Senate committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes.

Amends the long title.

Changes the language for proposed subsection (b1) of GS 14-399 to make it a rebuttable presumption that the person violated subsection (a1) of that statute (was, knowingly committed the offense).

Senate committee substitute makes the following changes to the 1st edition.

Deletes proposed GS 14-269.2(g)(9) to except persons in a place of religious worship located on educational property owned, used, or operated by the membership of the place of religious worship from the statute's provisions concerning weapons on educational property so long as the person is attending worship services or sacerdotal functions. Instead amends subsection (k1), which exempts from the statute's provisions persons who have a concealed handgun permit, or are exempt from obtaining a permit, and who meet five criteria. Expands the fourth criteria for the exemption under subsection (k)(1) to require that the person's possession and carrying on education property be, at any time, in a building that is a place of religious worship while the person is attending worship services or other sacerdotal functions in the building as an alternative to the existing qualification that the possession and carrying on education property be outside of school operating hours. Defines attending.

Senate committee substitute to the 1st edition adds the following content. Makes conforming changes to act’s long title.

Section 3.

Repeals GS 90-8.2(a) (requiring the NC Medical Board [Board] to appoint and maintain a subcommittee to work jointly with a subcommittee of the Board of Nursing [NB] to develop rules to govern the performance of medical acts by registered nurses). Makes conforming changes to GS 90-18 (practice without a license), GS 90-18.2 (limitations on nurse practitioners), GS 90-171.23(b) (powers and duties of the NB), GS 90-18.8 (limits on nurse-midwives), GS 90-178.3 (regulation of midwifery), GS 90-178.4 (administration of article pertaining to certified nurse midwives), GS 90-178.5 (qualifications for approval as a certified nurse midwife), GS 90-178.6 (denial, revocation, or suspension of approval-midwifery licensure), and GS 90-178.7 (enforcement).

Amends GS 90-171.23 by authorizing the NB to grant prescribing, ordering, dispensing, and furnishing authority to nurse practitioners. Gives the NB sole authority to adopt rules and enforce regulations governing the practice of nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and the practice and conduct of nurse midwifery (including the authority to adopt rules to implement and enforce the provisions of Article 10A, governing the practice of midwifery, of GS Chapter 90).

Repeals GS 90-171.37(b) (requiring the NB’s discipline of a registered nurse to not interfere with the Board’s authority to enforce rules and regulations governing the performance of medical acts by a registered nurse).

Modifies the NB’s reporting requirements under GS 90-178.4 so that it no longer must annually report all receipts of every kind and nature, as well as the compensation paid the members of the joint subcommittee and the necessary expenses incurred by them in the performance of their duties to the State Treasurer. Removes provisions providing compensation to members of the NB who are not officers or employees of the State and for reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses of State employee members at the statutory rate.  

Section 4.

Removes the nurse practitioner member of the Board in GS 90-2 and increases the number of physician assistants on the Board from one member to two. Makes conforming changes. Makes conforming changes to GS 90-3 (review panel recommendations for certain Board members).

Section 5.

Directs the NB to adopt rules to implement Section 3 of the act.

Section 6.

Directs that Section 3 is effective when the NB adopts the permanent rules required, or June 30, 2026, whichever occurs first. Instructs the NB to notify the Revisor of Statutes when such rules are adopted.

Senate committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes.

Expands the scope and purpose of the new Article 6B’s declaration of public policy to include prevention of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of both disabled adults and older adults (was, just disabled adults). Makes conforming changes to include older adults in defined term case review multidisciplinary team (Teams) in GS 108A-118.1, GS 108A-118.3 (powers and duties of Teams), GS 108A-118.4 (duties of director of local DSS in relation to Teams), GS 108A-118.6 (information sharing pertaining to Teams), and GS 108A-118.7 (confidentiality of Teams’ records).

Requires that the board of county commissioners appointing the local law enforcement members of a county Team consult with the district attorney’s office and local DSS.

Senate committee substitute to the 3rd edition makes the following changes. Makes technical changes.

Part I.

Increases the number of pharmacies from three to five that can comprise a group of common ownership under the definition of independent pharmacy in GS 58-51-37 (concerning pharmacies of choice).

Part II.

Extends the time for a Pharmacy Services Administrative Organization (PSAO) to: (1) provide a written disclosure of ownership to the Department of Insurance (DOI) under GS 58-56B-5 and (2) update any required disclosures in GS 58-56B-10 due to a material change in ownership, from within five calendar days of any material change in ownership to within ten calendar days of such change. Extends the time for a PSAO-pharmacy to provide a pharmacy with a copy of any of the described materials related to an executed PSAO-pharmacy contract from three calendar days to ten calendar days after the execution of, or amendment to, a contract that the PSAO has signed on behalf of the independent pharmacy.

Reduces the daily penalty under GS 58-56B-40 from $1,000 to $500 and specifies that the penalty accrues from the day the Insurance Commissioner informs the PSAO of noncompliance.  

Removes language specifying that a PSAO has a duty to avoid self-dealing from GS 58-56B-45. Makes technical changes.

Part III.

Adds terms independent pharmacy, pharmacy desert, and retail community pharmacy to the definitions provision of GS Chapter 58, Article 56A (pharmacy benefits management). Include retail community pharmacies in a pharmacy desert as one types of pharmacies that a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) is prohibited from imposing the described reimbursement requirements upon in GS 56-56A-4(g).

Requires a PBM to act in the best interests of both insureds and health benefit plans offered by the insurer as part of its fiduciary duties to contracted insurers under GS 58-56A-21 (was, insureds under the health benefit plans offered by the insurer).

Part IX.

Changes the due date for the annual report under GS 90-85.58 from March 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, to January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter.

Part XI.

Now requires the Executive Administrator to consider incorporating the nine listed items in new GS 135-49 into a request for proposal for a PBM for the State Health Plan for Teachers’ and State Employees’ Plan (was, requiring that Board of Trustees (Board) for the Plan to work to determine how to incorporate the nine listed items in an economically feasible manner in the Plan). Makes conforming changes. Makes the part effective October 1, 2025, and applicable to requests for proposals issued on or after that date.

Senate committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes. Makes organizational changes.  Makes conforming changes, including to act’s long title.

Section 1.

Clarifies that specified members (was, commissioners) of the fifteen-member NC High School Redesign Commission (Commission), appointed by the Commission chair do not vote to select the chair because they are appointed after the chair is elected. Makes a technical change.  

Section 2.

Requires that the organization that Mooresville Graded School District (MSGD) and Mitchell Community College (MCC) contract with as part of the Competency-Based High School and Healthcare and High-Tech Pathways Program (Pathways Program) also have experience in: (1) designing the described programs that also align with emerging health care career pathways (was, just high-tech career pathways); and (2) co-designing stackable credentials with public schools units (currently, experience just in co-designing stackable credentials with higher education partners). Makes technical and clarifying changes. Authorizes MSGD to operate any high school in the local school administrative unit consistent with the flexibilities of a school operating under a restart model. Removes provisions: (1) deeming all schools in MGSD to have been continuously operating under a modified calendar, as described; (2) allowing the described percentage of MSGD teachers to be employed as teachers despite not holding teacher licenses if they meet the listed criteria and MSGD continues to participate in the Pathways Program; (3) funding calculations beginning with the 2026-27 school year; (4) governing credits to MGDS in the State Treasury; and (5) concerning withholdings pertaining to payment to the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System. Clarifies that the $2 million dollars would not be allocated to MSGD for the described purposes unless appropriated by the General Assembly (was, funds “will” be allocated to MSGD).

Section 3.

Specifies that the option for a summer bridge program format of the Khanmigo-centered developmental math course should be available to the described students (was, eligible to those students).

Section 4.

Requires that the organization hired by the described community colleges as part of the Community College Seamless Skills Initiative (Initiative) have a history of co-designing stackable credentials with public school units (was, local education agencies) and postsecondary institutions, along with the other described experience. Replaces references to “Project” with “Initiative.” Makes technical and clarifying changes.

Section 5.

Makes technical changes to names of the listed educational institutions comprising the Competency-Based Education and High School Redesign Strategic Network.

Section 6. 

Removes the NC High School Redesign Commission from the scope of the study and evaluation required by the act. Removes “any other information requested” by the specified NCGA Committee from the scope of the study’s report. Makes clarifying changes.

Senate committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes. Makes conforming organizational changes to account for new sections. 

Section 2

Increases membership of the Feral Swine Working Group (WG) from nine to ten members, adding a representative of the North Carolina Forestry Association.

Section 3

Removes amendments to GS 160D-804 that would have required the subdivision regulation to provide that if any subdivision boundary abuts one or more protected farm tracts (a tract of land subject to an agricultural conservation easement), then the applicant must reserve a vegetative buffer of at least 100 feet between the shared boundary and the residential lots that would otherwise abut the protected farm tracts.

Replaces deleted content with requirement that the NC Real Estate Commission’s standard required disclosure statement under GS 47E-4 include disclosure of the existence of a voluntary agricultural district (defined) within one-half mile of any boundary of the real property.

Section 4

Modifies the grounds for a denial of a special use permit under GS 160D-705(c) based on its negative impact on agricultural production (was, undue negative impact), so that it is only available for a property owned by a business entity for less than three years. Specifies that the denial authority does not apply where the primary purpose of the proposed land use is the construction of buildings or structures subject to the NC Residential Code.

Section 9

Amends the following requirements under the Disposal Systems Rule (15A NCAC 02T .0113) for the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) to deem a disposal system to be permitted and not require individual permits or coverage under a general permit: (1) the disposal system is used for equine or bovine composting (was, a composting facility for equine or bovine mortality; (2) the construction and operation of the facilities, if they are included in the disposal system, are approved by DACS (previously no reference to disposal system); and (3) the disposal system (was, facilities) is approved by the State Veterinarian. Makes technical changes.

Section 12

Caps the annual pesticide assessment fee set by the Pesticide Board at $125.

Section 16

Removes prior revisions to GS 113-187 pertaining to violations of a shellfish lease or aquaculture operation and replaces it with the following. Now sets forth the following punishments for persons who operate a shellfish aquaculture operation who commit the following violations:

• For an improperly marked shellfish area, a warning ticket for the first offense, for a second offense within one month of the first issuance of a warning ticket punishable as an infraction, and for third offenses issued within one month of the warning ticket, a Class 3 misdemeanor.
• For operating under an expired aquaculture operation permit, if the violation occurs within one month of the expiration of the permit, a warning ticket.
• For operating under an expired shellfish lease agreement, if the violation occurs within one month of the expiration of the agreement, a warning ticket.

Changes the effective date to December 1, 2025 (was, July 1, 2025).

Section 19

Establishes that the duty of a manufacturer or seller of a pesticide to warn a consumer or the public about the risks associated with the pesticide under GS 99B-5 (failure to warn claims) is presumed to be satisfied if the pesticide bears the label approved by the US EPA under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the pesticide is registered with the Pesticide Board. Provides for rebuttal of the presumption.

Section 20

Removes provisions in GS 106-266.35 that authorize the dispensing of raw milk or raw milk products for personal use or consumption to, or the acquisition of raw milk or raw milk products for personal use or consumption by, an independent or partial owner of a cow, goat, or other lactating animal. Makes conforming changes. Effective July 1, 2025.

Section 21

Amends GS 106-581.1 by adding the production, processing, storage, use, and sale of compost for agricultural, residential, or commercial purposes by a permitted Small or Large Type 1, Type 2, or Type 3 composting facility as defined in rules adopted by the EMC as a type of agriculture referred to in Article 52, governing agricultural development, of GS Chapter 106. Defines compost to mean a product made from organic plant, animal, or food waste and created through controlled aerobic, biological decomposition of biodegradable materials that, when subject to mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures, stabilizes the carbon content, reduces the viability of pathogens and vector attraction, and when added to soils is beneficial to plant growth.