The North Carolina House of Representatives voted to override three of Gov. Roy Cooper's recent vetoes on Wednesday, including House Bill 690, an act prohibiting payments to the state using a central bank digital currency. The legislation also prohibits North Carolina from participating in the Federal Reserve branch's testing of any future central bank digital currency (CBDC).

At the end of June, the General Assembly passed the bill in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote; the Senate passed the bill 39-5 and the House passed it 109-4. Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bill, calling it "premature, vague and reactionary."

During Wednesday's override vote, nearly all House Democrats voted in contradiction to their supportive positioning in June (73-41). With a three-fifths supermajority approving the override as required by law, the bill will be sent to the Senate for an override vote before it can become law over the objections of the governor.

Rep. Mary Belk, D-Mecklenburg, who previously supported a May 2023 version of the bill, denounced the legislation and compared a CBDC to other forms of digital currency.

"First, let me point out that the United States does not have a central bank digital currency," Belk said. "It is a concept that the Federal Reserve Bank is studying in an effort to offer businesses and consumers an option to make digital transactions with confidentiality, with security and predictability."

The Federal Reserve has acknowledged it is exploring the potential of CBDCs in an age of digital transformation, something critics warn could lead to privacy issues and federal government surveillance of individuals' finances. Belk questioned why the state would not give citizens the right to use a digital currency if they choose to in the future, referring to "other digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ether."