Source:
Associated Press & NBC-17 RALEIGH, N.C. -- Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue on Saturday vetoed a Republican-backed challenge to the federal health care overhaul that North Carolina's attorney general argues is unenforceable, setting up another political showdown early in the legislative session.
Perdue said she formally rejected the measure, which attempts to block a provision requiring most people in 2014 to buy health insurance or face a penalty, because the state law violates the U.S. Constitution. She said the challenge could negatively affect the state's Medicaid program.
"A state can't pass a law that is out of obeyance with federal laws, and this House Bill 2 clearly is," Perdue wrote in her veto message. "This is an ill-conceived piece of legislation that's not good for the people of North Carolina."
The governor had seemed willing to let the bill become law without her signature, saying that it was a distraction to education and the economy and that it already was working its way through the courts. But she changed her mind when Attorney General Roy Cooper wrote a memo dated Feb. 23 - one day after final General Assembly approval of the bill. The memo said the federal law trumped state legislation and suggested the language could harm state health programs.
Read more:
http://www2.nbc17.com/news/2011/mar/05/5/gov-perdue-vetoes-health-overhaul-bill-ar-836607/