In our opinion: The silly season

A major highlight this month of particular interest to the world’s 1.5 billion Catholics will be the election of a new pope. At the time of the new pontiff’s election, an official of the church will declare to the crowd assembled in St. Peter’s Square, Habemus papem (“We have a pope”).

Meanwhile, here in North Carolina, elected Republicans in the state are in what Rob Schofield of NC Newsline calls the “Silly Season,” when highly partisan, unwanted, or unnecessary legislation takes up the taxpayers’ time and money. Habemus ineptum.

Take, for example, Tthe GOP’s $66 billion budget, a portion of which punishes the innocent. In a cruel, calculated move, Republicans are defunding the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, the watchdog that has helped free 16 wrongfully convicted people. Why? Because the Commission’s $1.6 million price tag — just 0.002% of the total budget — is somehow “too rich” for Sen. Phil Berger’s blood.

Yet, there’s room for $2 million to fund a pointless “NC Drone Innovation Lab” built for tech-bro fantasies, and another $5 million to pad security at legislators’ swanky VIP events.

May 5th kicks off National Teachers Week, a time to honor the educators who are the backbone of our communities. But once again, North Carolina Senate Republicans are failing to meet the moment. Their 2025 budget offers teachers just a 3.3% raise, nowhere near enough to retain experienced educators or recruit the next generation of teachers. And, they continue their decades-long resistance to funding the Leandro Plan, a court-ordered mandate to guarantee a sound basic education to all students.

But starving public education isn't just a local issue. In Washington, the GOP is deconstructing the Department of Education and its funding programs for public schools. Republicans in Raleigh and across the country are promoting dangerous efforts to cut back on state funding for public schools, diverting resources to private interests and eroding trust in public education itself.

Democrats believe public education is a promise worth keeping. That’s why we must continue fighting for real investments in teacher pay, classroom resources, and student success. Strong schools build strong communities. We stand with our educators, and it’s time we elect leaders who will too.

So many bills to oppose, and not enough space to list them. But one piece of nefarious silliness stands above the rest. Most Americans remember HB2, the so-called “bathroom bill” the Republican-dominated legislature and a GOP governor approved in 2016. After North Carolina became the laughingstock of the country and endured a serious blow to its reputation and economy (to the tune of $3.76 billion), the bill was repealed.

But now, MAGA legislators in Raleigh have introduced SB516, the “Women’s Safety and Protection Act,” which Carolina Forward says is “even more aggressive, cruel, and poorly planned than HB2.”

Republican sponsors mistakenly believe public perceptions have changed, making now the time for a new bathroom law. Reasonable people argue there are more important issues that demand public attention than laws that destroy the rights of a tiny percentage of North Carolina’s residents.

This bill, like its predecessor, needs to requiescat in pace.