Legislative Update from Rep. Iler — May 5, 2025

Last week at the North Carolina General Assembly was extremely busy with multiple deadlines upon us.  Many bills needed to pass the House or Senate in order to go to the other chamber and be considered. The state budget also was on a tight schedule.

            The state budget for the two-year biennium came from the Senate to the House with a three-week time frame to be finished in the House.  The “crossover” deadline to get bills to the other chamber is also upon us this week.  Committees met frequently last week and handled many bills on their way to floor votes.

            Here are some of the bills of local interest that passed the House: 

House Bill 38 – Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act prevents merchants who sell firearms with a transaction card from maintaining a record of firearm ownership.  It passed 77-38 with all Republicans voting for it.  Rep. Miller was a primary sponsor of this bill.

House Resolution 904 – House Board of Governors elected six members of the UNC system’s Board of Governors.  One of the six members is Reggie Holley of Brunswick County.  It was almost unanimous.

House Bill 140 – Authorize Gullah Geechee Heritage Trail recognizes the trail envisioned from Navassa to Southport.  A lot of work has been done in the Navassa area, particularly the restoration of Reaves Chapel, and this could help in their fundraising.  It passed 115-0.  Rep. Miller and I were the primary sponsors, and we had over 25 co-sponsors.

House Bill 171 – Equality in State Agencies/Prohibition on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) directs state agencies to base hiring on merit, not race, gender, or other immutable factors.  It passed 69-45 on a strict party line vote with all Republicans voting for it.

House Bill 193 – Firearm Law Revisions deals with authorized persons carrying a concealed weapon on private school property, similar to our resource officers in public schools.  It also eases noise restrictions on relocated shooting ranges.  It passed 63-44 on a party line vote.  Rep. Miller was a primary sponsor and I was a co-sponsor.

All these bills went to the Senate.  We will deal with several deadlines this week, and we expect to be very busy again.