The public interest of North Carolina is up tight due to recent budget passed that gives public records a new legislative secrecy. "The legislature hides their records from the public," said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper in a tweet. Cooper claims that while the legislature keeps their own records hidden, they want to be able to secretly spy on the records of others.
This budget in North Carolina has been going on for a while now and there is a lot of controversy about it. From an article in WRAL-NC, it is believed that one paragraph in this new budget is causing all of the chaos. The bill is 625 pages long. In the provision section, there is a part that states there will be no legislative privilege that shows no exemption for the general assembly to have hold of public record laws. This means that a legislator in office, has been in office, or will be in office has no ability to reveal any public record document even above request.
The move for this sequence in the budget was brought by North Carolina's Republicans. AP News stated that these Republicans are trying to protect the legislative documents they are in charge of so that after they leave office, they remain private records. Before they leave their position in office, they are to decide whether the document will be made public, hidden, destroyed, or even sold. Tim Moore, House Speaker, claimed he thinks that this way it is more fair.
In the article linked to his tweet by The News and Observer, Republican leaders are using this tactic to clean out the legislative waste of records. Democrat Greg Meyer thinks it is a way for Republican leaders to hide things in secrecy. Meyer says the issue isn't that extreme to make a big deal about it, but the state hasn't provided any information. The budget does include parts for both parties that they are equally distrustful about.
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