The past two weeks at the North Carolina General Assembly have been exceptionally busy, as State House and Senate members have been hustling to get their bills heard in committees and approved by their respective chambers prior to the May 8 “crossover deadline.” “Crossover” is an arbitrary date established in the House and Senate rules by which most bills—that don’t involve finance or appropriations—have to pass their chamber of origin in order to remain eligible for consideration during the remainder of the two-year legislative biennium. Hundreds of bills saw action during the flurry of the past two weeks. The following is a snapshot of some of the important bills that survived the winnowing process of the crossover deadline.
PARENTAL RIGHTS:
SB 442—Parents Protection Act would affirm a parent’s fundamental right to raise their child consistent with the child’s innate biological sex as male or female by clarifying that, “A parent, guardian, custodian, or caretaker who raises a juvenile consistent with the juvenile’s biological sex or who refers to a juvenile consistent with the juvenile’s biological sex shall not be subject to a petition supporting abuse or neglect…” The bill would also apply a similar standard to adoptive parents. SB 442 is sponsored by Sens. Jim Burgin (R-Harnett), Amy Galey (R-Alamance), and Benton Sawrey (R-Johnston).
HB 519—Parents’ Medical Bill of Rights would affirm the rights of parents to direct the health care of their children by repealing a law that allows minors to be treated for sexually transmitted diseases, abuse of controlled substances or alcohol, or emotional disturbance without their parent’s knowledge or consent. HB 519 is sponsored by Reps. Jennifer Balkcom (R-Henderson), Donnie Loftis (R-Gaston), Brian Biggs (R-Randolph), and Larry Potts (R-Davidson).
WELFARE OF WOMEN & MINORS:
HB 83—Revise Laws Governing Minors would further protect minors from being exposed to obscene and harmful content by enhancing penalties for those who violate the law; by potentially requiring violators to register as sex offenders, and by creating the new offenses of “habitual indecent exposure” and “aggravated habitual indecent exposure.” HB 83 is sponsored by Rep. John Torbett (R-Gaston).
HB 301—Social Media Protections for Minors Under 16 would prohibit social media platforms from allowing minors under 14 years of age to establish accounts with the platform. It would also allow 14 and 15 year olds to establish social media accounts only if the platform first obtains the consent of the minor’s parent or guardian. HB 301 is sponsored by Reps. Jeff Zenger (R-Forsyth), Neal Jackson (R-Moore), Jonathan Almond (R-Cabarrus), and David Willis (R-Union).
HB 805—Prevent Sexual Exploitation/Women and Minors would hold operators of pornographic websites accountable and subject to civil penalties for failure to ensure that an individual who is the subject of the website’s content is at least 18 years of age and has provided written consent for their image to be published on the website. HB 805 is sponsored by Reps. Neal Jackson (R- Moore), Laura Budd (D-Mecklenburg), Sarah Stevens (R-Surry), and Jennifer Balkcom (R-Henderson).
PROHIBITING OBJECTIONAL CONTENT IN SCHOOLS:
SB 227—Eliminating “DEI” in Public Education would prohibit the promotion of “discriminatory practices” and “divisive concepts” in public schools, such as teaching that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex,” or that, “an individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive.” SB 227 is sponsored by Sens. Phil Berger (R-Rockingham), Michael Lee (R-New Hanover), and Brad Overcash (R-Gaston).
HB 636—Promoting Wholesome Content for Students would require public school superintendents across the state to establish 10-member “community library advisory committees” to review, evaluate, and recommend library media “for approval by the governing body of the public school unit.” The bill would also require the State Board of Education to maintain and make public an annually updated database of library media rejected by public school units. HB 636 is sponsored by Reps. Neal Jackson (R- Moore), Brian Biggs (R- Randolph), David Willis(R-Union) and Jennifer Balkcom (R- Henderson).
PROHIBITING CELL PHONE USE IN SCHOOLS:
SB 55—Student Use of Wireless Communication Devices would require public school units across the state to establish wireless communication policies, that, at a minimum, prohibit students “from using, displaying, or having a wireless communication device [including cell phones, tablets, and other devices] turned on during instructional time.” SB 55 is sponsored by Sens. Michael Lee (R-New Hanover), Jim Burgin (R-Harnett), and Lisa Barnes (R-Nash).
Similar to SB 55, HB 87—Cell Phone-Free Education would require public school units to adopt a “cell phone-free education policy” to “eliminate or severely restrict student access to cell phones during instructional time.” HB 87 is sponsored by Reps. Neal Jackson (R- Moore), Brian Biggs (R-Randolph), Mike Schietzelt (R-Wake), and Blair Eddins (R-Wilkes).
PROTECTION FOR DESTRANSITIONERS:
HB 606—Civil Procedure Amendment would extend the statute of limitations to “10 years from the day the claimant reaches 18 years of age” for lawsuits “arising out of the performance of or failure to perform services” relating to gender transition. The bill also prohibits state funds from being used to provide puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, or “for the performance of or in the furtherance of surgical gender transition procedures” to any prisoner in the state prison system. HB 606 is sponsored by Reps. Jonathan Almond (R-Cabarrus), Dean Arp (R-Union), Dennis Riddell (R-Alamance), and John Blust (R-Guilford).
PROHIBITING HEMP-DERIVED PRODUCTS AT SCHOOL:
HB 328—Ban Delta-8 & Delta-9 on School Grounds would require public schools to prohibit the use of hemp-derived consumable products on school grounds, including products containing Delta-8, Delta-9, TCHA, CBD, and other similar compounds. HB 328 is sponsored by Reps. Carla Cunningham (D-Mecklenburg), Donnie Loftis (R-Gaston), Donny Lambeth (R-Forsyth), and Larry Potts (R-Davidson).
Similar to HB 328, HB 329—Tobacco and Hemp on Nonpublic School Grounds, which is sponsored by the same House members, would encourage private church schools, religious schools and other nonpublic schools to adopt policies prohibiting the use of tobacco products and hemp-derived consumable products on school grounds. (Tobacco products are already prohibited at public schools.)
LIMITING AG CHALLENGES TO PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ORDERS:
SB 58—AG/Restrict Challenge to Presidential EOs would prohibit North Carolina’s Attorney General [currently Democrat Jeff Jackson] from filing an action, or advancing an argument in a pending action, in any state or federal court that would result in the invalidation of an executive order issued by the President of the United States. SB 58 is sponsored by Sens. Eddie Settle (R-Wilkes), Bobby Hanig (R-Currituck), Tim Moffitt (R-Henderson).
As stated above, the legislation listed herein is a snapshot of select bills of interest that were subject to and approved by their originating chamber prior to the May 8 crossover deadline. NC Family will do our best to keep you up to date regarding developments on bills of interest throughout the 2025-2026 Legislative Session.