes online and restrict on-campus housing until after it was reported in the media. Later in the week, UNC-Chapel Hill confirmed multiple clusters of COVID-19 on campus, prompting the chair of UNC-CH’s faculty, Dr. Mimi Chapman, to request that the UNC Board of Governors allow the school’s Chancellor to make decisions about whether to discontinue in-person instruction.

Economic and Housing Policy

• Governor Cooper informed Republican lawmakers this week that his administration has prepared an application to provide the state matching funds required by President’s Trump’s recent Executive Order extending supplements to unemployment benefits. The $400 boost to unemployment benefits requires $100 in state funds to go along with a federal payment of $300. Whether the state funds will come from the Unemployment Trust Fund as the Governor wishes or from Federal Coronavirus Relief monies has yet to be determined. Cooper also urges extending benefits for 24 weeks as opposed to the existing 12-week duration.

Criminal Justice

• On Thursday a coalition of groups filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state law requiring people convicted of a felony to pay all fines and fees included in their sentence before their voting rights are restored. The groups, which include the North Carolina NAACP, also launched a campaign to raise public awareness of the issue of people who have served their sentences but remain disenfranchised and to pressure state lawmakers into addressing the topic.

• On Friday the NC Supreme Court issued a decision in a case related to the repeal of the Racial Justice Act, finding that the defendant, Marcus Robinson, who had successfully appealed his death sentence under the law when it was in place, could not be resentenced to death given its repeal. The 4-3 majority opinion, authored by Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, found that such reimposition of the death sentence would constitute double jeopardy. The Racial Justice Act, a state law that allowed defendants to make a showing that racial bias tainted their trials, was passed in 2009 and repealed in 2013. Another ruling related to the case, issued two months ago, found that the repeal of the RJA could not be applied retroactively to pending cases.

NC Weekly Policy Update for 8/10/20

COVID-19

• Arguments in a lawsuit challenging Governor Cooper’s implementation of emergency powers without concurrence from the NC Council of State were presented in North Carolina Business Court Tuesday. Lt. Gov. Dan Forest brought the suit, arguing state law requires the governor to get council of state approval before shutting down sections of the state economy, but the governor’s representative disputes this reading of the law. Senior Judge James Gale has indicated he will decide the case as quickly as possible.

• Governor Cooper announced that North Carolina will remain in Phase 2 of the state’s COVID-19-related reopening plan for at least five more weeks. Bars and gyms will remain closed and other non-essential businesses will continue to operate at the currently reduced capacity. Cooper and DHHS chief Mandy Cohen report infection rates are beginning to stabilize but remain high, and the reopening of schools in combination with the fact that over 50% of the state’s residents are at high risk due to age and/or chronic conditions make it necessary to keep Phase 2 safety measures in place.

• The UNC Chapel Hill administration faced criticism for failing to publicly reveal Orange County health department recommendations to hold online-only classes and severely limit on-campus housing. Dr. Mimi Chapman, chair of the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty, called the decision to not share the health department recommendations “a serious breach of trust.” She noted that returning students are not following mask and social distancing, behaviors that the university has said would lead to a revision of its reopening plan. UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz indicated the decision not to follow the county recommendations was made by the UNC System leaders, who have directed all system chancellors to follow orders but not recommendations from public health officials. Unions and groups representing UNC system personnel are urging county health directors in college communities to order universities to close for normal business during the COVID-19 pandemic “until such time as students, faculty and staff can return safely to their work.”
  

Voting Rights

• A federal court decision announced Tuesday leaves certain state voting requirements unchanged but modifies others. The voter registration period will not be extended and the one-witness requirement for absentee ballots will remain in place. However, election officials will not be permitted to reject an absentee ballot for superficial errors, and the order also blocks a number of rules that would make it harder for nursing home residents to vote. Although this order solidifies some voting rules, there are at least nine additional lawsuits targeting aspects of the state’s voting laws. In his 188-page decision, U.S. District Judge William Osteen warned that North Carolina must “take its election response to the coronavirus pandemic seriously” in order to assure voters fundamental voting rights because plaintiffs “raised genuine issues of concerns” beyond those addressed by his order.
  

Education Policy

• UNC-Chapel Hill will ask the US Supreme Court to review a NC Supreme Court decision ordering the University to make available to the public the names of students sanctioned for sexual misconduct. The records at issue are part of any case filed under the University’s Equal Opportunity Compliance Title IX provisions, rather than being reported to law enforcement agencies, and are kept confidential. News media had sued the University in 2016 after being denied the records as a part of a public records request. University officials fear the loss of confidentiality will discourage assault survivors and witnesses from taking advantage of the Title IX provision. Advocates for releasing the records argue that it will lead to more transparency about the extent of sexual assault on campus.

• The State Board of Education will ask the NC General Assembly to adjust state law so that school districts will not lose funding if public school enrollment numbers fall this year. The Board is concerned that COVID-19 may lead parents to seek other options for their children. Funding for public schools is determined by enrollment numbers, and losing funding could impact efforts to implement alternatives to in-person classes during the health crisis as well as to prepare for when these classes resume. School officials expressed concern that a reduction in funding would also disproportionately impact low-wealth communities.