The Caucus: Iryna’s Law

Iryna’s Law

North Carolina’s top Republicans have agreed on a legislative response to the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte light rail last month.

The state Senate approved “Iryna’s Law” on Monday in a 28-8 vote that broke along party lines. (Several members left early for Rosh Hashanah.)

The measure will be up for final approval in the state House today. If it passes, Gov. Josh Stein will have 10 days to decide whether to sign the bill, veto it, or let it become law without his signature.

Morgan Hopkins, a spokesperson for Stein, said the governor is reviewing the legislation and “will always do everything in his power to keep people safe.”

The Assembly obtained a draft of the bill over the weekend. The final version has a few changes. 

Here are the most significant updates: 

• Unlike the initial draft, the bill now includes $1.6 million for Mecklenburg County to hire 10 additional full-time district attorneys.
• Legislators removed one of the provisions that got the most criticism in the draft. It would have allowed law enforcement agencies to hold defendants with mental health issues for up to 72 hours before the defendant underwent a mental health evaluation. That provision is gone.
• A late amendment from Senate leader Phil Berger would allow additional execution methods, including firing squads. 

Here’s what else the bill would do:

• Restrict cashless bail for certain offenses.
• Give more explicit instructions for magistrates on how to deal with potentially violent individuals with mental health issues. If a defendant is charged with a violent offense and has been involuntarily committed in the last three years or a judicial official comes to believe the defendant is a danger to themselves or others, the judicial official would need to order the individual to be evaluated for involuntary commitment.
• Require more collaboration with court officials and law enforcement, and judicial officials would have to explain in writing the reasoning behind their decisions on pretrial release conditions.
• Direct a group to study execution methods not currently authorized under state law, the intersection of mental health and the criminal justice system, and the bandwidth of counties and districts to carry out house arrests.
• The state Supreme Court chief justice—currently Republican Paul Newby—could initiate suspension proceedings against magistrates, a power afforded to the chief district judge in the area the magistrate was appointed. All 10 of North Carolina’s Republican U.S. House members signed onto a letter earlier this month calling for the removal of Teresa Stokes, the magistrate who granted DeCarlos Brown Jr.’s release on a written promise to return for a hearing, following his arrest in January.
• As we reported earlier this month, Berger and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley took aim at a racial equity task force then-Gov. Roy Cooper assembled. In 2020, the task force made a series of recommendations that were never implemented, such as eliminating cash bail for certain misdemeanors. Under the crime bill, Stein wouldn’t be allowed to recreate the task force. (The group ceased operating when Cooper’s executive order expired at the end of 2024.)

Sen. Danny Britt, a Robeson County Republican, said he sees the bill as an important step to prevent future tragedies.

“We’ve needed to look at pretrial release conditions a little bit closer,” Britt said. “We just have a state where there’s a large difference between what type of pretrial release conditions are being placed on defendants in different areas.”

— Bryan Anderson

Thanks for reading The Caucus, a politics newsletter anchored by Bryan Anderson. Reach us with tips or ideas at politics@theassemblync.com.

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A Flurry of Activity

The Senate on Monday advanced a flurry of other bills, all of which now go to the House for consideration. Here are some of the toplines:

Defunding Planned Parenthood

Under one bill the Senate passed, Planned Parenthood would be removed from the state’s Medicaid program, costing it a key funding source. 

Paige Johnson, the group’s regional president and CEO, said the law as enacted would harm the state’s poorest and most medically vulnerable residents.

“House Bill 192 simply means that cancers will go undetected, STIs will go untreated and people will not be able to get the birth control they need to plan their families and their futures,” Johnson said. “And this will be on you.”

Sen. Amy Galey, an Alamance County Republican, said she fears Planned Parenthood misdirects funds to promote abortion-related services. She also criticized Planned Parenthood for donating to pro-choice Democrats.

“Planned Parenthood is not a good-faith provider of health care services to women,” Galey said. “I think that they should not be receiving state funds in any way, shape, or form.”

Medicaid Holdup

North Carolina health officials are sounding the alarm that the state needs to fully fund the Medicaid rebase—the amount of money needed to keep providing current service levels—by October 1. Nonpartisan economists and legislative staff disagree on the amount needed, with estimates ranging from $190 million to $319 million.

“I am willing to compromise at $190 million with a commitment to reevaluate in January where expenditures are trending six months into the fiscal year,” Stein wrote in a letter to lawmakers last week. “At that point in time, we can work together to determine if the funding is sufficient, additional funding is needed, or provider cuts will need to be implemented.”

On Sunday, the House and Senate released plans aimed at helping sidestep looming Medicaid cuts.

Good news, right? Everyone’s happy, right? Not so fast.

Read more about Planned Parenthood, Medicaid, and other Senate bills here.

— Bryan Anderson

Shady Summer

If you were looking for any signs of how the budget discussions are going, I refer you to last week’s summer shade festival between Rep. Brenden Jones, a top House budget negotiator, and Berger.

As a reminder, the big sticking point between the two chambers is taxes. The House GOP has sought to, in effect, hit pause on forthcoming tax cuts. The Senate wants to move ahead.

“Republicans spent the last 14 years rebuilding our state’s finances after Democrats drove us to the brink of disaster. Our state is thriving because of the NCGA’s economic policies, and I won’t allow us to go back to the days of tax-and-spend catastrophes,” Berger wrote on X.

A whopping 56 minutes later, Jones clapped back on X.

“The last time North Carolina’s savings and future was gambled away, Republicans took the majority in North Carolina. The House Caucus is standing tall and will not repeat the mistakes of the past,” Jones wrote. “That might be an unpopular opinion to some, but we’ll hold strong.”

We’re apparently in the same spot as when budget discussions collapsed in June: Continued political finger-pointing and no legislative action. 

— Bryan Anderson

No Notes

After more than two years, former News & Record reporter Kenwyn Caranna is slightly closer to getting her notes back.

District Judge Ashley Watlington-Simms in July 2024 denied a request from Mike Tadych, attorney for the paper and Caranna, to get an audio recording of a 2023 hearing where Watlington-Simms seized Caranna’s notes and issued a gag order. Last week, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ordered Guilford County court officials to produce a transcript of the 2024 hearing.

It’s a small victory for Caranna. As we previously reported, this all began on July 28, 2023. Caranna was in Watlington-Simms’ court, observing juvenile proceedings for a story she was working on. Courtrooms in North Carolina are open to the public, including those involving juveniles. That afternoon, Watlington-Simms noticed Caranna in the courtroom and asked Caranna to identify herself. Then, an unidentified attorney asked Caranna if she had been taking notes, and when Caranna said yes, Watlington-Simms ordered bailiffs to seize her notes and told Caranna that she could not publicly disclose anything she observed in court that day. 

The judge’s actions appeared to run afoul of two state laws, and legal experts said she violated the U.S. Supreme Court’s prohibition against prior restraint, or the suppression of information news organizations have obtained. Watlington-Simms has said her actions were necessary to protect children’s privacy, but in her gag order and emails to The Assembly, she mangled case law and the rules of North Carolina courtrooms. 

Tadych hasn’t appealed Watlington-Simms’ decision to seize Caranna’s notes and issue the gag order. But he had been trying to appeal Watlington-Simms’ ruling denying him a copy of the audio recording of that hearing. 

According to a petition he filed, he ran into multiple stumbling blocks to order a transcript of the July 2024 hearing in which Watlington-Simms denied him the recording. He couldn’t get any information about whom to contact about ordering the transcript. Then, Guilford County court officials gave him conflicting information about how to file his appeal, Tadych wrote in his petition. 

The Court of Appeals said in its September 18 order that Guilford County officials have 15 days to produce the transcript. Once Tadych files his appeal over the audio recording, it will take months before the Court of Appeals issues a ruling. 

And again, Tadych hasn’t appealed Watlington-Simms’ original ruling. Which means Caranna won’t be getting her notes anytime soon.

— Michael Hewlett

Around the State: JD Vance plans a return to N.C. to talk public safety after Charlotte slaying (Charlotte Observer). Hundreds march in Fayetteville in memory of Charlie Kirk (CityView). Jarrod Lowery is leaving NC House for Trump-appointed job (Border Belt Independent).

Let us know what’s on your radar at politics@theassemblync.com.

Upcoming Birthdays: House Democratic Leader Robert Reives on Wednesday, September 24; Sen. Tim Moffitt on Thursday, September 25; Rep. Nasif Majeed on Saturday, September 27.