The legislation includes a transfer of $227 million in funds from the state’s savings to a fund for Hurricane Helene relief to help the western part of the state, but other provisions in the bill caused Cooper to veto it.

Senate Bill 382 would take appointment power for several state boards away from the governor, along with taking away various powers from the state superintendent of public instruction and state attorney general from siding against the state review board for charter school applications and the state legislature’s position on laws, respectively. Democrats will hold all of those offices in January 2025.

The bill also moves appointment power for the state board of elections from the governor to the state auditor, who will be a Republican. The state Senate overrode Cooper’s veto last week, and the state House’s veto Wednesday means the bill will now go into law — but it will likely face legal challenges.

“Western North Carolina small businesses and communities still wait for support from the legislature while Republicans make political power grabs the priority,” Cooper said in a statement after the veto was overridden. “Shameful.”

Gov.-elect Josh Stein (D-NC) also trashed the legislation as a “power grab” and said he will be a “good faith partner” if lawmakers seek to work on additional hurricane relief.

The people of western North Carolina are desperate for help from their state government. Yet, the legislative Republicans just enacted a power grab, not hurricane relief. To use folks’ incredible need for aid as a cloak for their political pettiness is frankly despicable. The…

— Josh Stein (@JoshStein_) December 11, 2024

“The people of western North Carolina are desperate for help from their state government,” Stein said in a statement. “Yet, the legislative Republicans just enacted a power grab, not hurricane relief. To use folks’ incredible need for aid as a cloak for their political pettiness is frankly despicable.”

“The legislature needs to step up and do its job for the people of western North Carolina,” he added. “If they do, they will find a good faith partner in me. I’m ready to get to work.”

In the new year, Republicans will lose their veto-proof supermajority in the state House but will maintain it in the state Senate, making it more difficult to push forward legislation without the Democratic governor’s approval.

Outgoing North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican elected to the U.S. House of Representatives last month, touted the perfect record of the legislature overturning Cooper’s vetoes in the 2023-2024 legislative sessions after the most recent veto override.

“29 vetoes and 29 overrides,” Moore said in a post on X.