NC Capitol Wrap

The legislative session is rounding the final turn. Republican lawmakers moved a pair of major election bills forward. Lawmakers, meanwhile, are poised to pass a ban on transgender girls and women playing on female sports teams from middle school through college. The sports gambling bill has been signed (but you won't be able to bet for a while). Plus: Updates on a laundry list of significant bills and a preview of the line of attack against Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's campaign, coming from a key Republican consultant.

The legislative session is rounding the final turn. Republican lawmakers moved a pair of major election bills forward. Lawmakers, meanwhile, are poised to pass a ban on transgender girls and women playing on female sports teams from middle school through college. The sports gambling bill has been signed (but you won't be able to bet for a while). Plus: Updates on a laundry list of significant bills and a preview of the line of attack against Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's campaign, coming from a key Republican consultant.

North Carolina Republicans are holding their state convention this weekend in Greensboro and will hear from three presidential candidates. President Joe Biden visited North Carolina Friday. Budget negotiators are taking the weekend off, but chairs hope to have their work done Tuesday. Plus: Sports gambling, Blue Cross bills await the governor's signature and the General Assembly is about to fight an awful lot about election rules.

Plus: A new elections bill dropped this week, tinkering with state voting laws, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina got a big bipartisan vote on its reorganization bill.

On this week's edition of the Wrap, WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL State Government Reporter Will Doran talk about a shake-up in the state House GOP leadership, the fight over the future of the state’s largest insurer, and Gov. Roy Cooper’s pivot to the bully pulpit.

Republicans in the North Carolina legislature made quick work of Gov. Roy Cooper's abortion bill override. And new restrictions are scheduled to go into effect July 1. Plus, there’s bipartisan support in the state Senate for a budget proposing lower raises for teachers and state employees than the House backed last month. And will that budget threaten every big city hospital in the state with closure? WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL State Government Reporter Travis Fain break it all down. 

The North Carolina General Assembly largely took this week off. The news did not. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper tried to ramp up public pressure on a handful of key Republicans ahead of Saturday's abortion veto, and the state got three new State Board of Elections members. Also: North Carolina's first Black lieutenant governor has criticisms of the civil rights movement.

Emotional debate and personal stories filled the General Assembly this week as a long-anticipated abortion bill moved through the chambers. In the end, the bill passed along party lines, and it took less than 48 hours. Now we wait for Gov. Roy Cooper's veto and a Republican push to override and make these new restrictions law. Also: Partisan gerrymandering is legal again in North Carolina, and a major gun bill seems to be dead.

The North Carolina General Assembly remains on its rocket sled, churning through legislation, including the series of culture war bills dominating recent headlines. Plus: The Community College System named a new president, beating a push for the General Assembly to take more control of that process. And big money, big business bills to watch (including some likely to move next week). The new farm bill is rolling and ... does someone want to build casinos in some of North Carolina's poorer counties? WRAL's NCCapitol team gets you all caught up on The Wrap.

Every week is a banger in North Carolina politics, but this one outdid itself. State Rep. Tricia Cotham dropped the biggest bombshell in legislative politics in 20 years. The House passed its budget. Half a dozen LGBTQ bills hit. Plus: Bills moved to limit voting by mail, to add a new tax on Uber and Lyft rides and to help the family of a police officer killed in a mass shooting. WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie and WRAL State Government Reporter Travis Fain break it down in this episode of The Wrap.