The measure, Senate Bill 346, now heads to the Senate’s Rules Committee.
Republican Sens. Bill Rabon of Brunswick County, Jim Burgin of Harnett, and Carl Ford of Stanley are primary sponsors. The bill allows an executive order to stand 10 days before it requires approval from the Council of State. That’s the 10-member body made up of each statewide elected executive branch official, including the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and attorney general.
The bill also places an automatic end date on emergency executive orders, forcing them to expire after 45 days unless the General Assembly votes to extend them.
“It’s a simple bill dealing with an all-too-real situation in North Carolina,” Rabon said of S.B. 346. The bill giving the governor his current emergency powers was written decades ago, and not with a pandemic in mind, he said.