General Assembly bill filing deadline approaches

Here's a list of some of the more questionable filings

Over 1,000 bills have been filed this session so far and we’re not done yet. Public bill filing in the Senate ended March 25, but the House has until April 3.

Just a reminder, Crossover this session is on May 8.

Crossover refers to the deadline when a bill has to be passed by one chamber and sent to the other in order to be considered for passage as a law. So for this year, a bill will be considered dead if it hasn’t been passed by its originating chamber by May 8.

Keep in mind, each chamber has various types of bills which are not subject to Crossover such as appointments, budget/finance, statutory amendments and state constitutional amendments.

This session, I’ve attempted to keep track of “odd priorities” bills. This list is in no way comprehensive this is just what I’ve managed to spot as the session has flown along. I’ve added a brief description blurb below each entry, but encourage readers to check out the bills on their own.

The House

North Carolina CROWN Act. (H168)
Baker; Johnson-Hostler; Logan; F. Jackson (Primary)
Essentially bars discrimination against a person based on "protected" hairstyles.
Appears to be an attempt to mimic Wake County School board’s “CROWN” policy.

Marriage Equality Act. (H174)
Butler; Rubin; Lopez; Belk (Primary)
Would change state law to the “legally recognized union of two consenting individuals, regardless of sex, gender, or sexual orientation.”

Const. Amend./Marriage Equality. (H175)
Butler; Rubin; Lopez; Belk (Primary)
Pretty much the same as H174; would repeal part of the NC Constitution stating marriage is between one man and one woman.

Diversity in Pickleball (H249)
Roberson; Baker; Logan (Primary)
$10,112 would be allocated to NC State University through NC Parks and Recs for enhancing diversity in the sport of pickleball

Marine Life Stewardship Act. (H293)
Harrison; Ball; Belk; Morey (Primary)
Prohibits octopus farming for the purpose of human consumption.

Make Corporations Pay What They Owe. (H303)
Morey; Butler; Price; Cervania (Primary)
Would repeal the current corporate tax phase out schedule. (See Section 42.2 of S.L. 2021-180).

Marijuana Legalization and Reinvestment Act. (H413)
Lopez; Dew; Hawkins; Harrison (Primary)
House Democratic Freshman Co-Chair Jordan Lopez (D-Mecklenburg)
Self-explanatory, but folks should read the fine print.

Skip The Stuff Act (H423)
von Haefen; Butler; Roberson; Harrison (Primary)
Seeks to reduce waste from single-use foodware items in takeout and food delivery services in North Carolina by banning restaurants from automatically including those items with orders. Penalties for noncompliance would “not exceed $100 per day.’

Improve Enforcement/Migrant Housing. (H458)
Butler; Harrison; Price; Morey (Primary)
Modifies the term “person” pertaining to the NC Migrant Housing Act to also include a “limited liability company.” Corporations are now people.

Income Tax Rate Reduction Trigger Mods. (H459)
Butler; Budd; Greenfield; Harrison (Primary)
Similar intent to H303. Dismantles tax rate reductions in current statute, alters the General Fund Triggers for reducing rates.

House Joint Resolution 461, Urging Support for Washington DC Statehood.
Belk; Logan; Dahle; Hawkins (Primary)
States that North Carolina supports admitting Washington, D.C., as a state of the United States of America and urges Congress to enact federal legislation granting statehood.

Repeal parents' bill of rights (H492)
Dahle; Alston (Primary)
Self-explanatory; it would wipe out the Parents’ Bill of Rights.

Gender-Affirming Rights Act. (H502)
Dahle (Primary)
Repeals the law enacted banning Gender Transition Procedures on Minors and the law limiting the use of state funds for abortions. Adds new Article, “the Gender-Affirming Rights Act.”

Right to Reproductive Freedom Act (H509)
von Haefen; Butler; Greenfield; Dew (Primary)
Codifies protections in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, repeals the NC 12 week abortion limitation to grant abortion access before “fetal viability.” Refers to women throughout the bill as “pregnant persons.”

The Menstrual Equity for All Act (H510)
von Haefen; Dahle; Belk; G. Brown (Primary)
Allocates $1.5 million over the biennium for the "Feminine Hygiene Products Program.” Does not use the terms female, girl, woman, or women, but instead uses the term “human menstruation.”

The Senate

H.A.L.L. Accountability Act. (S242)
Everitt; Meyer (Primary)
Clearly aimed at House Speaker Destin Hall; "An Act to Make Redistricting Documents Public Records by Enacting the Hold All Legislators Liable (H.A.L.L.) Accountability Act."

January 6 Riot/Attempt Overthrow of Gov't. (S244)
Everitt; Garrett (Primary)
Would make it a Class F Felony to "engage in riot or incite a riot in which an attempt occurs to overthrow the government of the United States, The State of North Carolina or Any political subdivision thereof."

Redirect Crisis Pregnancy Center Funds (S247)
Chitlik; Murdock; Bradley (Primary)
Strips funding for Crisis Pregnancy Centers - $6.25M (2025-26, and again in 2026-27). Gives the funding to DHHS for "the expansion of evidence-based maternal and infant health programs and services.”

Repeal Crime Against Nature Law. (S274)
Grafstein (Primary)
Seeks to repeal G.S. 14-177, which is the current "crime against nature" statute, while simultaneously establishing a new, separate offense of bestiality under G.S. 14-363.4. Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe.

The Economic Security Act. (S326 = H339)
Murdock; Mayfield; Grafstein (Primary)
Raises the minimum wage to $22 an hour, requires same pay regardless of sex for any job, doesn't allow an employer to ask about a criminal history in hiring, COLA increases, workers compensation changes, and a host of other items.

Student Health and Responsibility Act. (S323)
Applewhite; Robinson (Primary)
Allocates $9.6M to supply schools (high schools & UNC System schools) with free "safe sex" supplies to the UNC Board, the Community Colleges Systems Office (Office), and DPI.

Reallocate Civil War & Reconst. Hist Ctr Fnds. ( S337)
Applewhite (Primary)
Reverts any funds that are unspent and unencumbered from funds for the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center to be reallocated to multiple different Fayetteville programs and offices.

Marijuana Justice and Reinvestment Act. (S350)
Meyer; Chaudhuri; Murdock (Primary)
New statute for operating cannabis establishments, set possession/use of cannabis to at least 21 years of age. Check out the criminal penalties yourself.

Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S358)
Chaudhuri; Mohammed; Chitlik (Primary)
Among other things, broadens protected categories for “hate crimes” to include gender, gender identity, gender expression, disability, and sexual orientation. Increases penalties for hate-motivated crimes.

Stop Chronically Low-Performing Charters. (S371)
Chitlik; Grafstein (Primary)
Bypasses the Charter School Review Board's authority and directs the State Board to identify low performing charters and close them.

Equality for All. (S381)
Grafstein; Mayfield; Meyer (Primary)
Makes it unlawful to discriminate in housing practices for people of a "protected status,” defined as a person's race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, sex, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military or veteran status, or genetic information."

Right to IVF (S383=H473)
Bradley; Grafstein; Everitt (Primary)
Bars the state from “prohibiting, unreasonably limiting, or interfering with access to IVF.” Bans an externally fertilized human egg from being considered an “unborn fetus, an unborn child, a minor child, a natural person, or any other term that connotes a human being for any purpose under State law.”

The Ric Flair Act (S404)
Chaudhuri; Britt; Hise (Primary)
Provides $500K to study the feasibility of creating a pro-wrestling museum.
Come on, people. Really?

Prohibit Defense Based on Sex or Gender (S407)
Mayfield; Grafstein (Primary)
What one might think in their head about another person can’t be used as a defense if one murders that person.

School workers fair pay act (S434)
Grafstein; Bradley; Everitt (Primary)
Would mandate school employees be paid at least $17 an hour statewide.

NC Adopt ERA (S483)
Mayfield; Murdock; Bradley (Primary)
This is in support of congressional Democrats’ Equal Rights Amendment

Adopt Official Hip Hop Song (S512)
Murdock; Smith; Salvador (Primary)
“The censored version of the song "Raise Up" by North Carolina rapper Petey Pablo is adopted as the official hip hop song of the State of North Carolina."
The uncensored version uses extreme profanity like mother f*cker” and the slang version of the N-word.

Wellness Break Act (S582)
Theodros; Chitlik (Primary)
Would establish Sabbatical leave” for “long-term” state employees defined as a “period of paid leave for health improvement, skill-building, and personal enrichment of between four to six weeks.” We are not Europe, people.

Environmental Justice (S597)
Murdock; Meyer (Primary)
Environmental DEI; all permits would have to consider race as a deciding factor.

Language Access & State Holidays Act., (S606)
Batch; Chaudhuri; Mohammed (Primary)
Would require the NC DMV to give driver's license exams in 25 different languages. Only two on the list are considered highly used; Mandarin Chinese and Spanish and both are already offered along with Arabic, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese.

In-state tuition equity (S691)
Mohammed; Meyer; Murdock (Primary)
Would give illegal aliens in-state tuition rates at UNC Schools and NC Community Colleges.