North Carolina General Assembly · 2025–2026 session
Showing 1585–1608 of 2,338 bills
Introduced by Graig Meyer
This bill requires companies or individuals responsible for water or air pollution to pay for cleanup costs and provide alternative water supplies to affected residents. It gives state environmental officials authority to order polluters to immediately stop or reduce pollution, provide temporary or permanent replacement water supplies, and pay the state's costs for investigating and remedying the contamination.
Environment & Energy
Introduced by Jim Burgin
This bill creates a new Agricultural Manufacturing Investment Grant Account within North Carolina's One North Carolina Fund, allocating up to $5 million to provide competitive grants to agricultural manufacturers. Eligible companies can receive grants up to $100,000 annually (capped at $500,000 total over five years) if they meet requirements including a minimum $5 million private investment, at least 25 full-time employees, and above-average wages.
Agriculture
Introduced by Mujtaba Mohammed
This bill would allow first responders (such as police officers and firefighters) in North Carolina to collectively bargain with their employers for wages, benefits, and working conditions. Currently, North Carolina law prohibits collective bargaining for public employees, including first responders. The bill maintains the existing prohibition on strikes by first responders.
Business & Labor
Introduced by Lisa Grafstein
This bill allows licensed mental health professionals (counselors, therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists) who are licensed in other states to practice in North Carolina without getting a new North Carolina license, as long as they meet certain requirements like two years of recent practice experience and have no disciplinary issues. Licensing boards must decide on applications within 60 days.
Healthcare
Introduced by Michael Garrett
This bill establishes the Digital Content Provenance Initiative, a program to develop technology standards that verify the origin and authenticity of digital content created by North Carolina state government, with a focus on preventing AI-generated misinformation. The bill appropriates $500,000 for Phase I implementation and requires progress reports to the General Assembly by December 2025 and March 2026.
Technology & Privacy
Introduced by Natalie Murdock
This bill expands workplace protections for pregnant employees in North Carolina by classifying pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions as a physical impairment under state discrimination law. It requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers—such as frequent bathroom breaks, modified schedules, seating, and assistance with heavy labor—unless doing so would create undue hardship for the business. The bill also clarifies that pregnancy discrimination protections apply to state employment and housing discrimination cases.
This bill updates North Carolina insurance laws to align with federal mental health parity requirements and enhance coverage for substance use disorders. It requires health insurance plans to cover mental health conditions, including addiction treatment, with the same terms and conditions as physical health care, and mandates that medical necessity decisions for substance use treatment be based on established addiction medicine criteria rather than insurer discretion.
Introduced by Gladys Robinson
This bill appropriates $1 million in state funding to Preservation Greensboro Incorporated for operating expenses and restoration work on the Blandwood Mansion, a 19th-century historic home in Greensboro that was owned by Governor John Motley Morehead. The funds are designated as nonrecurring and would be available for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Taxes & Budget
Introduced by Steve Jarvis
This bill restricts local government authority over land use and zoning regulations in North Carolina. It limits design requirements for residential buildings, reduces parking and driveway standards, requires minimum residential density allowances, restricts conditional zoning conditions, removes certain "harmony" requirements for affordable housing developments, and creates new legal remedies for property owners to challenge local land regulations.
Local Government
Introduced by Caleb Theodros
This bill directs North Carolina state government to modernize its technology systems by upgrading outdated IT infrastructure, enhancing cybersecurity protections, studying blockchain applications for government records and transparency, and expanding online services for residents and businesses. The Department of Information Technology will oversee the five-year initiative, with agencies required to conduct assessments and submit modernization plans within six months.
This bill raises the minimum age to purchase tobacco and vapor products (including smart vapes) from 18 to 21 years old, expands licensing requirements for vapor product retailers, and increases funding for gambling addiction education and treatment programs from $2 million to $12 million annually using lottery revenues.
Introduced by Paul Lowe
This bill expands and enhances the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program by increasing forgivable loan amounts from $5,000 to $6,000 per semester, adding $10 million in state funding, and restructuring loan forgiveness to require teachers to work in public schools for a period matching their years of support (with credit toward faster forgiveness for working in low-performing schools). The bill also emphasizes recruitment in high-need areas and adds new support services for program participants.
Education
Introduced by Woodson Bradley
Kayla's Act modifies North Carolina's domestic violence laws in three main ways: it allows statements from witnesses who were prevented from testifying by the accused to be used as evidence in court; it extends the statute of limitations for certain domestic violence misdemeanors to 10 years; and it permits domestic violence victims to testify remotely (outside the defendant's physical presence) in criminal proceedings when certain conditions are met.
Criminal Justice & Public Safety
This bill protects health care professionals (physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses, and registered nurses) by removing certain legal protections for hospitals' non-clinical services, adding whistleblower protections against retaliation for reporting safety concerns, and prohibiting non-compete agreements and restrictive nondisclosure agreements for hospital-employed health care professionals.
This bill creates two statewide awareness initiatives: one by the Department of Justice to educate North Carolinians about consumer finance fraud risks (like phishing and identity theft), and another by the Department of Health and Human Services to provide information about health and civil rights issues including reproductive, LGBTQIA+, gender, and racial health topics. Both initiatives will develop websites, toolkits for local communities, and outreach programs, with implementation beginning by July 1, 2025.
Social Services & Welfare
Introduced by Kevin Corbin
This bill requires North Carolina's Medicaid program to increase reimbursement rates paid to ambulatory surgical centers (outpatient surgery facilities) to at least 95% of the Medicare fee schedule, effective July 1, 2025. The bill appropriates $6.9 million in state funds annually, which will leverage $12.6 million in federal matching funds, for a total of approximately $19.5 million per year.
This bill requires Local Management Entities (LMEs) and Local Management Entities/Managed Care Organizations (LME/MCOs) to reimburse private facilities for inpatient mental health treatment services that last longer than 30 days for patients who are under a court commitment order. Currently, reimbursement policies may not cover extended stays beyond this timeframe.
The STRONG Act of 2025 creates a comprehensive response to North Carolina's fentanyl and opioid crisis through multiple approaches: it increases criminal penalties for drug trafficking and death-by-distribution offenses (especially near schools), funds law enforcement training and drug task forces, expands the state's prescription drug tracking system to include additional substances like xylazine, appropriates $35 million for treatment and prevention programs, and creates a $2,500 tax credit for businesses that hire employees who complete substance use disorder training.
This bill creates two pilot programs in North Carolina to restore mental capacity in individuals found incompetent to stand trial: a Community-Based Capacity Restoration Program (CBCRP) and a Detention Center Capacity Restoration Program (DCCRP). These programs would serve as alternatives to state psychiatric hospitals, with courts able to order restoration services through these programs instead.
Introduced by Terence Everitt
This bill creates 'school walk zones' in areas with significant pedestrian traffic near schools and requires the Department of Transportation to set lower speed limits in these zones. It increases penalties for speeding in school zones and creates a $10 million Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Fund to improve infrastructure, train crosswalk guards, and run public awareness campaigns.
Transportation & Infrastructure
This bill makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor for drivers to fail to yield to pedestrians if the pedestrian is seriously injured. It also requires pedestrian safety training to be added to North Carolina's driver education curriculum and directs state agencies to study ways to improve driver education on pedestrian safety.
This bill requires North Carolina's State Board of Education to develop age-appropriate standards for teaching artificial intelligence in schools from kindergarten through grade 12. The standards must cover AI basics, real-world applications, economic and legal issues, and ethical use including privacy, oversight, and bias awareness. Schools can incorporate this instruction into existing computer science courses.
Introduced by Julie Mayfield
This bill expands North Carolina's eligibility for food and nutrition benefits and temporary assistance programs to include individuals convicted of drug-related felonies, removing a federal ban that previously disqualified them. Individuals must complete or participate in substance abuse treatment and meet a six-month crime-free period to qualify.
This bill appropriates $20.3 million in one-time funds and $1 million in recurring annual funds to the National Institute of Minority Economic Development for disaster recovery in western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene, women's business center support, and community economic development services across the state.