Joe Mavretic's Perspective on Senate Bill 10

Published February 20, 2013

by Joe Mavretic

A review of state government should be conducted about every twenty-five years. The review should be one part of a CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW required by our constitution. Our state constitution is the way of stating the way we choose to live. As such, each generation should have a way of deciding the rules under which it chooses to live. State constitutions are intended to change with the times. The constitutions of the several states are supposed to reflect the differences between the states and the various ways each state chooses to deal with its internal affairs. Senate Bill 10 is a proper effort to propose a way of organizing state government for the next several years. Of course, the knee-jerk reaction is to inject partisan politics into this reorganization; however, SB-10 is a tussle between status-quo and change. This kind of confrontation could be reduced by an amendment to our state constitution that requires constitutional review four times each century.

The issue of locus of appointments is part of the continuing accommodation to gubernatorial succession and gubernatorial veto. This Assembly should do what it believes it should lawfully do for the good of North Carolina. Any agency is diminished by the loss of "institutional knowledge" but no public agency should ever depend upon the presence of a single person. The underlying issue embedded in SB-10 is a political philosophy and that involves fundamental changes in the way state government operates. One difficulty with "Political Appointees" by any administration is that some are not necessarily appointees of good character with the required competence. One of the most difficult tasks for any administration is identifying capable and loyal individuals who are willing to serve.

Generally, SB-10 will have many amendments as it moves through the House, after it passes the House, as amended, it will go to a conference committee where further changes will be made, and I believe the conference report will be enacted into law without veto.

Joe Mavretic is former House Speaker and an NC Spin Panelist