North Carolina legislature reconvenes on amendment titles

RALEIGH (AP) North Carolina lawmakers once expecting to be done legislating for months when they adjourned their session in June are back at work less than four weeks later.

The General Assembly is starting a special session Tuesday for the purpose of approving ballot titles for six proposed constitutional amendments on November ballots.

That job is supposed to be done by a three-member panel that includes Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Attorney General Josh Stein, both Democrats. Republican legislative leaders say they decided to call themselves back into session because they worry the commission will succumb to outside pressure and create negative titles that would discourage amendments passing.

But Cooper and other Democrats say Republicans want nice-sounding names for the amendments that will hide the GOP’s attempted power grab with them.