North Carolina General Assembly · 2025–2026 session
Showing 577–600 of 2,338 bills
Introduced by Caleb Theodros
This bill establishes the Frontline Mental Health Support Program to provide free, confidential mental health counseling services to teachers and first responders (including police officers, firefighters, paramedics, 911 dispatchers, and correctional officers) in North Carolina. The bill appropriates $10 million to run the program and $3 million in grants to expand the behavioral health workforce to support it.
Healthcare
Introduced by Woodson Bradley
This bill creates new regulations for large electricity users (particularly data centers), requires fair cost allocation so they don't shift expenses to residential customers, adds protections against utility disconnections during extreme weather, and establishes grid modernization requirements for utility companies. The bill also requires clearer utility billing statements and allocates $5 million to the Utilities Commission for administration and enforcement.
Environment & Energy
Introduced by Charles Miller
This bill establishes new parental rights in public schools regarding student records and identity changes, restricts instruction on gender identity and sexuality in kindergarten through fourth grade, creates a legal process for parents to sue schools for violations, and gives the State Auditor authority to investigate and enforce compliance with financial penalties.
Education
Introduced by Mujtaba Mohammed
This bill restores the ability of local governments in Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, Cornelius, Davidson, and Huntersville to initiate down-zoning (reducing the allowed density or permitted uses of property) without requiring written consent from all affected property owners. It reverses a restriction imposed in December 2024 and allows these changes to take effect retroactively.
Local Government
Introduced by Lisa Grafstein
This bill allows law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical services personnel in North Carolina to retire with full, unreduced benefits after 25 years of service instead of the current requirement of 30 years or age 55 with 5 years of service. The change applies to both state employees and local government employees and takes effect January 1, 2027.
Criminal Justice & Public Safety
Introduced by Renee Price
This bill increases funding and capacity for behavioral health services in North Carolina's criminal justice system by appropriating nearly $768 million for state psychiatric hospitals, community treatment programs, court coordination infrastructure, and safekeeper beds in state prisons. It establishes frameworks for courts and mental health providers to work together, expands treatment options for court-involved individuals, and modifies the legal standard for involuntary commitment to consider patterns of behavior indicating loss of volitional control.
Introduced by Ted Alexander
This bill authorizes the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to designate the First Broad River in Cleveland and Rutherford Counties as a State Trail within the State Parks System. The bill allocates $25,000 for planning and public education efforts and allows the state to develop trail segments across public and private lands, with management governed by each landowner's rules.
Transportation & Infrastructure
Introduced by Jim Burgin
This bill requires state government entities—including state departments, UNC, the court system, and the General Assembly—to publicly report all their expenditures of $1 or more each month on their websites. The bill provides $300,000 in funding to help agencies implement these reporting requirements, with the new transparency system beginning in October 2026.
Taxes & Budget
This bill increases penalties for assault by strangulation in North Carolina by moving certain offenses to more severe felony classifications. Assault with serious bodily injury by strangulation would change from a Class F to Class E felony, assault inflicting physical injury by strangulation would change from Class H to Class G felony, and the bill allocates $3 million for a public awareness campaign about these enhanced penalties, effective December 1, 2026.
Introduced by Francis Iler
This bill changes the Town of Belville's municipal election schedule to even-numbered years only (instead of odd-numbered years) and extends the mayor's term from two years to four years. To implement these changes, the bill delays the 2027 election and extends current officials' terms by one year, with new elections beginning in 2028.
Elections & Voting
This bill appropriates $48 million in state funds to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care services in North Carolina to match Medicare rates, effective July 1, 2026. The increased payments would apply to primary care services as defined by the state's Primary Care Payment Reform Task Force.
This bill establishes a multi-state compact where participating states pool resources to award prizes for disease cures. States would contribute to prize funds based on their population and expected healthcare savings, and winners who develop approved cures must transfer patent rights to the commission so the cure can be manufactured and distributed affordably.
Introduced by Kandie Smith
This bill appropriates $5 million in one-time funding from the Highway Fund to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the City of Greenville to use on pedestrian safety improvements. The funds become available starting July 1, 2026.
This bill restores the authority for Harnett, Lee, and Sampson Counties to initiate down-zoning (reducing the allowed density or permitted uses of land) without requiring written consent from all affected property owners. The bill makes this change retroactively effective to December 11, 2024, potentially reinstating previously adopted ordinances.
Introduced by Deb Butler
This bill proposes a constitutional amendment that would require North Carolina voters to approve a measure preventing state legislators from receiving their salary and allowances after June 30 if the General Assembly has not passed a comprehensive budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The forfeiture would continue until either a budget is ratified or the legislative session ends, whichever comes first. Voters would decide on this amendment at the November 2026 general election.
This bill expands North Carolina's hate crime laws by increasing penalties for crimes motivated by a victim's race, ethnicity, color, religion, nationality, country of origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, disability, or sexual orientation. It also requires the State Bureau of Investigation to track hate crime statistics, mandates law enforcement training on identifying and reporting hate crimes, and requires prosecutor training on prosecuting hate crimes.
Introduced by Gladys Robinson
This bill creates a three-year grant program to help North Carolina school districts hire a Development Director who seeks external funding sources like grants and donations. The state would cover 100% of the position's cost in year one, 50% in year two, and 25% in year three, with districts covering the remaining costs through matching funds. The program targets rural, small, and lower-wealth school districts that currently lack dedicated grant-writing staff.
This bill protects students' access to public K-12 schools, community colleges, and UNC universities regardless of immigration status or national origin. It prohibits schools from requiring immigration documentation for enrollment, restricts immigration enforcement actions on school grounds without judicial warrants, and allocates $181 million in state funding for English language instruction and support services for students with limited English proficiency.
This bill requires North Carolina public schools to immediately notify parents when credible threats target their children, school staff, or campus security. It establishes penalties for schools that fail to notify parents, reinstitutes a Task Force for Safer Schools, and creates a $25 million School Safety Fund to help schools purchase safety equipment and provide crisis services to students.
Introduced by Joyce Waddell
This bill restores medical benefits for state employees and teachers who began service on or after January 1, 2021, preventing their elimination under state retirement systems. The bill repeals previous language that would have ended these retiree medical benefits and allocates $2 million in state funding to cover the increased costs of maintaining these benefits.
Social Services & Welfare
Introduced by Thomas McInnis
This bill appropriates $11 million to expand the Children of Wartime Veterans Scholarship program. It provides $1 million for the 2025-2026 academic year to restore reduced scholarship amounts, allocates $10 million in recurring funds starting 2026-2027, and doubles the number of available Class II and Class III scholarships from 100 to 200 recipients per class for 2026-2027.
This bill creates two programs to support public servants in North Carolina. First, it establishes a homebuyers' assistance program through the Housing Finance Agency that provides up to $25,000 in down payment and mortgage insurance assistance to first-time homebuyers who work full-time as teachers, law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, active duty military members, or veterans. Second, it allows volunteer firefighters and rescue squad workers to claim an income tax credit of up to $5,000 for unreimbursed expenses related to their volunteer work.
Housing
This bill requires North Carolina public schools to teach students in kindergarten through 12th grade about artificial intelligence, including how AI works, its real-world uses, and ethical issues like privacy and bias. The State Board of Education must develop age-appropriate standards for these lessons, which can be integrated into computer science courses, and the state will provide $100,000 in funding to support these programs starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
This bill requires the Department of Administration to create a system for identifying, cataloging, and disposing of vacant and surplus state-owned properties. The bill establishes criteria for determining which properties are surplus, mandates that surplus properties be sold within six months or auctioned/transferred to local governments, and directs that sale proceeds be split between the state General Fund and property repair projects.