- Last week, Senators Paul Newton (R-Cabarrus), Warren Daniel (R-Burke), and Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell) introduced Senate Bill 360, "Prohibit Collusive Settlements by the Attorney General."
- This bill would require the sign-off from legislative leaders on any deal settling a lawsuit to which the legislature is a party.
- Elections Director Karen Brinson Bell and Attorney General Josh Stein have behaved so egregiously and improperly that they've lost the trust of voters and legislators.
- Director Brinson Bell wouldn't even acknowledge that she changed state law last year, a fact that federal judges and reports have upheld for months.
- The bill ensures no elections director ever has the power to secretly execute a mid-election law change via secret settlement with political allies.
- SB 360 simply prevents state agencies from circumventing the lawmaking process and changing laws through settlements with friendly plaintiffs.
- Last year, after voting had already begun, the Executive Director of the Democratic Party-controlled NCSBE, Karen Brinson Bell, and Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein secretly negotiated with the national Democratic Party's top lawyer, Marc Elias, to reach a "settlement" deal that changed election laws after voting began.
- The negotiations among allied parties took place in secret and cut out the North Carolina General Assembly, which was a co-defendant in the case.
- Multiple federal judges criticized Director Brinson Bell and Attorney General Stein for their conduct and concluded that the pair had changed state law through their secretive settlement.
- Earlier last week, Director Brinson Bell refused to even acknowledge that reality and explained her conduct by saying, "The rules were changed, but the laws were not changed."
- Director Bell has lost the trust of many voters, and legislators have no confidence in Director Brinson Bell's ability to remain impartial in her role as elections director.
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