Source: Matthew Burns, WRAL, 3/31/21

The House voted along party lines Wednesday to limit a governor's power to enact the far-reaching shutdown orders Gov. Roy Cooper has put in place over the past 12 months in response to the coronavirus pandemic. House Bill 264 would require Cooper or any future governor to get approval from the Council of State, a group of 10 officials elected statewide, when ordering schools or large swaths of the economy to close, as Cooper did last spring in an effort to limit the spread of the virus.

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