Bill Summaries: H324 (2021)

Tracking:
  • Summary date: Sep 13 2021 - View summary

    The Governor vetoed the act on 09/10/21. The Governor's objections and veto message are available here: https://webservices.ncleg.gov/ViewBillDocument/2021/53067/0/H324-BD-NBC-9174.


  • Summary date: Aug 24 2021 - View summary

    Senate committee substitute amends the 4th edition as follows. 

    Revises proposed GS 115C-81.61, which prohibits public school units from promoting seven specified belief concepts. Adds to the legislative intent of the statute, which provides for students and school employees to respect the dignity of others, acknowledge the right of others to express differing opinions, and foster and defend intellectual honesty, freedom of inquiry and instruction, and freedom of speech and association, to include that public schools of the State are to employ teaching methods and procedures that further the legislative intent. Revises the definition of promote to define the term more narrowly to only include compelling students, teachers, administrators, or other school employees to affirm or profess belief in the concepts described in the act; no longer includes (1) including described concepts in curricula, reading lists, seminars, workshops, trainings, or other educational or professional settings in a manner that could reasonably give rise to the appearance of official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement, or (2) contracting with, hiring, or otherwise engaging speakers, consultants, diversity trainers, and other persons for the purpose of advocating described concepts.

    Makes the following changes to the enumerated concepts public school units are prohibiting from promoting, set forth in subsection (c). No longer qualifies the prohibited concept that an individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, by explicitly including the concept whether consciously or unconsciously. Now includes the concept that a meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist (replacing the concept that the belief that the United States is a meritocracy is an inherently racist or sexist belief, or that the United States was created by members of a particular race or sex for the purpose of oppressing members of another race or sex). Adds the following five concepts to those public school units are prohibited from promoting: (1) that the United States government should be violently overthrown; (2) that particular character traits, values, moral or ethical codes, privileges, or beliefs should be ascribed to a race or sex, or to an individual because of the individual's race or sex; (3) that the rule of law does not exist, but instead is a series of power relationships and struggles among racial or other groups; (4) that all Americans are not created equal and are not endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and (5) that governments should deny to any person within the government's jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.

    Adds a new subsection organized as subsection (d), requiring public school units to notify the Department of Public Instruction and make general information available on the public school unit's website, with detailed information upon request, at least 30 days prior to any of the following: (1) providing instruction regarding described concepts in curricula, reading lists, seminars, workshops, trainings, or other educational or professional settings; (2) contracting with, hiring, or otherwise engaging speakers, consultants, diversity trainers, and other persons for the purpose of discussing described concepts; and (3) contracting with, hiring, or otherwise engaging speakers, consultants, diversity trainers, and other persons who have previously advocated for the described concepts.

    Enacts new subsection (e) to exempt from the statute's prohibition against promoting the 13 described concepts and the required notifications of new subsection (d): (1) speech protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; (2) using materials, as part of a course of instruction, curriculum, instructional program, or supplemental instruction, that include the history of an ethnic group, the impartial discussion of controversial aspects of history, the impartial instruction on the historical oppression of a particular group of people based on race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion, or geographic region, or related historical documents permitted under GS 115C-47(29c); (3) accessing materials on an individual basis that advocate described concepts for the purpose of research or independent study; and (4) stating described concepts or assigning materials that incorporate concepts for educational purposes in contexts that make clear the public school unit does not sponsor, approve, or endorse such concepts or works (replaces previous subsection (d) of the proposed statute, which identified three actions not prohibited by the statute, now encompassed in subdivisions (1), (3), and (4) of this new subsection (e)). 

    Revises the proposed new language in the following statutes to require charter schools, regional schools, and laboratory schools to comply with new GS 115C-81.61 in order to ensure (was, by ensuring) dignity and nondiscrimination at each school: GS 115C-218.85; GS 115C-238.66; and GS 116-239.8.

    Changes the act's effective date to the date the act becomes law (was, July 1, 2021).


  • Summary date: May 12 2021 - View summary

    House amendment makes the following changes to the 3rd edition.

    Revises proposed GS 115C-81.61, which prohibits public school units from promoting seven specified belief concepts, modifying the seventh identified belief concept. Now prohibits promoting that the belief that the United States is a meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist in belief, or that the United States was created by members of a particular race or sex for the purpose of oppressing members of another race or sex (was, that the United States is a meritocracy is racist or sexist or was created by members of a particular race or sex to oppress members of another race or sex). 


  • Summary date: May 11 2021 - View summary

    House committee substitute deletes the content of the 2nd edition and instead provides the following.

    Enacts GS 115C-81.61 as follows. States legislative findings and intent. Prohibits public school units from promoting seven specified belief concepts as follows: (1) one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex; (2) an individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously; (3) an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex; (4) an individual's moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex; (5) an individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex; (6) any individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress; and (7) the belief that the United States is a meritocracy is racist or sexist or was created by members of a particular race or sex to oppress members of another race or sex. Defines promote to include three types of actions: (1) compelling students or school employees to affirm or profess the seven described belief concepts; (2) including the described belief concepts in educational or professional settings in a way that reasonably appears to sponsor, approve or endorse them; or (3) contracting, hiring, or engaging persons for the purpose of advocating the described belief concepts. Specifies that the statute does not prohibit constitutionally protected speech; individually accessing materials that advocate the described belief concepts for research or independent study; or stating the described belief concepts or assigning materials that incorporate such concepts for educational purposes in contexts that make clear the public school unit does not sponsor, approve, or endorse such concepts or work.

    Amends the following statutes and session law to require charter schools, regional schools, laboratory schools, and renewal school systems to comply with new GS 115C-81.61: GS 115C-218.85; GS 115C-238.66; GS 116-239.8; and Section 6 of SL 2018-32.

    Effective July 1, 2021. Changes the act's titles.


  • Summary date: Mar 23 2021 - View summary

    House committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes. Allows a charter school, for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year, to provide either remote instruction for all students or in-person instruction (was, in-person instruction only) to any grade level under Plan A (Minimal Social Distancing) in accordance with the StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit 8 (K-12) (Toolkit), as that guidance existed on March 4, 2021. Amends the act's long title.


  • Summary date: Mar 17 2021 - View summary

    Allows a charter school, for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year, to provide in-person instruction to any grade level under Plan A (Minimal Social Distancing) in accordance with the StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit 8 (K-12) (Toolkit), as that guidance existed on March 4, 2021. Requires a charter school that decides to provide in-person instruction under Plan A to grades 6-12 to: (1) notify the Department of Health and Human Services and describe the school's plan for moving to Plan A for grades 6-12 before it begins Plan A instruction; (2) partner with the ABC Science Collaborative of the School of Medicine at Duke University (ABC Collaborative) to allow the ABC Collaborative to collect and analyze data from those units for students in Plan A in grades 6-12; and (3) engage in robust contact tracing and report on requested information in the form specified by the ABC Collaborative.