North Carolina Governor Rejects Transportation Bill, Citing Environmental Concerns

Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued his first veto of the 2024 legislative session on Thursday, blocking approval of a transportation package that included billboard rule changes he claimed would harm the state’s natural beauty.

The measure makes various modifications to transportation legislation, many of which were proposed by the North Carolina Department of Transportation. It raises processing fees for persons who have not paid their road toll bills, expands the amount of pilot transportation projects that the department can award contracts, and renames various bridges across the state.

However, the majority of criticism of the measure, including Cooper’s, focuses on a clause that widens the area where billboard owners can take down vegetation along roadways. It would allow the removal of redbud trees, a formerly protected species that blooms with pink blossoms in spring, during the clearance process.

“Redbuds and other trees that were threatened by this ill-conceived bill support carbon sequestration, pollinator propagation, and wildlife habitat,” North Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club director Erin Carey said in a statement defending Cooper’s veto.

The law was the culmination of a year of talks, with input from a wide range of stakeholders, Columbus County Republican Rep. Brenden Jones said on the House floor Wednesday. The law was passed along party lines in the Senate on May 15, but six House Democrats joined Republicans on Wednesday to support it and send it to the governor’s desk.

The bill now returns to the General Assembly, where Republicans hold tight veto-proof majorities in both chambers. Following Cooper’s veto, Senate Republicans announced that they intend to overturn it, however, the process will first begin in the House.

The General Assembly overrode all 19 of Cooper’s vetoes starting in 2023.

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