The North Carolina General Assembly is in the final stretch of what has become a busy short session. While short sessions are typically focused on budget adjustments, lawmakers are still working through a number of major policy issues, including property tax reform, regulatory reform, and the state budget.
Rental housing insurance tweak
This week the Senate passed a bill with various civil and insurance law changes, including a provision affecting rental housing insurance. Under current law, if a lease requires renters insurance and a resident fails to provide proof of coverage within three days of the landlord's request, the landlord may obtain coverage on the resident's behalf and charge the resident the actual cost of the policy plus an administrative fee of up to $50 per year.
The bill would revise that provision to allow a rental housing provider that obtains the required coverage to charge the resident the fair market value of the insurance coverage, rather than only the actual cost incurred. The bill now goes to the House for consideration.
Property Tax
Property tax reform continues to be a hot issue at the legislature. Another property tax bill worked its way through the legislature this week-- S992: Truth in Taxation would require local governments to follow additional procedures before adopting a property tax rate above the revenue-neutral rate after a countywide property reappraisal. The bill passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support; however, the House has not yet indicated their plans for taking up the bill before the session ends.
Meanwhile, AANC remains engaged on H1042: Affordable Housing Exemption Mods., which would close the so-called affordable housing property tax exemption loophole. The bill passed the House unanimously earlier this year, but the Senate has not indicated plans to consider it at this time.
Regulatory Reform
This week the Senate approved H162: Parking Lot Reform/Stormwater Control. Supported by a broad coalition of stakeholders, the bill would, in part, prohibit local governments from imposing minimum off-street parking requirements for new developments. AANC testified in committee in support of the legislation. The bill now returns to the House for a concurrence vote before heading to the Governor.
Additionally, both chambers have now passed their respective omnibus regulatory reform bills, House version here and Senate version here. A conference committee will be appointed to reconcile the differences between the two versions before a final package is sent to both chambers for approval.
Courts and Criminal Law Changes
The House has yet to take up two bills passed by the Senate earlier this year –H308: 2026 Criminal Law Changes and H377: 2026 Courts Changes. H308 includes the AANC-championed rental application fraud language and H377 includes the addition of a timeline for appeals in squatters cases, which AANC worked with the NC Realtors to successfully negotiate down from 10 days to 3 days.
State Budget
Legislative leaders are nearing a deal on the budget and there are rumblings that the final package could be released in the coming weeks. Because the General Assembly did not enact a full biennial budget last year, lawmakers are working from the existing spending plan while finalizing a new spending plan for the second half of the biennium, FY 2026-2027.
Bills of interest becoming law so far this year:
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