Legislative Watch: Senate Committee Confirms Hall

It was almost as if they were all friends. Former State Representative Larry Hall received a largely positive welcome from his former colleagues in the legislature last week.

After the panel of judges reviewing the Cooper Administration’s challenge to the new law requiring him to submit his Cabinet heads declined to intervene, the Secretary of Military and Veterans Affairs, Larry Hall, appeared for his confirmation hearing. The Administration’s lawyers had asked the judges to rule that the Senate could not require appointees to appear in front of “confirmation” panels until the court has ruled on the constitutionality of the law.

It was no surprise that Hall, a well-regarded former legislator, received the Senate Commerce and Insurance Committee’s favorable vote with little difficulty. (The favorable vote was unanimous.) The full Senate is scheduled to consider the nomination this evening (Monday, March 6).

While Hall’s nomination was considered noncontroversial, however, some appointments of major environmental significance are not. In particular, the anti-environmental leadership of the NC Senate has publicly criticized Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan for his work with the Environmental Defense Fund. Regan is among the last cabinet appointments scheduled for consideration, and there is clearly the prospect of attempts to delay or block his appointment.

It’s simple: Governor Cooper and his appointees believe in protecting public health and our state’s clean water, air, and land. The current NC Senate leadership has passed reams of legislation indicating that they do not. They lost their get-along, go-along governor in November, and now they are using every partisan trick in the book to interfere with a strong new governor’s policies that they don’t like.

Up next: Governor Cooper prioritizes clean water in his first proposed North Carolina budget>>