WILMINGTON — Republican legislators pushed controversial House Bill 56 closer to law, voting to override Governor Roy Cooper’s veto in a 70-44 vote that split the House along party lines. The State Senate then voted 30-9, again along partisan lines, to make the bill law.
House Bill 56, a complicated multi-part piece of legislation that addressed a number of environmental issues, loosened several regulations including landfill management; it also repealed a long-standing ban on plastic bags in the Outer Banks.
The bill was recently amended, following a push by State Senator Michael Lee. The amendment provided $185,000 to the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority and $250,000 for University of North Carolina Wilmington for testing and filtering of GenX. The amendment followed a rejection, by Republican state senators, of Governor Cooper’s request for a $2.58 million emergency appropriation to fund the Department of Quality and Department of Health and Human Services.
Governor Cooper vetoed the bill on Sept. 21, calling the bill “cynical,” and pointing to its failure to address other emerging contaminants and its problematic rollback of environmental regulations. Senate Republicans quickly called for a swift override of the veto.
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