NC House votes along party lines for guardrails on governor's emergency powers GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press RALEIGH — North Carolina's governor would have to get formal support from other elected leaders to carry out long-term emergency orders in a measure approved Wednesday by the state House. The 69-50 party-line result favored Republicans, who've chafed under Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's directives during the COVID-19 pandemic and drafted the legislation. Cooper's orders since the pandemic began in March 2020 caused bars, schools and personal service businesses to close, while restaurants and other retailers have had to scale back capacity. These orders have been slowly eased in recent months, but GOP lawmakers have said the governor had too much power to begin with.