North Carolina General Assembly
The North Carolina General Assembly is the state's bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Its entries reach back to 2011. They record bills it passed on election administration — including changes to early voting — and on civil rights protections, several passed over a governor's veto rather than signed.
2026 Events (4)
North Carolina General Assembly enacted HB268, ousting Secretary of State Marshall from oversight board and expanding Senate hold on Cabinet
On August 11, 2026, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein signed House Bill 268 into law as Session Law 2026-61, enacting a Republican-authored provision that removed Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall from the state's Local Government Commission and gave the Senate a check on which of the governor's Cabinet appointees may keep their jobs. The Senate gave the bill final passage July 29 and the House adopted it August 4, continuing a decade-long pattern of the Republican-controlled General Assembly using must-pass budget vehicles to strip statutory authority from Democratic statewide officeholders.
North Carolina General Assembly ratified bill letting Chief Justice suspend trial judges without pay
On August 6, 2026, North Carolina's Republican-controlled General Assembly ratified House Bill 377, the "2026 Court Changes" act, authorizing the state Supreme Court's Chief Justice to unilaterally suspend a trial court judge without pay while the Judicial Standards Commission investigates a complaint against them. The House adopted the conference report August 5 after the Senate adopted it July 29, and the bill was presented to Gov. Josh Stein on August 7. House Speaker Destin Hall said afterward that he wants Chief Justice Paul Newby to use the new power against judges who rule leniently on bail; Gov. Stein vetoed the bill on August 17, warning it would have a "chilling effect on judicial independence."
North Carolina House Republicans passed HB958, cutting early voting from 17 to 10 days and denying recourse to wrongly-purged voters
On August 4, 2026, the North Carolina House passed House Bill 958 in a 62-47 party-line vote, cutting early voting in primaries, runoffs, and special elections from 17 days to 10 and allowing challenges to early and mail ballots for up to three days after an election. The bill also denies voters removed from the rolls as deceased under a flawed federal-database match any way to prove the removal was a mistake. Protesters chanting in the House gallery were removed as the vote proceeded.
NC Health News investigation found NC officials steered $40M in public funds to donor-founded mental health center amid clustered contributions
An NC Health News/Charlotte Ledger investigation published July 29, 2026, found that North Carolina officials, including Gov. Josh Stein and senior legislative leaders, approved more than $40 million in public funding for the Katie Blessing Center, a mental-health facility founded by Charlotte businessman Michael Estramonte, while Estramonte and 19 relatives, business associates, and their relatives contributed nearly $1 million to those officials' campaigns between 2023 and 2026. Campaign-finance watchdog Bob Hall identified clusters of same-day donations from donors with no prior giving history, such as 13 Estramonte associates who each gave $6,400 to Stein on the same day in April 2023, and filed a complaint with the North Carolina State Board of Elections alleging some contributions may have used straw donors, which Estramonte denies.
2025 Events (2)
North Carolina General Assembly overrode veto to enact law restricting transgender medical care and birth certificates
On July 29, 2025, the North Carolina General Assembly overrode Gov. Josh Stein's veto of House Bill 805, enacting a package of anti-transgender provisions by votes of 72-48 in the House and 30-19 in the Senate. The law bars state funds, including for state prisoners, from covering puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or gender-transition surgery; requires that birth certificates reflecting a changed sex designation be issued only linked to the original certificate; extends the medical-malpractice statute of limitations to ten years for gender-transition claims; and requires students on school overnight trips to room according to sex assigned at birth. Stein, who supported other provisions of the broader bill, called the transgender-related sections "mean-spirited" before the legislature overrode his veto.
North Carolina Gov. Stein signed SB 442, shielding foster/adoptive parents who refuse to affirm a transgender child's gender identity
On July 3, 2025, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein signed Senate Bill 442, the "Parents Protection Act," into law. The measure bars the state from bringing child-abuse or neglect findings against foster or adoptive parents solely for raising a transgender child according to the child's sex assigned at birth, including using birth-assigned pronouns and making medical decisions on that basis, and bars adoption/foster agencies from disqualifying prospective parents solely for declining to affirm a child's gender transition.
2023 Events (2)
North Carolina enacted SB452, barring transgender girls from girls' school sports and adding state enforcement of the ban
On October 3, 2023, North Carolina enacted Senate Bill 452 (Session Law 2023-133), an omnibus insurance bill amended late in the session to rewrite the state's high school athletics statute. The law requires K-12 interscholastic and intramural teams to be designated by "biological sex," bars students of "the male sex" from female teams, and defines sex by reproductive biology and genetics at birth, excluding transgender girls from girls' school sports. It also directs the State Board of Education to monitor schools for compliance and report violators to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee.
North Carolina overrode Cooper's veto to enact S49, restricting K-4 gender-identity instruction and mandating parental notice of pronoun changes
On August 16, 2023, the North Carolina General Assembly voted along party lines to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of Senate Bill 49, the "Parents' Bill of Rights," enacting it as Session Law 2023-106. The law bars instruction on gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality in kindergarten-through-fourth-grade classrooms and requires school personnel to notify a parent before any change in the name or pronoun used for a student.
2017 Events (1)
North Carolina Gov. Cooper signed HB142, repealing HB2 but preempting local LGBTQ nondiscrimination ordinances
On March 30, 2017, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed House Bill 142 (Session Law 2017-4), repealing the state's 2016 "bathroom bill" while replacing it with a permanent state claim over multi-occupancy restroom access and a moratorium on local nondiscrimination ordinances through December 1, 2020. LGBTQ advocacy groups and legal observers said the measure fell short of a true repeal, since it continued to bar cities such as Charlotte from adopting protections covering sexual orientation and gender identity.
2016 Events (1)
North Carolina Gov. McCrory signed HB2, barring transgender bathroom access and preempting local nondiscrimination ordinances
On March 23, 2016, in a one-day special session, the North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 2, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, and Gov. Pat McCrory signed it into law that evening. The law required multi-occupancy bathrooms and changing facilities in public schools and public agencies to be designated for use based on the sex stated on a person's birth certificate, and barred local governments from enacting nondiscrimination ordinances covering employment and public accommodations, nullifying Charlotte's LGBTQ-inclusive ordinance that had prompted the special session.
2011 Events (1)
North Carolina General Assembly passed SB514, referring same-sex marriage ban constitutional amendment to 2012 ballot
On September 13, 2011, the North Carolina Senate concurred with the House 30-16, completing General Assembly passage of Senate Bill 514, a constitutional amendment providing that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union valid or recognized in the state. The House had passed the measure 75-42 the day before; the bill was ratified as Session Law 2011-409 on September 14, 2011, referring the amendment to a May 8, 2012 statewide ballot.