North Carolina General Assembly · 2025–2026 session
Showing 1441–1464 of 2,338 bills
Introduced by Caleb Theodros
This bill establishes a pilot voucher program in five North Carolina counties to help low-income residents access mental health services like therapy, psychiatric evaluations, and medication management. The program allocates $25 million in state and federal funds to provide eligible individuals up to 10 free mental health visits annually, with priority given to veterans, young adults, law enforcement, teachers, and uninsured people. An independent commission will evaluate the pilot's success over time to determine if it should expand statewide.
Healthcare
Introduced by Kandie Smith
This bill requires judges to find probable cause that giving notice of a search warrant would endanger someone's life or safety before approving no-knock warrants. It also requires officers to wait a reasonable amount of time after announcing themselves for occupants to respond before using force to enter a property.
Criminal Justice & Public Safety
Introduced by Val Applewhite
This bill creates two programs: the LIFT Program, which provides $1,000 monthly cash payments to homeless high school seniors, young adults aging out of foster care, expectant and new mothers, and disaster survivors from 2026-2035; and the Healthy Start NC Program, which provides $1,500 to pregnant women and $500 monthly for one year after birth to new mothers. The bill funds these programs by reducing the corporate income tax rate from 2.25% to 0% by 2030.
Taxes & Budget
Introduced by Ted Alexander
This bill adds an exemption to North Carolina's state law that prohibits viewing pornography on government networks and devices. The exemption allows Department of Adult Correction (DAC) employees to access such content when investigating matters involving incarcerated offenders or misuse of DAC-owned devices, as part of their official duties.
Introduced by Woodson Bradley
This bill creates a state tax credit for individuals and corporations that make charitable donations of at least $1,000 to endowed funds at qualified community foundations across North Carolina. Donors receive a 25% tax credit (capped at $50,000 per year per taxpayer), with a total statewide credit ceiling of $12.5 million annually. The program sunsets after 2029.
Introduced by Natalie Murdock
This bill appropriates $500,000 to establish a grant program that provides up to $20,000 per community college to upgrade equipment and facilities for producing student ID cards that can be used as valid photo identification for voting. The State Board of Elections must approve applications from participating community colleges by September 1, 2025.
Elections & Voting
This bill creates several new pilot programs and services designed to help working families in North Carolina access child care, nutrition assistance, healthcare, and preventive care. It appropriates approximately $27 million over two years to fund regional support hubs, child care grants, food access programs, year-round school meals, telehealth services, and establishes an advisory board to oversee these integrated family support services.
Social Services & Welfare
Introduced by Gale Adcock
This bill clarifies which health screenings schools can conduct without parental consent and requires schools to notify parents about screenings at the beginning of the school year and when results are available. The bill defines health care screenings as limited to vision, hearing, dental, and developmental screenings, and requires schools to provide parents with notice and access to their child's results.
Education
Introduced by Cody Huneycutt
This bill updates North Carolina's Controlled Substances Act by adding dozens of newly synthesized drugs to the state's Schedule I and Schedule II controlled substance lists. These additions include synthetic opioids (such as U-47700 variants and nitazene derivatives), fentanyl derivatives, synthetic cannabinoids, and other designer drugs, while also making minor corrections to existing drug names in the statute.
Introduced by Graig Meyer
This bill increases North Carolina's Medicaid reimbursement rates for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services and establishes coverage for three new treatment service levels. The state will spend $15 million annually (matched with $27.4 million in federal funds) to fund these rate increases and new services, effective July 1, 2025.
Introduced by Sophia Chitlik
This bill creates a new paid family leave insurance program in North Carolina, allowing eligible workers to take up to 12-26 weeks of paid leave per year for reasons including birth/adoption, serious health conditions, caring for family members, and military family situations. The program would be funded through employer payroll contributions starting January 1, 2026, with benefits beginning January 1, 2027, and would replace 90% of wages up to the state average weekly wage and 50% above that amount.
Business & Labor
This bill modifies North Carolina's domestic violence protective order law to ensure that same-sex couples have the same access to protective orders as opposite-sex couples. Currently, the law limits dating relationship protections to opposite-sex couples; this bill removes that gender restriction so same-sex couples can obtain protective orders in dating relationships.
Introduced by Sydney Batch
This bill creates an Individual Freedoms Act that establishes protections against state surveillance, medical privacy requirements, parental authority in education and healthcare, fact-based education standards, and prohibitions on employment/housing discrimination based on political beliefs or medical history. The bill requires that any restrictions on these rights meet a 'compelling state interest' test and use narrowly tailored means.
Other / General Government
This bill appropriates approximately $13.6 million in recurring funds and $7.15 million in nonrecurring funds through fiscal year 2027 to the Department of Environmental Quality for coastal resilience, environmental monitoring, staff positions, and water infrastructure projects. The largest allocation is $2 billion for a Water Infrastructure Fund to support drinking water and wastewater system improvements across the state.
Environment & Energy
This bill changes how courts handle criminal charges filed by private citizens (non-law enforcement). When a citizen files a charge, courts must issue a summons instead of an arrest warrant, unless the case involves domestic violence or meets certain exceptions like corroborating witness testimony or substantial burden on the complainant.
Introduced by Benton Sawrey
This bill changes how many health insurance contracts North Carolina awards to manage Medicaid coverage. For future contract cycles after the initial round, it reduces the number of regional contracts available to Provider-Led Entities (PLEs) from up to 12 down to up to 4, while keeping 4 statewide contracts for commercial insurance plans. It also adds a rule that if fewer than 4 PLEs apply, all qualified applicants get a contract; if 4 or more apply, only 4 contracts are awarded.
This bill removes state licensing requirements for natural hair care services, blow-dry styling, and makeup artistry, allowing people to provide these services after completing a one-time four-hour sanitation course instead. It converts the mandatory natural hair care specialist license into a voluntary certification that is no longer required to practice. The bill also expands where these services can be provided, including in barbershops and other venues beyond traditional cosmetology shops.
Introduced by Mujtaba Mohammed
This bill appropriates $5 million in state funds to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation for construction of a new main library building. The funds are one-time nonrecurring appropriations that become available starting July 1, 2025.
Introduced by DeAndrea Salvador
This bill creates an Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy within the Department of Commerce and establishes an AI Learning Laboratory program. The Office will inventory how state agencies use AI, identify regulatory gaps and barriers, and run a laboratory where AI companies can test new technologies under temporary regulatory flexibility in exchange for reporting data and safety monitoring.
Technology & Privacy
Introduced by Lindsey Prather
The Children First Act expands child care affordability and access through increased subsidies and grants, strengthens child health and safety protections including firearm storage laws and online safety requirements, raises tobacco/vaping age to 21, establishes a fetal and infant mortality review team, and funds workforce development programs for child care workers. The bill appropriates approximately $150+ million over the 2025-2027 biennium for these initiatives.
This bill increases accountability requirements for private schools that accept North Carolina's Opportunity Scholarship grants. It requires these schools to comply with state academic standards, administer standardized tests, undergo financial audits, limit tuition increases to 5% annually, maintain racial/ethnic diversity, and report detailed performance data to the state. The bill also modifies scholarship funding levels for fiscal years 2025-2032.
Introduced by Gladys Robinson
This bill repeals a 2013 law change and requires the Commission for Public Health to readopt an earlier rule (from August 22, 2013) regulating leaking solid waste transport vehicles. Until the new rule takes effect, state agencies must enforce the older regulations that were in place before 2013.
Introduced by Norman Sanderson
This bill requires North Carolina public elementary schools (kindergarten through grade 5) to include instruction in critical thinking as part of their standard curriculum, starting in the 2025-2026 school year. The instruction would teach students to evaluate information rather than simply memorize it.
This bill creates North Carolina's Consumer Privacy Act, giving residents new rights over their personal data held by large companies. It allows consumers to access, delete, and port their data, and to opt out of targeted advertising and data sales. The law applies to businesses earning at least $25 million annually that collect data from 100,000+ NC residents, with many exemptions including healthcare, financial institutions, and government entities.