Moral Mondays

Redistricting and proposed voting rights changes have been a focus of the ongoing protests.[10] North Carolina Republicans benefited from a round of redistricting that was conducted in 2011 and used in the 2012 election. The redistricting process was upheld by a three-member panel of state judges in early July 2013, and is expected to be appealed.[11] 51% of North Carolina voters chose a Democrat for their US house representative, but Republicans won 9 of the 13 seats up for election.[12]

The state House passed legislation that would require voters to present government-issued photo identification, provided by the state free of charge,[13] in order to vote and would repeal same-day voter registration and limit early voting.[4] Legislators also passed "Equalize Voter Rights", a bill that would revoke the tax credit given to parents if their dependent college student registers to vote at their college/university address. This bill would also require voters to register their vehicles at the same address as their voter registration.[14] The editorial board of The New York Times called this "a blatant effort to reduce Democratic voting strength in college towns like Chapel Hill and Durham."[15]

McCrory said he would sign a revised version of the bill, which also included provisions that end same-day voter registration, reduce early voting, and end a program that allowed high school students to register to vote before their 18th birthdays. The bill also changed regulations for registration, requiring voters to appear in person or mail in a form 25 days before the election. When asked how preventing students from registering before their 18th birthdays would prevent voter fraud, McCrory said "I don't know enough, I'm sorry, I haven't seen that part of the bill."[16]

In August 2013 McCrory signed into law the revised bill, which was the subject of renewed protests. North Carolina attorneys Adam Stein and Irv Joyner, along with, and pro bono counsel Kirkland & Ellis and racial justice nonprofit Advancement Project filed a complaint in federal district court on behalf of the North Carolina NAACP and 93-year-old Rosanell Eaton,[17] a North Carolina woman impacted by the new law.[18]

Advancement Project co-director Penda Hair called the law, "a targeted attack on voting,"[19] charging that the voting changes predominately affect African-American voters, who disproportionately use same-day registration and, during the 2012 election, used early voting at a rate of 70 percent.[20]

Although a federal judge initially upheld the law,[21] on July 29, 2016, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit unanimously voted to overturn most of the restrictive provisions of the law." Judge Diana Gribbon Motz's opinion for the panel noted, "The new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision" and "impose cures for problems that did not exist." Thus, she wrote, "the asserted justifications cannot and do not conceal the State's true motivation."[22] On August 31, the Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on whether to overturn the decision, effectively leaving the Fourth Circuit Appeals Court's decision in place.[23]

The Moral Mondays movement claims that environmental laws relating to air, water, and soil quality have been weakened by the Republican legislature, as evidenced by the 2014 Dan River coal ash spill; along with this, budgets for environmental agencies have been cut. The boards and commissions tasked with regulation of the environment were all replaced by new members that have links to McCrory and the Republicans currently in power in the General Assembly. A bill to allow hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as fracking) in North Carolina was passed rapidly with little or no public input.[24]

McCrory signed legislation that made North Carolina the 8th state to cut unemployment benefits since the start of the Great Recession. In addition to cutting maximum weekly unemployment benefits by 35%, the legislation reduced the maximum number of weeks of assistance to between 12 and 20, down from 26. This prevented 170,000 North Carolinians from benefiting from federal emergency extended benefits, which required a minimum of 26 weeks of state support. This allowed the state's unemployment fund, which became bankrupt over the course of the recession, to become solvent three years sooner. This move was criticized for weakening the safety net when the state had the nation's 5th highest unemployment, and for passing up federal support.[25][26]

In March 2013, McCrory signed a bill that opted the state out of the expanded Medicaid program of the Affordable Care Act of 2009, which would have provided health care coverage to 500,000 North Carolinians, citing concerns about the sustainability of the program.[27][28] He has also proposed managing Medicaid accounts, by enrolling patients in managed care programs run by private companies.[29]

Legislators considered legislation that would remove or lower income taxes, making up for the lost revenue with an increased sales tax. McCrory distanced himself from this proposal, which was criticized by Art Pope, his deputy budget director, as being regressive.[30] According to legislative analysts, the reform passed will result in some families, retirees and small business owners seeing a tax hike. All taxpayers have had to pay some additional sales taxes due to expansions of the tax to some services and higher sales tax on electricity. The largest income tax breaks has gone to higher-income earners as it replaced a three-tier progressive income tax with a flat tax. The changes reduced state revenue by $2 billion over 5 years, despite McCrory's previous insistence that any reform had to be revenue-neutral.[31] After earlier predictions of a revenue shortfall because of tax reform, North Carolina instead had a $400 Million revenue surplus for Fiscal Year 2014–2015, because personal income growth was more robust, and lower tax refunds were paid out due to more accurate payroll withholding. The tax law changes through 2014 resulted in 55 to 60 percent of taxpayers having a tax decrease, 10 to 15 percent seeing no change, and 30 to 35 percent having a tax increase.[32]

McCrory signed into law a bill that repealed the state's Racial Justice Act of 2009, which allowed inmates facing the death penalty to challenge their sentences on the basis of racial discrimination. His predecessor, Bev Perdue, had previously vetoed similar legislation.[33]

In early July 2013 the state House unexpectedly attached a number of restrictions on abortion access to a bill described as combating Sharia law. It passed the house less than a day later but was abandoned after protests, and McCrory said he would not sign it without modifications. An amended version of the restrictions were later added to a motorcycle safety bill.[34][35] This bill was passed by the state Senate, and became a subject of the protests.[36]

In July 2013 McCrory signed into law legislation that requires abortion providers to meet the same standards as surgical centers, allows health-care providers to decline to perform abortions, and prohibits public health insurance policies from paying for abortions. Abortion-rights groups criticized McCrory, who had said during his campaign that he would not sign new abortion restrictions.[37] After the McCrory administration issued in 2014 the new regulations for abortion clinics required by the law, abortion rights advocates were pleased with the regulation, saying the regulations would not require any clinics to close.[38][39]

The day after McCrory signed the bill, he took a plate of chocolate chip cookies to protesters. They were returned to him with a note saying, "Gov. McCrory, we'll take women's health care over cookies!"[40]

As of 2012, the average state teacher in North Carolina earned about $9,500 less than the average public school teacher in the US.[41] The 2013 budget for state teachers did not include raises to base salary. Additionally, the budget phased out tenure for public school teachers by 2018, eliminated future salary increases for teachers who earn master's degrees, and cut $120 million from the budget for teacher assistants.[42] Cuts to education have been one of the issues raised in the protests.[10]

Since the passage of the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, protests against the act have been ongoing throughout the state of North Carolina.[43][44]