North Carolina property tax moratorium, farm bill and child welfare reforms lead week in state politics

A proposed property tax reappraisal moratorium heads to Gov. Josh Stein, lawmakers advance child welfare reforms, cryptocurrency kiosk regulations and anti-gang legislation, while Moore County election changes and litigation funding restrictions move closer to becoming law.

Property tax reappraisal moratorium sent to governor

Stopping property tax revaluation changes for North Carolina this year and allowing them to happen in 2027 is in a proposal that has reached first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein.

Reappraisals are required at least once every eight years, and some do so more frequently.

Property Tax Reappraisal Moratorium, known also as Senate Bill 889, cleared the House of Representatives 70-42 on Wednesday. Senate passage May 6 was 35-8.

Guilford County is third most populous of the state’s 100 counties at more than 567,000. The dynamic is a heavy concentration of Democrats’ support in the urban areas, more Republican in the country. All faced the fears common to reappraisals.

Sen. Gladys Robinson, D-Guilford, was against the measure and Sen. Michael Garrett, D-Guilford, had an excused absence while Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, was a leader in its push. Berger is president pro tempore of the chamber and also represents Guilford County along with Robinson and Garrett.

Reps. Tracy Clark, D-Guilford, Amos Quick, D-Guilford, Amanda Cook, D-Guilford, and Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, were among the 42 against in the House. Reps. Alan Branson, R-Guilford, and John Blust, R-Guilford, were for it.

“Guilford County’s revaluation numbers make it clear that lower- and middle-income families will be hit the hardest by rising property taxes at a time when many are barely able to make ends meet,” Blust said. “If property taxes increase to the point where people can no longer afford their homes, then we have a serious problem. This moratorium gives Guilford homeowners breathing room, so families aren’t taxed out of their own communities.”

At the May passage, Berger said, “We need to take a thoughtful, comprehensive approach to address the growing strain of property tax increases on our citizens.”

NC lawmakers eye child welfare changes after Charlotte girl’s death exposes problems

The House Oversight Committee called on DA Spencer Merriweather in a letter to conduct an immediate criminal investigation into the employees who “handled, supervised, approved, screened out, documented, failed to document” any report in Dominique Moody’s case.

Outrage over the death of Moore County toddler Rylan Ott in 2016 compelled North Carolina on a path to improve its child welfare system.

Nearly a decade later, the state has rolled out several of those reforms — a statewide office focused on preventing child fatalities, regional supervisory offices to provide more support to county departments of social services, and a modernized intake and assessment system for all 100 counties that will eventually include case management.

All these changes were intended to strengthen the state’s state-supervised but county-operated child welfare system, one of only a handful in the country that operate under this model.

After Rylan’s death, legislators also gave the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services the authority to take over some of the most troubled county DSS offices.

Since 2018, the state has taken over six of them — four after child fatalities. Three counties — Bertie, Davidson and Vance — are still under state control. In addition, NC DHHS is working on corrective action plans for six other counties, including Mecklenburg County, where 6-year-old Dominique Moody was found unresponsive in her east Charlotte home in December 2025. 

She later died. Police alleged that she was starved, beaten and locked in a dog crate.

The high-profile death has legislators asking why red flags were missed in dozens of visits by social workers and law enforcement over several years, and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.

NC lawmakers pass Farm Act, without raw milk or cancer lawsuit bans

North Carolina lawmakers rushed to push through a wide-ranging agricultural bill on Wednesday. The bill has laid dormant for the past year after drawing criticism over several provisions that have now been written out of the bill.

But a new version was made public late Tuesday, just ahead of votes in both the state House of Representatives and Senate on Wednesday in which it passed with near-unanimous support. The bill now heads to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein for his signature.

Just about every year, the North Carolina legislature passes a farm bill addressing economic, environmental or health-related topics in the state’s biggest industry. But it’s not every year that that piece of legislation leads to hundreds of boisterous critics storming the halls of the General Assembly like happened in 2025 — in that case, a bipartisan group of raw milk superfans — including at least one person who was arrested for trying to bring in a gun.

The uproar over that proposed ban on raw milk was just one piece of the bill that drew outcry from both sides of the aisle. Critics also homed in on a provision that would’ve made it much harder, if not impossible, for cancer patients and others to sue pesticide companies for causing their health issues. It was lobbied for by big-business interests after biotech giant Bayer agreed to pay billions to settle lawsuits over cancer cases linked to its popular weedkiller Roundup.

Bayer bought Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018 and in 2020 paid approximately $11 billion to settle Roundup lawsuits from more than 100,000 people; earlier this year Bayer agreed to pay another $7.25 billion to settle 65,000 more Roundup lawsuits.

Both provisions are now dead. The raw milk ban was removed last year. And the cancer lawsuit ban doesn’t appear in the new version of the bill that GOP leaders made public late Tuesday, less than 24 hours before the votes Wednesday. Additionally, lawmakers also took out a provision that would’ve expanded powers for city or county governments to block new construction they feel might harm local agricultural production.

NC House passes Digital Currency Kiosk Protection Act

On June 9, North Carolina lawmakers advanced a bill to protect consumers from cryptocurrency kiosk fraud.

House Bill 920, which passed the House with a 115-to-0 vote, aims to regulate an industry that its author claims is unregulated in the state.

“It’s the wild, wild West,” Rep. Neal Jackson, R-Moore, said during a committee discussion on Tuesday. “There is no regulation whatsoever in North Carolina. That’s what we’re trying to do here.”

Lawmakers cited a growing amount of fraud as the reason for the bill. About $389 million in losses were reported last year through cryptocurrency ATMs, a 58% increase from 2024, according to the FBI. The majority of those impacted are 60-plus.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. It seeks to:

Require licenses for all kiosk operators under the Money Transmissions Act.

Place operators under the supervision of the Commissioner of Banks.

Require fraud warnings and transaction receipts for every transaction.

Require compliance and consumer protection officers that are always available.

It also seeks to place limitations on transactions in an effort to reduce fraud, requiring a $2,000 daily limit for the first 30 days for new customers and a $5,000 daily limit for existing customers, who would qualify after 30 days.

Anti-Gang Crime Bill clears House 111-2

Prevention of violent crime, protection of the most vulnerable, and stronger tools for lawmen and prosecutors are in a North Carolina proposal to crack down on gang violence.

Jaleeyah’s Law, named in memory of the Goldsboro 13-year-old killed in December, cleared the House of Representatives 111-2 on Wednesday and is next to be taken up by the Senate. Democrats Marcia Morey of Durham County and Pricey Harrison of Guilford County were the lone lawmakers in dissent.

Jaleeyah Tune was shot and killed Dec. 21 in what prosecutors say is a case involving an ambush-style shooting by teenagers believed to have gang ties in the Wayne County community. Tune was walking home with her sister when it happened.

Goldsboro police charged three teenage boys with first-degree murder and felony conspiracy in connection with the shooting. Because the suspects are juveniles, their names have not been released.

The legislation, known also as House Bill 1173, toughens laws against firearm possession by criminal gang members; toughens penalties for recruiting minors into gangs; increases punishment for gang-related crimes; and offers stronger tools to break up gangs and target organized criminal activity.

“What happened to Jaleeyah is an unbearable loss, and no family should ever have to go through what her family has experienced,” said Rep. John Bell, R-Wayne. “We will never accept gangs that prey on children and tear families apart as normal. With Jaleeyah’s Law, we are targeting these criminals by giving law enforcement and prosecutors the power they need to hold them accountable and better protect our communities.”

North Carolina could become the first state to ban litigation funding

North Carolina is on the verge of becoming the first US state to outlaw third-party litigation funding, a move that could reshape the debate over an industry that has become an increasingly important source of capital for commercial disputes, class actions and other high-value litigation. Lawmakers have approved legislation that would prohibit outside investors from funding lawsuits in exchange for a share of any eventual settlement or judgment, marking a dramatic departure from the regulatory approach adopted elsewhere in the United States, where the focus has largely been on transparency and disclosure rather than outright prohibition.

The proposed Prohibit Litigation Investments Act has now been sent to Governor Josh Stein, who must decide whether to sign the measure into law. If enacted, North Carolina would become a testing ground for efforts to eliminate litigation finance altogether rather than merely regulate it.

The legislation would prevent any person or entity from providing funds to a claimant or defendant in return for a contingent financial interest in the outcome of a case. In practical terms, it would outlaw the core business model employed by commercial litigation funders, which finance legal proceedings in exchange for a portion of any damages recovered. Exceptions include non-profit and legal-aid organizations, while lawyers would remain free to enter contingency-fee arrangements provided those agreements comply with the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct.

Supporters of the bill argue that litigation finance has transformed the civil justice system into an investment vehicle for third parties with no connection to the underlying dispute. The North Carolina Chamber, which has championed the legislation, has warned that outside investment in lawsuits encourages unnecessary litigation and raises concerns about the potential involvement of foreign investors in US legal proceedings.

Supporters of litigation funding, however, argue that it can play an important access-to-justice role by enabling claimants and defendants to pursue complex and expensive litigation that might otherwise be beyond their financial means. They contend that prohibiting practice risks tilting the playing field further in favor of well-resourced parties capable of financing lengthy legal battles from their own balance sheets.

The measure has attracted overwhelming bipartisan support in the state legislature, passing the House of Representatives unanimously and clearing the Senate by a margin of 45 votes to one. While Governor Stein retains the power to veto the legislation, the scale of legislative support may make doing so politically difficult.

Legislation set to modify Moore County elections

Moore County is the subject of election legislation in the General Assembly that could change how and when local officials are elected to public office.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Neal Jackson, would make Moore County’s municipal and school board elections partisan, allowing candidates to appear on the ballot with party labels. Municipal and Board of Education races in Moore County are currently nonpartisan.

The legislation would also move future municipal elections to even-numbered years so they coincide with statewide and federal general elections. Municipal elections are currently held in odd-numbered years, when voter participation is typically much lower.

Under the proposal, municipal elections scheduled for 2027 would not be held, and officials whose terms are set to expire in 2027 or 2029 would receive one-year extensions to facilitate the transition to the new election schedule. Individual boards would continue to maintain staggered terms.

The bill has cleared committee consideration and has been referred to the House Rules, Calendar and Operations Committee, the final stop before consideration by the full House. If approved by the House, the measure would return to the Senate for concurrence before becoming law.

The proposal follows a unanimous resolution adopted by the Moore County Board of Commissioners in April requesting that local and state elections be conducted on a partisan basis and held in even-numbered years.

According to meeting minutes, Chairman Nick Picerno argued that voters benefit from having more information about candidates and that aligning local elections with higher-turnout election cycles would increase participation while reducing election administration costs. He described the proposal as a voter-engagement measure intended to encourage greater public involvement in local government.

During committee discussion, Jackson noted that municipal election turnout in Moore County has often fallen below 15 percent, while turnout in even-numbered years frequently reaches 50 to 60 percent. He said the proposal is intended to give more voters a voice in local elections while providing greater transparency about candidates’ philosophical and political affiliations.

June 13, 2026

From the Office of Rep. Neal Jackson

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