North Carolina General Assembly · 2025–2026 session
Showing 1705–1728 of 2,329 bills
Introduced by Woodson Bradley
This bill raises the minimum marriage age in North Carolina to 18 years old, eliminating the current ability for 16- and 17-year-olds to marry with parental consent or court approval. It removes existing exceptions that allowed minors to marry with permission from parents or judges.
Introduced by Graig Meyer
This bill establishes automatic voter registration at NC Division of Motor Vehicles offices (starting January 1, 2026), public agencies, community colleges, and UNC system universities (starting January 1, 2027). Eligible citizens would be automatically registered to vote unless they actively decline, and the State Board of Elections must conduct an outreach campaign about these new procedures.
Introduced by Terence Everitt
This bill limits the amount of 'due diligence funds' (nonrefundable money paid to sellers upon offer acceptance) to 1% of the purchase price in residential real estate transactions, making any higher amounts void and unenforceable. It also appropriates $10 million to the North Carolina Housing Coalition to support homebuyer education services.
Introduced by Natalie Murdock
This bill directs the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to create a statewide Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) program and an advisory committee to prevent prenatal alcohol exposure, increase FASD awareness and screening, and provide evidence-based interventions for affected individuals. The bill appropriates $2 million in recurring funds for the 2025-2027 fiscal period to establish and operate these initiatives.
Introduced by Jim Burgin
This bill requires North Carolina to develop a team-based Medicaid service for substance use disorder treatment that includes screening, medication, recovery support, and case management. It also changes policy so that incarcerated individuals have their Medicaid suspended rather than terminated, allowing them to quickly restart coverage upon release.
Healthy Start NC creates a program providing cash assistance to expecting mothers and new parents to help cover prenatal and infant care costs, funded by approximately $308 million annually from federal TANF funds and state General Fund appropriations. The bill offsets these costs by gradually reducing the corporate income tax rate from 2.25% to 0% over several years, with the rate dropping to 2% in 2026, 1% in 2028, and 0% after 2029.
Introduced by Thomas McInnis
This bill updates North Carolina's Controlled Substances Act by adding dozens of newly-designed synthetic opioids, fentanyl derivatives, nitazene compounds, and other drug analogs to the state's list of Schedule I controlled substances. The bill aims to keep pace with chemists who create new drug variants by modifying the chemical structure of existing illegal drugs to circumvent current drug laws.
Introduced by Kandie Smith
This bill establishes a Small Farmers Support Grant Program that provides financial grants to North Carolina farmers with gross cash farm income of $1 million or less. The program, funded with $15 million in state money for 2025-2026, aims to help small farmers purchase equipment, inputs, and make operational improvements to remain viable.
This bill modifies how North Carolina taxes 1031 exchanges, which are real estate transactions where investors swap one property for another to defer federal taxes. The bill allows taxpayers to deduct from their North Carolina state income any gains from non-like-kind property (cash or other assets) received in a 1031 exchange, but only up to the amount of their original investment in the property sold.
Introduced by Sydney Batch
This bill allows North Carolina employees to use up to five consecutive days of their accrued sick leave per calendar year to care for family members, including children, parents, spouses, grandparents, siblings, and others in close family relationships. The bill also protects employees from retaliation for using sick leave for family care purposes.
Introduced by Lisa Grafstein
This bill allows people enrolled in North Carolina's BH IDD Tailored Plans (Medicaid managed care plans for behavioral health and intellectual/developmental disabilities) to have more flexibility in choosing their coverage. Specifically, it lets beneficiaries stay in traditional Medicaid fee-for-service if their current providers aren't in their plan's network, and it allows them to switch to tailored plans in other regions if those plans offer better services or providers. The state must request federal approval for these changes by July 1, 2025, and report back to lawmakers by August 1, 2025.
This bill modifies North Carolina law to give widows and widowers additional options when changing their name after a spouse's death. Instead of only being able to resume their pre-marriage surname or a previous spouse's surname, they may now also hyphenate their pre-marriage surname with their deceased spouse's surname.
Introduced by Sophia Chitlik
This bill creates the Capital for Communities Special Fund, a new state fund that receives quarterly transfers of 3.5% from state treasurer holdings and special investment accounts when those accounts achieve a 7% or higher return. The fund would support economic development projects in North Carolina including affordable housing, childcare facilities, healthcare initiatives, medical research, workforce development, living-wage jobs, and nonprofit education facilities.
Introduced by Michael Garrett
This bill proposes a constitutional amendment that would remove North Carolina's current constitutional definition of marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman. If passed by the General Assembly and approved by voters in November 2026, the amendment would take effect January 1, 2027.
This bill, named after Wendy Williams, establishes mandatory training requirements for guardians and guardians ad litem appointed to care for incompetent persons in North Carolina. Guardians must complete training within six months of appointment covering legal duties, the ward's rights, available resources, medical terminology, and financial reporting. Clerks retain discretion to waive or expand these requirements based on the guardian's experience and the ward's specific needs.
This bill requires law enforcement officers to intervene when they observe excessive force or other improper conduct, and to report such conduct to supervisors within 72 hours. It protects these officers from retaliation for making good-faith reports and allocates $100,000 for training criminal justice officers on these new requirements.
Introduced by Michael Lee
This bill revives a program that allows retired teachers to return to work in high-need schools without losing their retirement benefits or having their earnings count against them. The program is set to expire on June 30, 2027, and includes provisions allowing retired teachers to maintain health insurance coverage while working in these positions.
This bill gives owners of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles in North Carolina the option to pay their additional registration fees based on miles driven instead of a flat annual fee. Electric vehicle owners can choose between paying $180 annually or a mileage-based fee, while plug-in hybrid owners can choose between $90 annually or a mileage-based fee.
Introduced by Bobby Hanig
This bill updates North Carolina's Controlled Substances Act by adding numerous synthetic drugs to the state's list of Schedule I controlled substances, including new opioid derivatives (such as AP-237 variants and U-47700 analogs), nitazene derivatives, fentanyl derivatives, synthetic cannabinoids, and other designer drugs. The bill also makes technical corrections to existing drug classifications.
Introduced by Julie Mayfield
This bill prohibits defendants in homicide and assault cases from using a victim's sex, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation as a legal defense or as evidence that negates the crime's severity. The bill allows evidence about a victim's conduct or statements to still be admitted if relevant, and applies to offenses committed after December 1, 2025.
Introduced by Allison Dahle
This bill creates a new workplace safety system for the North Carolina General Assembly that includes mandatory annual harassment prevention training, a confidential reporting and investigation process for sexual harassment and improper workplace behavior, clear disciplinary sanctions, and an appeals process. The bill appropriates $250,000 to implement these policies and requires the Legislative Services Commission and Legislative Ethics Committee to adopt the policies by December 31, 2025.
This bill provides $30 million in one-time funding to the North Carolina Housing Trust Fund and establishes two new ongoing revenue sources for the fund: 1.5% of register of deeds fees and 33% of real property transfer excise tax proceeds. These funds would support affordable housing programs including home ownership, rentals, supportive housing, and emergency repairs.
This bill makes it illegal for people to carry or possess dangerous weapons at voting locations, within 100 feet of voting place entrances, or while waiting in line to vote. Violations would be charged as a Class 1 misdemeanor, with an exception for law enforcement officers performing their duties. The law would take effect December 1, 2025.
Introduced by Ralph Hise
This bill increases child care subsidy payment rates to the 75th percentile starting July 1, 2025, and allocates $123.5 million annually for two years to fund these increases. It also creates an $8 million pilot program in western North Carolina counties affected by Hurricane Helene to help build new child care capacity through recruitment and mentoring of new providers.