Tougher riot penalties becoming NC law with no veto from Cooper
RALEIGH, N.C. — Increased punishments for rioting in North Carolina will become law later this year as Democratic
Gov. Roy Cooper announced Friday he wouldn’t use his veto stamp on legislation that’s similar to a bill he successfully blocked in 2021.
The Republican-controlled legislature sent the measure to Cooper last week. He had until late Monday to sign or veto the bill, which emerged from the 2020 racial injustice demonstrations that at times turned violent. Cooper said he will allow the bill to become law without his signature.
Cooper’s decision means he’ll delay, for now, the first override showdown this year with a legislature that has become more Republican since his veto two years ago. It’s also likely to displease social justice advocates who had urged him to veto this year’s bill, saying it would restrict the right to protest.
In a release, Cooper acknowledged changes “were made to modify this legislation’s effect” after his earlier veto but still said he had concerns.
“Property damage and violence are already illegal and my continuing concerns about the erosion of the First Amendment and the disparate impacts on communities of color will prevent me from signing this legislation,” he said.
Two years ago, there were enough Democrats in the House and Senate to uphold the riot bill veto on their own. But now the GOP has a veto-proof majority in the Senate and is just one seat short of a similar advantage in the House.
Seven Democrats — including six in the House — voted for this year’s measure. And one of the six House Democrats was a chief sponsor of the measure. These raised the prospects for a successful override.
Social justice and civil rights advocates again strongly opposed the measure, saying the new and more severe crimes would suppress free speech by intimidating people from speaking out in peaceful protests for fear of arrest. They said it was a direct attack on Black Lives Matter demonstrators and other minority groups. Nearly 30 groups wrote Cooper, asking him to veto the measure.
The rioting bill would increase punishments — potentially by a couple of years or longer — for crimes of willfully participating in a riot or inciting one to cover more severe circumstances. They would include if a rioter brandishes a weapon or causes serious bodily injury. New crimes would be created for a rioter who causes a death or someone who incites rioting that contributes to a death.
The bill would let property owners with damaged businesses seek compensation from a riot perpetrator equal to three times the monetary damage. And defendants accused of rioting or looting could have to wait for 24 hours before getting a bond set.
Nine other states have passed similar protest laws since June 2020, according to the International Center for Not-For-Profit Law.