Legislative Update from Rep. Iler — October 2, 2025
Last week at the North Carolina General Assembly was short, but very active and significant. We passed bills on crime, budget items, regulatory reform, appointments, and others.
House Bill 307 – Iryna’s Law ends cashless bail, strengthens pretrial release restrictions and enforces mental health evaluations for criminals when necessary. It was named for Iryna Zarutska who was brutally murdered last month in Charlotte by a schizophrenic violent offender who had repeatedly been released by the lax system. It passed 81-31 in the House, 28-8 in the Senate, and went to the Governor on 9/25/2025, as did the next 2 bills.
House Bill 358 – Continuing Budget Operations Part II makes appropriations for storm damage from Helene and Chantel and makes various Education operation changes. It also makes allocations for Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources for ongoing projects across the state. The votes were 105-4 and 47-0 respectively.
House Bill – 926 – Regulatory Reform Act of 2025 amends State laws related State and local governments, occupational licenses, commerce, environment, and various other regulations. It passed 72-37 and 31-17, respectively.
Other important bills included the Interstate Massage Compact, criminal history checks for school positions, and Medicaid work requirements. An appointments bill (Senate Bill 775) included one for Brunswick Community College. After 18 years on the Board of Trustees there, I retired on September 18th, and Mr. Justin Whiteside was appointed by the House last week to fill my remaining term. He has spent over 20 years in the county, is Town Manager of Ocean Isle Beach, rising through the ranks at OIB the entire time, right out of college. He attended a community college himself before graduating from Appalachian State. Also, his young children are coming through the school system in Brunswick County. He is very dedicated to the success of our county. This bill is not required to go to the Governor and became law on 9/24/2025.
We passed an adjournment resolution calling us back into session on October 20th. We are glad to spend this time back with the citizens of our districts.