RALEIGH — As 2025 wraps up, the General Assembly has yet to agree on and pass a budget, but the legislature passed laws this session in the areas of public safety, hurricane relief, immigration and redistricting, as well as changes impacting powers of state agencies such as the state auditor.
The year kicked off with Rep. Destin Hall (R-Granite Falls) being sworn in as the new speaker of the House. Hall is the first millennial to serve in that role and was also the first millennial picked to chair the powerful House Rules Committee back in 2021.
Hall’s communication style differed a good deal from his predecessor, Tim Moore, leveraging social media in a more aggressive and deliberate fashion. Under his tenure, an NC House Press account on X was created, weekly newsletters went out, and Hall utilized “member minute” videos touting House achievements.
Social media use by lawmakers also involved controversy, specifically, a social media post made by Rep. Julie von Haefen (D-Wake) that included an image of an effigy of beheaded President Donald Trump taken at a “No Kings” protest.
Some legislation statistics for the session include 108 bills becoming law. Fifteen bills have been vetoed by Gov. Josh Stein, with eight overridden. One bill became law without the governor’s signature, the Regulatory Reform Act of 2025.
Public safety through criminal justice reforms took center stage in mid-September following the August murder of Ukrainian immigrant Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail system. Her accused killer, Decarlos Brown, had been previously arrested 14 times. Brown has been indicted at both the state and federal level for charges that include first-degree murder.
The case drew national attention after video of the stabbing was released and led to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee holding a field hearing in Charlotte featuring parents of victims of repeat offenders.
During the mid-September press event, General Assembly leaders announced their intent to pursue criminal justice reforms, with Hall stating Zarutska’s murder was due to “somebody being released from a jail who should not have been released from a jail.”
The result was Iryana’s Law, which ends cashless bail for certain defendants. It also creates a new offense category that requires a secured bond or GPS-monitored house arrest for first-time offenders and makes house arrest and monitoring mandatory for any released repeat offenders.
Iryna’s law also scales back the discretion of magistrates and judges to release a person on a promissory note to appear, which is what previously happened with Brown.
There was also a focus on immigration this session, with the passage of an ICE cooperation bill that tightened requirements for state law enforcement in dealing with arrests of illegal immigrants. The bill requires communication with ICE officials and for prisoners subject to an ICE detainer being held until transferred to ICE custody or released under specific conditions. Stein issued a veto on the bill, which was overridden by lawmakers in late July.
The legislature also enacted a new congressional map, following the lead of other Republican-led states in reaction to California beginning redistricting to add Democratic seats to its congressional maps after redistricting changes in Texas added more Republican seats. North Carolina’s new map changed two seats, the 1st and 3rd Districts held by Reps. Don Davis (D-Snow Hill) and Greg Murphy (R-Greenville), respectively. The change effectively made Davis’ already vulnerable seat a safe Republican seat. Lawsuits followed. But the arguments were rejected, and a federal judge upheld the maps for use in 2026.
Relief for Hurricane Helene-impacted counties was a major focus early in the 2025 session. In February, lawmakers allocated $500 million, which Stein signed into law. A second wave of $700 million in funding came in the summer, which was also signed by the governor.
A new law was also enacted barring political discrimination in the distribution of disaster aid.
The legislative committee on hurricane relief and recovery also held several hearings this session. Hearings in January and February focused on former Gov. Roy Cooper’s North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resilience (NCORR). Both hearings involved grilling NCORR Director Pryor Gibson over the continued slow pace and fiscal mismanagement of the agency. Gibson was picked by former Cooper to replace former NCORR chief Laura Hogshead, who abruptly left the post in November 2024. Another hearing centered on “pay to play” concerns with Stein’s new hurricane recovery organizations.
The legislature powered up the role of the state auditor, currently held by Dave Boliek, giving the post purview over the State Board of Elections, as well as allowing his agency to investigate any group or entity that “receives, disburses, or handles” state dollars. The latter powers were part of House Bill 549, which Stein vetoed but the General Assembly successfully overrode.
Several actions this session followed Trump’s agenda, such as setting up a DOGE-style committee, the holding of agency “reset” hearings and proposing a “no tax on tips” bill, which stalled in the House Finance Committee. Additionally, a DOGE-style bill aimed at requiring General Assembly approval for state agency rules costing more than $20 million over a five-year period became law after overriding Stein’s veto.
To see more of the bills filed, passed and vetoed, as well as summaries of substantive legislation enacted for this session and past sessions, visit the General Assembly website’s Bills and Laws page.
