RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Some North Carolina House Democrats believe the solution to issues involving Confederate monuments requires the repeal of a law passed four years ago.

Representatives Marcia Morey of Durham, Pricey Harrison of Greensboro, and Evelyn Terry of Winston-Salem are the primary sponsors of House Bill 10, an act to repeal the 2015 law relating to the protection of monuments and memorials.

The 2015 law, Senate Bill 2, gave the state legislature full authority over decisions of maintaining and removing memorials. The first two drafts of that bill focused solely on the “respectful treatment of the North Carolina flag and American flag.”

Later versions added a clause “to provide for the protection of monuments and memorials commemorating events, persons, and military service in North Carolina history.

This took the power to remove Confederate monuments away from municipalities and universities such as UNC, which has had ongoing issues involving the Silent Sam statue. One exception is if “a building inspector or similar official has determined (it) poses a threat to public safety because of an unsafe or dangerous condition.”

Leaders of the legislature’s Republican majority said protests such as the rallies in Durham and Chapel Hill in 2017 and 2018, respectively, do not qualify.

Morey said city and county leaders need to make the decisions that are best for their communities.

“We all know what has happened with Silent Sam, and in Durham when the statue was pulled down. The ramifications are huge, and this bill to repeal the prior monument law is simply to give localities the ability to say what should happen with their own artifacts,” Morey said.

“The state shouldn’t do the long arm and mandate that it should be a state decision. We think that localities are better. They know their communities and they know their constituents.”

Morey said the 2015 bill placed a horrible burden on places including Durham. She pointed to the multiple protests and court cases, and said the University of North Carolina spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on security at McCorkle Place where Silent Sam stood.

She said handling decisions at a local level can bring solutions much quicker than waiting for the legislature or the state Historical Commission to make recommendations — which took months after Governor Roy Cooper recommended relocating three Confederate monuments from the state Capitol grounds to the Bentonville Battlefield site in Johnston County.

Some participants in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, carried Confederate flags, and one attendee killed a counter-protester and injured several others by driving a car through a crowd.

Two days later, protesters in Durham tore down the Confederate statue at the old county courthouse. One year and one week later, protesters in Chapel Hill tore down Silent Sam.

“No one anticipated the problems that would ensue, that have ensued since Charlottesville, all over North Carolina right now,” Morey said. “Winston-Salem is right now in a battle of what they can do with their own monument. Let them decide. Let Winston-Salem decide what’s best for that community. Let Durham decide what’s best for our community.”

A judge ruled this week that Winston-Salem’s Confederate monument can be taken down. City leaders plan to remove it this month.

Representative Pricey Harrison of Greensboro, who co-sponsored the new bill with Morey, said the current political climate confirms that this decision needs to go back to local leaders.

“You can get out of your stuck position just by making it a local issue and not a statewide issue, and right now the state has no business telling local governments what to do to protect the public safety,” Harrison said.

“When that bill was passed in 2015, it was right after the Mother Emmanuel shooting but it was before Charlottesville, and I think that’s drawn a lot of attention to the need for pushing this legislation.”

Republican House Speaker Tim Moore opposes the new bill.

“We’ve already passed the law. At this point, it’s a matter of enforcement of the law, and if folks want to challenge that and have questions, that’s where the courts come in,” Moore said.

A spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger said the senator does not believe changes to the current law are necessary.