NC Senate advances House riot penalties bill

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Legislation that would toughen punishments for violent protests — a response to 2020 demonstrations over racial injustice that at times turned into tumult — advanced in the North Carolina Senate on Tuesday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to recommend the House bill brings the General Assembly closer to a potential veto showdown with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who two years ago successfully blocked a similar measure with a veto. But Republican seat gains in the fall, combined with some bipartisan support for the bill in the House, raises the possibility of an override.

Last month, six Democrats joined all Republicans in the House in voting for the measure, which is being shepherded by Speaker

Tim Moore, as was the 2021 version. The House margin, if left intact, would be veto-proof. Senate Republicans already hold a vetoproof seat advantage in their chamber. This year’s measure now must clear one more Senate committee before it goes to the chamber floor.

Moore’s up-close views of rioting and looting in downtown Raleigh in June 2020,amid otherwise peaceful protests following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, continue to serve as a backdrop for him to seek changes to the rioting statutes.

Under the new measure, punishments already in place to willfully participate in a riot or incite one — and to incur serious injury or property damages during a riot — would increase. And there would be a new felony crime when participating in a riot leads to a death.

The bill would also let property owners whose businesses are damaged during protests seek compensation against a perpetrator equal to three times the monetary damage. And new bond and pretrial release rules for defendants accused of rioting or looting would have a judge set those conditions within 24 hours. Bill supporters have complained that otherwise, defendants can be released immediately by a magistrate.

Moore also mentioned the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2021 in explaining that such laws would also apply to other forms of violence. But he said that the events of 2020 in Raleigh and elsewhere in state shows the need for tougher laws as a deterrence.