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The crossover deadline—the date by which all bills must have passed either the House or the Senate chamber in order to be eligible for consideration throughout the remainder of the legislative session—is Thursday, May 13.

As has been the case for several years, the N.C. General Assembly can barely get anything done thanks to deep-rooted partisanship and Republican control. That means a lot of bills, like the ten listed below, will be dead come Thursday (Bills with provisions related to finance or appropriations, constitutional amendments, appointments, or elections laws are exempt.)

Here are 10 bills we wish had passed before the crossover deadline.

House Bill 188: Remove Barriers/Gain Access to Abortion Act

The RBG Bill takes aim at four of the state’s regressive, redundant anti-abortion laws, including: the 72-hour delay between receiving state-mandated counseling and having an abortion, the restrictions on who can perform an abortion and where, redundant bans on Medicaid coverage of abortions, and the ban on abortions being performed via telemedicine if the patient opts for the medicinal procedure. Read more here. 

House Bill 424: Parole Eligibility for Juveniles Sentenced to Life in Prison

The bill would eliminate the sentence of life without parole for people under age 18 who commit crimes and modify parole eligibility for juveniles sentenced to more than 15 years in prison. Read more here. 

House Bill 437: Fair Maps Act

This bill seeks to amend the state constitution by stripping the power of congressional and legislative redistricting from politicians while transferring the responsibility to an independent redistricting commission. Read more here.

House Bill 446: Safeguard Voting Rights

The bill would make several changes to state election laws aimed at making it easier to register and cast ballots, including:  allow government agencies to automatically register a person to vote or update their voter registration information whenever the person interacts with a government body; enable online voter registration; promote mail-in voting by sending each registered voter an absentee ballot application; make Election Day in each even-numbered year a public holiday for state employees. Read more here.  

House Bill 452: Mental Health Protection Act

The bill would ban licensed professionals from practicing conversion therapy—a blanket term for the practice of attempting to alter an individual’s sexual, or gender, identity—on minors. Read more here. 

Senate Bill 393 + Senate Bill 634

Part of the suite of Sen. Natalie Murdock’s Momnibus package, these bills seek to improve health outcomes for Black pregnant mothers by supporting doula services through grants and asking DHHS to consider funding doulas under Medicaid. Read more here and here.

Senate Bill 439: Hate Crimes Prevention Act

Filed on March 31, two weeks following the shootings of six Asian American spa workers in Atlanta, the bill would create a hate crimes database, expand protections against hate crimes and increase punishments for hate crimes, and require training for law enforcement officers and prosecutors. Read more here. 

Senate Bill 544: 2021 Water Safety Act

A bipartisan bill that would provide funding of $10 million or more to North Carolina universities to study ways to address PFAS (“forever chemicals”), including GenX, in the state’s waterways. 

Senate Bill 710: A Tax Plan for a Just Recovery

This bill would increase state funding by close to $2 billion dollars per year by rolling back Republican tax cuts on corporations and families making over $500,000 per year. The money would go into the general fund to support education and other goals set forth in the state constitution. 

Senate Bill 669 + 711: N.C. Compassionate Care Act + Senate Bill 646: Marijuana Justice and Reinvestment Act

The bipartisan Senate Bill 711 would legalize medical marijuana for patients suffering from debilitating illnesses, as would Senate Bill 669. Senate Bill 646 would legalize marijuana for recreational use. 

Farewell to these bills. We hope and we pray that one day you’ll be laws, but, for this legislative session, you are still just bills.

Follow Editor-in-Chief Jane Porter on Twitter or send an email to [email protected]. 

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