Halting LGBT rules, N Carolina lawmakers again rebuff cities

The legislature last year reconfigured Greensboro's city council districts over the city's objections and stopped the city's practice of accepting identification cards created by a local nonprofit for immigrants unlawfully in the country.

The law goes beyond what became the focal point for GOP leaders — preventing transgender people from using public bathrooms aligned with their gender identity.

Gay-rights groups sued last week to block the law, which also went beyond LGBT issues by reaffirming a ban on cities and counties raising the minimum wage above $7.25.

Since 2011, the GOP legislature has rolled back statewide municipal land annexation powers and attempted to wrest Charlotte's airport from city control.

McCrory and his administration have joined lawsuits seeking to block U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations involving small bodies of water and cutting power plant emissions.

Cities are taking the mantle of being the "laboratories of innovation" held by the states in the 1990s as populations return to urban centers, said Brooks Rainwater, director of the league's Center for City Solutions and Applied Research.