GOP agenda wins but so do the lawyers

Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, July 27, 2013.

Up on Jones Street in Raleigh, our legislators have turned out the lights, shut the door and gone home until the short session begins next May, barring an emergency return to session.

Their final few days were almost dizzying in their intensity, as lawmakers ran through dozens of bills and took some controversial measures off the shelf for last-minute approval.

Enactment of sweeping election-law reforms was most notable and may be short-lived. The expected passage of a voter ID law occurred, but it was accompanied by a flurry of other changes, including loosened campaign-donation requirements that will make it even easier for corporations and special interests to have their way with elections.

But the changes, especially voter ID and the shortening of early-voting periods, have already caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice, which is considering action against Texas, North Carolina and other states for violations of the Voting Rights Act. This will be a factor in the statewide elections of 2014 and 2016.

Voting laws won't be the only occasion for lawsuits, we expect. The 11th-hour passage of new restrictions on abortion, under the guise of making abortion clinics safer, is sure to be challenged, too. While clinic safety was part of the abortion measure, so were restrictions on insurance coverage for the procedure. During his gubernatorial campaign, Gov. Pat McCrory vowed he would take no action to restrict abortions. But now he says he will sign the new law. That's just the beginning of a long brawl.

There was a little less furor over many smaller regulatory changes, but taken together, they could raise a big stink. The stench will be real, in some cases, such as the loosening of requirements for mega-landfills and garbage trucks. The trucks will no longer have to be leakproof, a gift to rubbish haulers and an insult to those of us who drive behind them.

The McCrory and GOP agenda saw few failures in this session. The most important measure to fall short was an acceleration of permits for natural gas fracking. We're grateful for that, because safety regulations aren't ready. And why rush? The gas market is glutted; prices are low. If we're going to extract gas locked in subterranean shale deposits, let's do it when the market really needs it and prices are rising.

For Republicans, this session was a blockbuster success. For Democrats, the low point of a century or more.

And for lawyers, it appears to be a gift that will keep on giving.