North Carolina General Assembly · 2025–2026 session
Showing 1609–1632 of 2,338 bills
Introduced by Mujtaba Mohammed
This bill establishes the Foster Care and Education Council, a joint council between the Department of Public Instruction and Department of Health and Human Services with 27 members representing various agencies and stakeholders. The Council will review education outcomes for children in foster care, identify barriers to their success, and develop recommendations to improve coordination between education and child welfare systems.
Education
Introduced by Danny Britt
This bill increases the maximum workers' compensation benefits for certain workplace injuries, including facial disfigurement (from $20,000 to $56,000), bodily disfigurement (from $10,000 to $28,000), and organ/internal injuries (from $20,000 to $56,000). It also establishes automatic annual adjustments to these maximum amounts based on changes in the Consumer Price Index, starting July 1, 2026.
Business & Labor
Introduced by DeAndrea Salvador
This bill requires North Carolina public schools to immediately notify parents of credible threats to their children or schools, establishes penalties for schools that fail to notify parents, reinstates a Task Force for Safer Schools, and creates a $25 million School Safety Fund to help schools provide mental health services and safety equipment.
Introduced by Graig Meyer
This bill directs the North Carolina Public Utilities Commission to study potential reforms to the state's energy market, including the costs and benefits of establishing an energy imbalance market or regional transmission organization in North Carolina and the Southeast. The study must be completed within one year and submitted to the legislature, with $350,000 in funding allocated for the research.
Environment & Energy
Introduced by Keith Kidwell
This bill requires North Carolina's Legislative Services Officer to display the national motto 'In God We Trust' above and behind the speaker's dais in both the House and Senate chambers, matching a similar display in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill prioritizes using private donations to cover costs, with state funds available if needed after 90 days.
Other / General Government
Introduced by Michael Garrett
This bill appropriates $1.5 billion to North Carolina public schools for energy efficiency improvements, solar panel installation, and replacement of older school buses with electric buses. The funds would be distributed to local school districts based on student enrollment and used for projects like upgrading HVAC systems, installing solar panels, and replacing gas-powered buses with electric ones assembled in North Carolina.
Introduced by Jay Chaudhuri
This bill appropriates $25 million per year for the 2025-2027 fiscal period to provide matching grants to North Carolina counties and private employers for child care capacity building projects. Eligible uses include construction, renovation, equipment, and playground installation, with recipients required to provide a 25% match of their own funds.
Taxes & Budget
Introduced by Natalie Murdock
This bill directs the Legislative Research Commission to study whether North Carolina state employees should have bereavement leave policies and report findings to the General Assembly in 2026. The study includes a $50,000 appropriation from the General Fund to conduct the research.
This bill strengthens North Carolina's animal cruelty laws by adding specific definitions and standards for adequate shelter and adequate space for animals, including detailed requirements for tethered animals. It also creates a new category of offense for companion animal hoarders and requires judges to mandate psychological evaluations and treatment for convicted hoarders.
Criminal Justice & Public Safety
Introduced by Sydney Batch
The Hustle Act establishes a comprehensive Small Business Capital Access Program within the NC Department of Commerce to help small businesses and minority/women-owned businesses (MWBEs) access financing. The program includes loan guarantees, direct equity investments, support for community lenders, technical assistance, and special financing for state contracts. The bill also expands an existing tax credit for investors in qualifying businesses and appropriates $50 million for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
This bill allocates $350,000 in nonrecurring funds to the Diaper Bank of North Carolina to increase access to feminine hygiene products through local diaper banks, and $1,000,000 in recurring funds to the Department of Public Instruction to support a Feminine Hygiene Products Grant Program. The funding becomes available starting July 1, 2025.
Social Services & Welfare
Introduced by Kandie Smith
This bill appropriates $400 million in state funds to the Department of Commerce to provide grants to North Carolina's Tier One counties (the most economically distressed areas) for projects promoting self-sufficiency, infrastructure, education, and workforce development. Counties can receive up to $10 million each and must submit proposals that the Department must approve before funds are disbursed.
This bill modifies North Carolina laws governing Research and Production Service Districts (RPSDs) and Urban Research Service Districts (URSDs)—special taxing districts that allow counties to provide enhanced services to specific areas like research parks. The changes allow these districts to span multiple counties, increase tax rate limits from 10 cents to 20 cents per $100 of property value, and give park developers greater authority to contract for services and own public infrastructure like streets and utilities.
Local Government
Introduced by Michael Lee
This bill establishes a $56 million fund to help local water systems detect and remove PFAS (harmful chemicals) from drinking water and wastewater, allocates $14 million for research on PFAS treatment at UNC, sets state drinking water standards for six types of PFAS, and requires industrial facilities and treatment plants that discharge PFAS into surface waters to monitor and reduce those discharges by January 2026.
Introduced by David Craven
This bill modifies North Carolina's bail bond laws by clarifying procedures for bail bond forfeiture and set-aside, establishing a three-year validity period for bail bonds, requiring district attorneys to report defendant failures to appear to a national database within 10 days, and prohibiting electronic systems from operating as bondsmen or runners.
Introduced by Paul Lowe
The SAVE Students Act requires all public school students in grades 6-12 to receive two hours of annual training on suicide awareness, violence prevention, and social inclusion using evidence-based programs. School employees must receive one hour of annual training on suicide and violence prevention, and schools must adopt mental health plans and allow student-led safety clubs.
Introduced by Steve Jarvis
This bill modifies the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors' disciplinary process by clarifying complaint procedures, expanding the Board's disciplinary authority, allowing the Board to recover administrative costs up to $5,000 per violation, and preventing people from taking licensing exams until they pay court-ordered awards.
Introduced by Val Applewhite
This bill proposes a constitutional amendment to create an independent redistricting commission that would redraw electoral districts for Congress and the North Carolina General Assembly after each U.S. Census, removing this responsibility from the state legislature. The commission would consist of 15 members selected through a process designed to ensure balanced political representation and diverse backgrounds, and would follow specific criteria prioritizing equal population, legal compliance, geographic cohesion, and the prevention of partisan gerrymandering.
Elections & Voting
Introduced by Vickie Sawyer
This bill modifies how North Carolina identifies low-performing schools by clarifying that schools must earn both a D or F performance grade AND a school growth score (either 'met' or 'not met expected growth') to be designated as low-performing. It also requires schools identified as low-performing to notify parents and guardians within 30 days and explain what these grades and scores mean.
This bill directs the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to study health issues affecting women who serve in the military, including maternity care coordination, access to support services, mental health during pregnancy and postpartum periods, and maternal mortality disparities. The bill appropriates $100,000 for the study and requires a report to legislative committees by April 1, 2026.
Healthcare
This bill modifies North Carolina's domestic violence protection order law to remove the requirement that unmarried couples in dating relationships be of opposite sex. Currently, only opposite-sex couples can obtain protection orders for dating relationships; this change would allow same-sex couples in dating relationships to access the same protections.
This bill restructures North Carolina's renewable energy procurement and ownership rules by requiring large utilities to conduct competitive 'all-source' bidding for energy resources (removing previous mandates requiring utilities to own 55% of solar and storage projects), reallocating shared solar capacity toward commercial and large industrial customers, and establishing independent oversight and transparent evaluation processes for all energy procurement decisions.
Introduced by Bobby Hanig
This bill creates a streamlined permitting process for upland basins—marinas built by excavating land above the waterline to hold 10 or more boats. The bill sets specific environmental criteria (dissolved oxygen levels, wetland impact limits, buffers, and water quality standards) and requires state agencies to approve applications within 60 days if these criteria are met, with automatic approval if agencies miss the deadline.
Introduced by Sophia Chitlik
This bill establishes the North Carolina CARDINAL Corps Program, a fellowship initiative that provides funding to employers in critical sectors (education, public safety, disaster relief, farming, military services, and public service) to hire and train recent high school graduates or veterans within two years of their military deployment. Fellows receive up to $30,200 per year in salary and program support, plus a $5,000 completion award after nine months, with the state providing matching funds on a 1:1 basis with employer contributions.