North Carolina General Assembly · 2025–2026 session
Showing 1585–1608 of 2,329 bills
Introduced by Michael Lazzara
This bill clarifies that man-made ditches—including artificial ponds, culverts, canals, swales, storm channels, and roadside ditches—are not regulated as estuarine waters or areas of environmental concern under North Carolina's Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA). The changes apply this exclusion to the state's definitions of estuarine waters, tidal areas, and marshland for regulatory purposes.
Introduced by Michael Lee
This bill appropriates $169 million in state funding to North Carolina Central University for critical campus infrastructure repairs, including HVAC and fire safety systems ($100 million), roof and building envelope repairs ($9 million), and electrical and water infrastructure replacement ($60 million). The funds come from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund and are designated as nonrecurring appropriations for fiscal year 2025-2026.
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.
Introduced by Jim Burgin
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 Woodson Bradley
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.
Introduced by Ralph Hise
This bill expands which private colleges and universities in North Carolina can participate in need-based scholarship programs. It adds new categories of eligible institutions, including for-profit schools accredited by SACSCOC at certain levels and schools without on-campus housing requirements, while maintaining accreditation and degree-granting standards.
Introduced by Mujtaba Mohammed
This bill designates January 14th as Tamil Pongal Day in North Carolina. Tamil Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamil communities, primarily in South India and among Tamil diaspora populations. The designation recognizes this cultural observance as a state day.
Introduced by Natalie Murdock
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 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.
This bill requires state environmental agencies to consider the cumulative impact of pollution and development on low-income and minority communities when deciding whether to approve permits for mining, waste management, hazardous waste facilities, air pollution sources, and other industrial projects. It also requires agencies to hold public hearings in affected communities and consider community input before approving new or expanded facilities in areas already burdened by pollution.
Introduced by Sydney Batch
This bill creates a comprehensive framework for Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) agreements in North Carolina, allowing student-athletes at universities and high schools to earn money from using their name, image, or likeness for commercial purposes. It establishes a state NIL Clearinghouse, provides tax credits for businesses that pay student-athletes for NIL deals, allows universities to allocate up to $20.5 million annually for direct athlete compensation, and creates a study committee to explore revenue-sharing models.
This bill expands language access to state services by requiring driver's license materials and traffic signs to be available in 25 languages, mandating school documents be translated into those same languages, and appropriating funds for multilingual health care materials. It also adds six new cultural and religious holidays (Lunar New Year, Greek Independence Day, Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr, Yom Kippur, Diwali, and Rosh Hashanah) as legal public holidays and encourages schools and state agencies to accommodate religious holiday observances.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Sophia Chitlik
This bill reduces North Carolina income tax rates for most taxpayers starting in 2025, with an additional income tax exemption for certain essential workers including firefighters, police officers, teachers, child care workers, and emergency personnel. It also appropriates $165 million annually to provide subsidized child care for families where at least one member works in these qualifying professions.
This bill clarifies North Carolina's dam safety requirements by specifying that downstream inundation maps (which show areas that would be affected if a dam failed) do not need to be prepared by a licensed professional engineer, except for dams associated with coal combustion residuals. The bill also exempts very small dams (less than 15 feet high or with less than 50 acre-feet capacity) from needing inundation maps unless the Department determines site-specific factors warrant one.
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.
Introduced by Kandie Smith
This bill appropriates $150,000 per year for two years to the Town of Pinetops for police department staffing costs, and an additional one-time grant of $100,000 for police equipment purchases. The funds come from the state's General Fund.
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.