North Carolina Republican lawmakers rolled out three proposed constitutional amendments on Thursday, to address voter photo identification rules, a lower cap on the maximum allowable income tax rate and who may vote in North Carolina.
If they pass the legislature the amendments would be put on the ballot in 2024 for voters to approve or reject. The last time voters were asked to weigh in on constitutional amendments was 2018, when voters approved three of the five amendments Republican lawmakers asked for — including versions of the income tax and voter ID amendments that are being proposed again now.
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Those income tax and voter ID amendments currently face a lawsuit from the NAACP that argues the legislature lacked the authority to propose them in the first place, due to unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. That argument won at trial, in a major blow to GOP lawmakers.
"An illegally constituted General Assembly does not represent the people of North Carolina," Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins wrote in his initial 2019 ruling in that case.
The lawsuit has since made its way up to the state Supreme Court, where the justices sent the case back to trial for further evidence-gathering.
Voters passing new versions of those amendments this fall, however, could force that lawsuit to be dismissed before it reaches a final resolution — and would also allow lawmakers to write stricter versions of the rules from 2018.
"If we change the constitutional amendment itself, it could moot the cases," Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, told reporters Tuesday when he first publicly floated the idea of these amendments. "But remember — just because we pass it, it's not across the finish line yet. It would have to survive a vote of the people."
The 2018 versions of those amendments passed with some bipartisan support: More than 57% of voters supported the income tax cap, and more than 55% supported voter ID.
The new versions of the amendments proposed Thursday would go further than the 2018 amendments, by enacting stricter voter ID rules and a lower maximum limit for the income tax rate — if voters sign off yet again.
Voter ID: The new amendment lawmakers proposed Thursday would require people voting by mail to show a copy of their photo identification. That's already required by state law. But adding it to the constitution would make it harder for courts, or a future state legislature, to undo.
Income taxes: The 2018 income tax amendment lowered the state's maximum possible income tax rate from 10% to 7%. The amendment proposed Thursday would lower it further to 5%. It would have no impact on what people pay in taxes now — the current rate is 4.5% — but it would make it harder for state lawmakers to raise taxes in the future.
It's opposed by groups including the Durham-based N.C. Budget and Tax Center.
"This amendment would lock in legislated income tax cuts that have already shifted the tax load onto North Carolinians with middle and low incomes and diverted billions of dollars to large, profitable corporations and the wealthiest households," the Budget and Tax Center wrote Thursday. "It would make it far more difficult for future voters to have a say in how our tax policy should meet our priorities."
Citizen voting: The voting amendment would say that only citizens can vote in North Carolina. The state constitution already says that, leading critics to say it's intended to stir up anti-immigrant rhetoric — and boost conservative voter turnout — ahead of the elections this fall.
Republican lawmakers and other supporters say a new amendment is needed to emphasize the state's opposition to non-citizens voting. They've cited some examples in other states where individual cities have allowed non-citizens to vote in local elections.
"A handful of activist city councils around the country have made it necessary to amend state constitutions to more clearly define voter eligibility," said Jim Womack, who leads the North Carolina Election Integrity Team. "More activist cities will choose to follow this non-citizen voting, unless action is taken now."
Common Cause North Carolina, a government ethics and reform group, isn't convinced. Its policy director Ann Webb addressed the committee after Womack Thursday and said any cities in North Carolina that wanted to try letting immigrants vote in local elections would need approval from the Republican-led General Assembly.
"That is, just frankly, not happening," Webb said. "So this amendment is entirely unnecessary."
She added that the amendment appears to be "driven by conspiracy theories about non-citizen voting, that are rampant in our politics today and are designed to tear our voters apart."