This is great news. I had posted about this issue earlier today.
Even Donny Lambeth and Dr. Timothy Reeder voted in favor of the bill. John Faircloth and Cecil Brockman were absent.
Kudos to Republicans for passing this important bill. Roy Cooper is equivalent to vermin; and will likely veto it. I don’t know whether the Republicans will have sufficient votes to override his veto. But at least they had the moral sense– or at least the political sense– to pass the bill.
Even if Republicans are able to override Cooper’s anticipated veto, they will likely face a challenge from one or more activist federal judges. I hope the Supreme Court clarifies this situation quickly somehow, because the matter is already being litigated in response to similar laws previously passed by other states.
It is indeed a long and winding road to get good public policy in place.
The crux of the matter, Fred, is that it would be very difficult to justify not acting on this issue.