North Carolina Republicans are seeking to roll back the authorities state governors hold to appoint task forces, an effort they say will keep “soft-on-crime” recommendations from such commissions from being carried out. 

In the wake of viral footage depicting the fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a North Carolina train, Republicans have accused the state’s former governor, Democrat Roy Cooper, of setting the killing in motion by creating a task force in 2020 that they say encouraged policies that led to the attack.