NC House Bill 324 Said What?

How to find out what's really in a Legislative Bill, in spite of its title

“Ensuring Dignity & Nondiscrimination/Schools” was the title of NC House Bill 324. It was introduced in March, and by the title it looked pretty good.

Because it was filed by Republicans (including our own Jake Johnson), I thought Republicans wouldn’t be so likely to object to it. And we can always count on the Democrats to sign onto dignity and equality for everyone. Wow, it looked like we could all finally agree.

“Looked like” are the key words. Look again.

You might recognize phrases from the controversial CRT (critical race theory). But universally good things like “nondiscrimination” and “dignity” are in this bill. What’s going on?

For several years now I’ve subscribed to emails from the Enrolling Clerk at the Legislative Drafting Division of the NC General Assembly. The current Clerk, Olwen Blessing, notifies me when a Bill is in the Presentment, Enrolled or Chaptered phase.

Confused? The more you learn about it, the more you respect the slow deliberation that turns a citizen’s request into a bill, and then into a law in North Carolina.

As a good citizen, I read the titles and even the descriptions of the bills Olwen Blessing sends me. But I’ve learned not to take any of this seriously. For example, if you see a bill like “Teachers Protection Bill”, you could dig in to find out what’s being protected … and it might not be teachers.

I’ve found a few places online where the real thing is explained. Take House Bill 324, “Ensuring Dignity, etc.”. If you look it up on NC Policy Watch, for instance, you will discover a mind-bending list of concepts to be banned from classroom discussion in North Carolina schools.

NCPolicyWatch.com

The Republican irony here is pure genius. If you ban any hint that in our culture “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex”, the concept itself evaporates.

So, in the name of nondiscrimination (read the Bill title again), “superior” activity is free to go on undisturbed, not talked about, in the background. I can hardly get this into my head.

I guess I’m not alone. Governor Cooper vetoed NC House Bill 324 on September 9, 2021.

Here is the list of concepts HB 324 would ban; NC Policy Watch, Sept. 2021

Look here for the steps a bill goes through on its way to the NC Governor's office

Subscribe here to the NC Enrolling Clerk's notices; click under "Legislation via Email"