NC mask, campaign finance bill passes House as Democrats raise questions about dark money

After a long debate in the North Carolina House of Representatives Tuesday, the House voted 69-43 to pass HB 237, a bill outlawing masks in public, with newly added campaign finance law. It now heads to Gov. Roy Cooper.

The bill bans the wearing of masks in public except for protecting against contagious diseases, increases sentencing for those convicted while wearing a mask, among other protest-related stipulations.

Last week, when Republicans added a new section on campaign finance to the bill, allowing for more out of state, less transparent donations to be made in North Carolina elections, frustrated Senate Democrats walked out of session.

The original purpose of the bill, supporters said, was to protect communities from bad actors using masks to conceal their identity -- citing people taking advantage of current mask policies to intimidate people.

Before the vote in the House Tuesday, several Democrats rose to debate the bill, some filled with strong emotion.

Democratic leader Rep. Robert Reives, D-Chatham, Randolph, was one of them. He said he “didn't think it could get worse” as he spoke for his 15 minutes of allotted time with passion.

Democrats say the new campaign finance section allows for dark money to funnel into the state. Rep. Grey Mills, R-Iredell, disagreed, saying it’s not dark money.

“The money contributed to North Carolina entities must come from segregated accounts, from individual donors, not corporate money,” Mills said. “Public disclosure is required. And all the donations will be documented.”

Here’s a look into what dark money is and the impact this bill, if enacted, could have on the future of elections in North Carolina.

What is dark money?

Dark money is money that does not come through direct, easily traceable contributions to candidates. It typically goes through other sources first, like a PAC or a 527 organization, which then donates to a candidate or campaign.

Dark money is already an aspect of North Carolina elections, political scientist from Western Carolina University Christopher Cooper said, but this bill is “taking a hole and opening it even wider.”

Cooper said this type of contribution allows for more out of state, wealthy donors and less transparency in who and how much is contributing to whom.

What is changing about election finance?

If this bill becomes law, it will remove limits for out of state associations to donate to North Carolina candidates, will no longer require that a donating group’s treasurer is a North Carolina resident and would effectively make it more difficult to tie donors to specific contributions, Cooper said.

Why are Democrats so frustrated?

First, the section on campaign finance was tacked onto the mask bill with little notice for Democrats. Additionally, the changes will likely help Republican Mark Robinson in his bid for North Carolina governor more than Democratic candidate Josh Stein. This is because Stein has outraised Robinson, according to first quarter reports, by several million dollars.

“If there’s a gap to be made up, it's on the Robinson” side, Cooper said.

Cooper also noted that the structures in place for big donating for Democrats and Republicans are different.

“The difference is the Democrats already had a PAC, and a Super PAC basically, and the Republicans only had a Super PAC,” Cooper said. “And what that meant was the Republicans had a harder time filtering money into the state based on campaign finance rules.”

Could it pass a veto override vote?

Cooper is likely to veto the bill, and Republicans have a supermajority both in the House and Senate, but a slim enough one that the veto override vote could be difficult, Cooper said, especially during the summer months.

“Republicans can’t lose even a single Republican vote, so the timing of the override vote is going to be really important, and frankly kind of difficult,” Cooper said, although he still believes it will likely get done.

What does this mean for the future of North Carolina elections?

Although the focus is presently on Democrats’ fear this change will catapult Robinson into the governor’s mansion, it has implications beyond that in Cooper’s eyes.

Allowing out of state people to contribute more easily to North Carolina-specific races and politics suggests that politics are becoming increasingly nationalized, Cooper said.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: NC mask bill passes House, heads to Gov. Cooper's desk