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NC lawmakers finalize doling out more federal COVID-19 money
GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press
RALEIGH North Carolina legislators finalized Thursday how to distribute another tranche of federal coronavirus relief money earmarked for the state and adjusting how some previously approved funds are spent.
Both the Senate and House voted unanimously on the spending package at least the fourth similar bill approved by the General Assembly since last spring. It allocates $1.7 billion that went to the state through a relief bill approved by Congress in December. Republican lawmakers managing the bill put the measure on the fast track this week.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper already signed a law last month that distributes $2.2 billion for the state from the December congressional action. Most of that money was authorized to help K-12 schools and emergency rental assistance efforts. Thursday s bill also goes to Cooper, who is likely to sign it.
Both the Senate and House voted unanimously on the spending package that allocates $1.7 billion that went to the state through a relief bill approved by Congress in December.
On the first day of Women’s History Month, North Carolina legislators filed the RBG Act, or the Removing Barriers to Gain Access to Abortion Act. The bill is named for the late, great Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who believed a woman’s right to bodily autonomy is paramount equality. The bill is intended to reduce barriers to abortion in North Carolina, by repealing prohibitive legislation.
According to a new report from the Center for Reproductive Rights entitled Evaluating Priorities, North Carolina has the fourth highest number of abortion restrictions in the entire country. Those restrictions disproportionately affect marginalized groups of people.
Democratic leaders in the N.C. House introduced the Remove Barriers and Gain Access to Abortion Act, or the RBG Act, on Monday that would eliminate many restrictions preventing women in the state from getting an abortion.
If passed, the bill will also allow advanced practice clinicians and other medically trained professionals to perform the procedure, increasing the number of providers in the state who are not physicians, according to Rep. Julie Von Haefen, a Democrat who represents Wake County, is one of the sponsors of the bill. Von Haefen, along with other lawmakers and health advocates, held a virtual press conference Monday to discuss the details of the bill.