The conference report on the so-called “mask ban bill” sailed through the Senate without opposition Thursday, but only because every Democrat was absent from the chamber when the vote took place.

The conference report adds an exemption for people who need to wear masks for medical reasons, but also makes a change to campaign financing law that Senate leader Phil Berger, Republican, said will correct an imbalance that hurts Republicans.

“What the provision in the conference report does is it levels the playing field so that both Republican and Democrat national organizations can actually donate money to state parties in the same way,” he said.

It was the campaign finance provision that Democrats — who held a news conference in front of the Legislative Building an hour or so later — objected to.

Berger said he didn’t think much of the Democrats leaving the chamber. “I don’t think they had any way to defend what the state board of elections has done, and so they decided to leave and not say anything on the floor about it,” Berger said. “I also think that they abandoned their constituents by not registering their votes.”

Democrats disagree.

“Senate Democrats walked out today because this election bill literally allows convicted felons and millionaires to buy our coming election,” Sen. Jay J. Chaudhuri, D-Wake, told reporters. “We walked out today because it is critical to shine a light in a dark-of-night, rushed process that will undermine the democratic process.”

Chaudhuri called the bill addition an “eleventh-hour” decision that even non-partisan legislative staff couldn’t sufficiently explain. Sen. Michael Garrett, D-Guilford, called the actions of Republicans particularly shameful today — the 80th anniversary of D-Day. 

Earlier in the day, there was conflicting testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform as embattled Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Wayne Goodwin sat side-by-side with a vendor he says let North Carolina down.

Rep. Harry Warren, R-Rowan, the presiding co-chair of the committee, set the tone immediately with a five-minute opening statement outlining shortcomings in the processing of drivers licenses and conflicting accounts from the DMV of who is to blame.

The proper processing of drivers licenses is especially important now that the state requires voters to show photo identification, Warren said. Processing problems help people looking to discredit voter ID requirements for political reasons.

The ongoing delays, Warren said, lead some “to suspect a deliberate attempt to sabotage voter rolls, in addition to making life difficult for North Carolinians looking to vote, travel or prove [their] identity for other reasons.”

Goodwin said progress is being made, that the DMV is in better shape today than it was in January 2022, and that problems with the licenses manufactured by vendor Idemia forced a change.

Most frustrating, he said, was watching a 12-day backlog grow to as long as eight weeks, reaching a peak of 354,697 cards.

Representing Idemia, Lisa Shoemaker told legislators that her testimony would be direct to the point of being “uncomfortable.” She said Idemia had been a vendor partner to the state for more than 25 years, and that the issues in question began after DMV notified the company about an error on the DMV’s part that led to the backlog.

She accused the DMV of negotiating with a new vendor while telling her company that a request for proposal was still in the works. “In February, when the backlog issue occurred, the DMV did not act with transparency,” she said. “They failed to give Idemia a full picture. Even the root cause was not fully disclosed.”

Warren said the testimony would resume later in the day, after the House concluded its session.

Also on Thursday

In the House, as Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, thanked the pages for their service and wished them a good summer, he added that it may be a little longer before lawmakers can soak in the sun. 

“We might be here a little while, looks like,” Moore said, drawing laughs.

Rep. Dudley Greene, R-McDowell, presented House Bill 1019 in the House Finance Committee on Thursday morning. It will raise the McDowell County occupancy tax from 5%  to 6%. After the bill filing deadline, Caswell and Pender counties also joined in on the bill and will be subject to the increase.  

The North Carolina Farm Act of 2024 also received a favorable report in the Finance Committee. A major change from the bill’s appearance in House Agriculture yesterday will be a change to 60 days from 90 days for required time between county and traveling fairs. Rep. Eric Ager, D-Buncombe, noted that they would be unable to host any other smaller fairs all summer given the date of their always-popular Great Mountain State Fair. 

Rep. Deb Butler, D-New Hanover, complimented Rep. John R. Bradford III, R-Mecklenburg, for his work on a squatting bill. The Finance Committee approved a $25 fee a property owner can pay law enforcement if their presence is wanted during the period of removal. 

“I think you did a really good job of balancing competing interests on this bill,” Butler said. “There are some penalties for bringing this sort of expedited action in a frivolous manner.”

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