GAC Update - June 5, 2026

1. GAC Updates from lobbyist:

   • The elections bill clearly hit a skid, after the elections committee Speaker Hall had said it would be on the floor on Wednesday and was not. They're up against obvious timeline issues because of a veto, so it's something that I'm watching for what the next version will be/timing. However, with the rumors that the chambers will be here in July, the timeline isn't as tight. 

   • The chaos continued at the North Carolina legislature this week, with budget talks remaining ongoing.High priority bills continued to be fast-tracked, including Senator Berger’s S889, Property Tax Reappraisal Moratorium. After sitting in the House Rules committee for over a month, the bill was heard on Tuesday in Judiciary I at 1pm, and by 4pm, it was on the House floor. The House floor debate featured speaking from the Guilford delegation, who were split on their support for the moratorium that would impact Guilford County budgets this year. However, it appeared that House members took issue with some of the impacted counties, and voted on a separate measure(S474) to exclude certain counties, such as Harnett and Buncombe. The House ended up withdrawing this bill on Wednesday afternoon.

   • On the Senate side, the Senate moved a social media and AI bill (H301) that would place restrictions on social media usage for minors- a bill that both chambers have been working on. The Senate continued to move forward various regulatory reform measures with H1047 and H369. After being in conference committee for almost an entire year, the House and Senate finally agreed on the annual Farm Act(S401). The controversial provisions about raw milk and pesticide immunity, resulting in a near-unanimous vote on the bill in the House and a unanimous vote in the Senate.

   • On the budget front, the rumor is that budget chairs have moved on to having members submit their personal projects that they would like, indicating that significant progress has been made on “big ticket” items in the budget process. Despite being pushed back a week per Senator Phil Berger, the budget remains on track to be voted on by the end of the fiscal year. Speaker Hall confirmed this on Wednesday saying, “The appropriations chairs have made a lot of progress. It is a question now of whether that happens next week, or the next week, or the following week. Much of the issues that have needed to be resolved have been resolved.

   • The House got a surprise retirement from Representative Sarah Stevens this week, as she is resigning to focus on her campaign for Supreme Court, effective on June 16th. Next week, the House and Senate plan to vote on Tuesday and Wednesday, keeping in a regular routine ofTuesday and Wednesday session in both chambers.