N.C. Nixes Bill Giving State Worker Association Insurance Advantage
North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley has vetoed legislation he said would give the largest association representing state workers special rights to recruit and consult with employees or sell them insurance policies.
The measure approved by the Legislature last month would have required that all state institutions and agencies allow representatives of employee associations with more than 40,000 members the chance to meet with or recruit workers.
The high membership criteria would “have the practical effect of giving exclusive access to state facilities to only one employee association of the many who currently represent the interests of public employees,” Easley said in vetoing legislation for the first time this year.
The State Employees Association of North Carolina has 55,000 members, according to its Web site.
The special access would also give the association a unique ability to sell insurance products it endorses, Easley said.
“The legislation would also give an unfair competitive advantage to insurers affiliated with these particular employee associations. This provision, at the very least, gives an appearance of endorsement of these products by the state of North Carolina, which is inaccurate and therefore not acceptable,” the governor said.