This afternoon, most members of the North Carolina State Legislature publicly reaffirmed their commitment to catering to the interests of deep-pocketed factory farmers when they raced to pass H.B. 405, the dangerous ag-gag bill, for a second time. Although they succeeded by just eight votes in the House and a slender margin of four in the Senate, there is now no stopping this overreaching, wildly unpopular bill from becoming state law.

Today’s override vote in the House of Representatives was pre-scheduled—however, the subsequent “special session” vote in the Senate was unexpected and a complete adulteration of the political process; it was a move by state senators to dodge the same flood of citizen outcry that their colleagues in the House have withstood since Governor McCrory vetoed the bill on Friday and it became clear that an override campaign was imminent. Governor McCrory and North Carolina legislators received tens of thousands of calls and letters from constituents opposing this bill and the top five newspapers in the state all editorialized against H.B. 405, which will punish whistleblowers for exposing illegal or unethical activities at factory farms, puppy mills, nursing homes, daycares or any other businesses.

Although the tide of public opinion had little impact on the majority of the state’s governing body, we would like to extend a special thanks to Rep. Harrison, Rep. Carney, Rep. Martin and Senator Stein, all of whom spoke out against this bill—and of course, our thanks go out to Governor McCrory for his common sense in vetoing H.B. 405 last week. We are deeply grateful to all of our national coalition partners, the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, the AARP, the Wounded Warrior Project, North Carolina AFL-CIO, the N.C. Council for Women, the Domestic Violence Commission, the Parkinson Association of the Carolinas, and the many companion animal shelters and citizens across the state who stood with us in advocating against this insidious legislation.

Today’s events make it clear that we must remain ever-vigilant in the battle to protect the welfare of the most vulnerable among us by defeating ag-gag legislation—and we hope you will support our efforts.