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The North Carolina General Assembly adjourned the 2015 Legislative Session just after 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, bringing to a close an 8-month-long legislative journey that began on January 28. State lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene in Raleigh on April 25, 2016 for the 2016 “Short” Legislative Session.

“Overall, this has been an incredibly successful session,” said John L. Rustin, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council.“We are extremely grateful to our state legislators who supported important measures to protect the sanctity of human life, to affirm religious liberty, to provide more choice in education, and to seek the best for the families of North Carolina.”

During the session, state lawmakers passed legislation to:

• Extend the informed consent waiting period for abortion from 24 to 72 hours;
• Prohibit Planned Parenthood and other groups that perform abortions from selling body parts and other remains of unborn children after an abortion;
• Ensure no state taxpayer dollars will go to groups, like Planned Parenthood, that perform abortions;
• Require annual inspections of abortion clinics in North Carolina;
• Enable magistrates and registers of deeds staff to recuse themselves from participation in civil marriages based upon a “sincerely held religious objection;”
• Provide more funding for the state’s educational Opportunity Scholarship program and for Special Education Scholarships that help to enable qualified lower-income and disabled students to attend the non-public school of their choice; and
• Increase the standard deduction for personal income taxes in 2016 and decrease the individual income tax rate in 2017.

They also rejected proposals that would have:

• Expanded lottery advertising by 50 percent and initiated “E-Instant Games,” which are equivalent to online scratch-off tickets;
• Legitimized video sweepstakes gambling by licensing, regulating and taxing currently illegal sweepstakes operations; and
• Legalized medical marijuana in North Carolina.

NC Family will provide a more detailed analysis and review of this year’s legislative session in the upcoming issue of our magazine Family North Carolina, which is set to go to press at the end of this week. (Sign up now to receive our magazine and email alerts!)

Thank you for your support, involvement, and prayers throughout the session. NC Family cannot do all that we do to promote, protect and defend family values in North Carolina without your participation!!!