With Senate Democrats silent, Republican lawmakers voided a veto from Gov. Bev Perdue for the eighth time.
The legislation -- House Bill 7 -- is a low-profile measure that lets community college opt out of a federal loan program. A number of individual community colleges have requested the move. The Senate voted 31-16 on Monday to make it law, despite the governor's objections. The override needed 30 votes to meet the three-fifths threshold.
Perdue, a Democrat, vetoed the bill more than a year ago and rebuked the House when they overrode her veto last week. (More here.) Unlike the House, the GOP didn't need Democrats to defect from Perdue. The override vote effectively mirrored the (31-18) vote to approve the bill in April 2011 because Republicans have a veto-proof majority.
