North Carolina General Assembly · 2025–2026 session
Showing 337–360 of 2,338 bills
Introduced by Natalie Murdock
This bill requires all public schools in North Carolina to provide free breakfast and lunch to every student. The state would appropriate $116 million annually starting in 2026-2027 to fund these meals, with the State Board of Education distributing funds to school districts based on factors like school size and number of low-income students.
Education
Introduced by Carl Ford
This bill makes administrative, technical, and clarifying changes to North Carolina's retirement systems and state financial management. Major changes include: allowing military service credit restoration for certain state employees and teachers; protecting contributory death benefits from debt offsets; updating retirement system personnel compensation flexibility; modifying the Legislative Retirement System's reemployment rules; transferring state fund investment authority to the North Carolina Investment Authority; and clarifying various benefits calculations and procedures.
Taxes & Budget
Introduced by Garland Pierce
This bill addresses North Carolina's growing senior population by establishing policies that prioritize home and community-based care for Medicaid beneficiaries aged 55+, requiring medication reviews and behavioral health integration, and funding new initiatives including an integrated senior housing pilot program ($120 million), expansion of the long-term care ombudsman office ($3.5 million), a geriatric workforce development program ($10 million), and a family caregiver support stipend pilot ($13.5 million). The bill also creates a study commission on aging to recommend future policies.
Healthcare
Introduced by Dana Jones
This bill allows North Carolina taxpayers to deduct tips from their state income tax calculations. Tips that are already reported to employers would no longer be counted as taxable income for state tax purposes, effective for tax years starting January 1, 2026.
Introduced by Ralph Hise
This bill allows people age 18 and older to carry self-defense devices such as pepper spray, tasers, mace, and ordinary pocket knives on North Carolina college and university campuses. It also provides $10,000 in funding to publicize this change to students, staff, and the public.
Criminal Justice & Public Safety
Introduced by Carolyn Logan
This bill modifies the penalty that North Carolina counties impose when taxpayers submit checks or electronic payments that are returned due to insufficient funds. Instead of the current penalty of $25 or 10% of the payment amount (whichever is greater, up to $1,000), the new penalty would be $25 plus 1% for the first two violations within five years, or $50 plus 2% for any additional violations, with the same $1,000 cap. The bill also provides $15,000 to the Department of Revenue for educational materials.
Introduced by Julie von Haefen
This bill increases child care subsidy payment rates to the 75th percentile of the 2023 market rate study, with automatic increases whenever new studies are completed. It also establishes a statewide rate floor for child care providers in counties with rates below the state level. The bill appropriates $60 million from the General Fund, $20 million from the Child Care Block Grant, and $160 million from the General Fund to fund these increases, beginning July 1, 2026.
Social Services & Welfare
Introduced by Lisa Grafstein
This bill appropriates funds to increase salaries for public school teachers, state employees, community college workers, and UNC employees for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, and provides cost-of-living increases for retirees. The bill only takes effect if the state's regular budget (Current Operations Appropriations Act) does not pass, and it also establishes automatic 5% salary increases for future years if budgets continue to fail to pass.
Introduced by Bob Brinson
This bill requires North Carolina electric utilities to submit detailed reports analyzing how efficiently they use their existing power grid infrastructure and to propose ways to improve that efficiency through alternatives like energy storage and distributed generation. The Utilities Commission will evaluate these reports and set performance targets to help utilities better utilize current grid assets.
Environment & Energy
Introduced by Jonathan Almond
This bill modifies how North Carolina calculates wastewater design flow rates for new homes connecting to multi-unit wastewater systems. It allows the Department of Environmental Quality to approve lower flow rates (down to a minimum of 55 gallons per day per bedroom) if a permittee demonstrates that actual usage data supports the lower rate and there is no harm to public health or the environment. The bill also appropriates $10,000 to the Department to review these proposed flow rate calculations.
Introduced by Monika Johnson-Hostler
This bill appropriates $200 million in annual state funding to expand the NC Pre-K program so that all income-eligible four-year-old children in North Carolina can participate, beginning in the 2026-2027 fiscal year. Currently, the program serves some eligible children but cannot accommodate all who qualify.
Introduced by Laura Budd
This bill establishes new rules for how electric utilities provide service to large data centers (facilities using over 20 megawatts of power). It requires utilities to file special rate plans with the NC Utilities Commission that ensure data centers pay the full cost of infrastructure needed to serve them and that other customers are not burdened with those costs. The bill also repeals certain tax provisions related to data centers.
Introduced by Mujtaba Mohammed
This bill appropriates $34.44 million in state funds for the 2026-2027 fiscal year to support emergency services, public safety infrastructure, and affordable housing projects in three North Mecklenburg communities: Davidson, Cornelius, and the Lake Norman area. The funds are designated for fire stations, emergency vehicles, police equipment, pedestrian safety improvements, recreation facilities, and affordable housing development.
Introduced by Phil Rubin
This resolution urges Congress to preserve North Carolina's authority to enforce existing consumer protection laws against harmful uses of artificial intelligence, and to reject any federal actions that would limit the state's ability to investigate and regulate deceptive AI practices. The resolution asserts that states should retain full power to protect consumers from fraud and unfair commercial practices involving AI systems.
Technology & Privacy
Introduced by Maria Cervania
This bill prohibits North Carolina law enforcement officers from wearing facial coverings like masks or balaclavas while performing duties, with exceptions for undercover operations, tactical gear for safety, identity protection during prosecution, and health/safety requirements. It also requires officers to wear clear agency identification on uniforms and identify themselves by name or badge number when requested.
Introduced by Deb Butler
This bill increases transparency and public participation in North Carolina's state budget process by requiring at least one week of public comment time, public hearings, and committee meetings before budget votes, and by making legislative budget requests public records once the budget becomes law. The bill allocates $250,000 annually to support these new requirements.
Introduced by DeAndrea Salvador
This bill amends the Town of Pineville's charter to allow the town to establish a reserve police division and compensate reserve officers when they are called to work active duty shifts. Previously, the town could only have auxiliary police under state law; this creates a new option for reserve officers with defined compensation.
Local Government
Introduced by Chris Measmer
This bill establishes expedited permitting timelines for new or expanded wastewater treatment systems in North Carolina's fastest-growing counties. The bill sets specific deadlines for administrative review (30 days), technical review (90 calendar days), and overall approval or denial (90-120 days depending on public hearings), and appropriates $10,000 to the Department of Environmental Quality to implement these requirements.
Transportation & Infrastructure
Introduced by Jim Burgin
This bill requires the Department of Information Technology (DIT) to provide advisory and consultation resources to state agencies that are exempt from using DIT's standard IT services and programs. The bill appropriates $50,000 to establish an interagency liaison network to support these consultation services, effective July 1, 2026.
Other / General Government
Introduced by Lindsey Prather
This bill appropriates $1.047 billion to update Medicaid funding to reflect current enrollment and costs, allows Medicaid health plans to create restricted provider networks specifically for research-based behavioral health treatment, and removes statutory rules that would automatically end Medicaid coverage for the expansion population under certain conditions.
The SAVE Act defines the practice of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs)—which include nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and clinical nurse specialists—and allows them to practice independently without physician supervision. The bill removes a prior requirement for joint oversight between medical and nursing boards and eliminates restrictions on APRN prescribing authority.
Introduced by Michael Garrett
This bill proposes a constitutional amendment to repeal North Carolina's current constitutional definition of marriage as only between one man and one woman. The amendment would be submitted to North Carolina voters in November 2026, and if approved by a majority, would take effect January 1, 2027.
Introduced by Jay Chaudhuri
This bill requires North Carolina public schools to adopt policies limiting student use of wireless devices (phones, tablets, laptops, etc.) during instructional time, with stricter restrictions for younger grades. It also appropriates $930 million for teacher assistants in K-5 classrooms and allows parents to opt out of device issuance, while requiring print-based instruction for K-8.
Introduced by Robert Davis
This bill pauses new water transfers out of the upper Cape Fear River Basin until 2030 while a comprehensive study is conducted to assess the basin's water supply sustainability. It also expands the Environmental Management Commission's authority to reduce existing water transfers between river basins if necessary to protect water resources.