North Carolina House passes package of bills, including medical‑record felony and utility worker protections

The North Carolina House on April 8 passed a series of bills on second and third readings and ordered them sent to the Senate, advancing measures on criminal law, worker protections, education and administrative procedure.

The package included legislation that creates a criminal offense for willful falsification or omission from medical records when done to conceal error or abuse (House Bill 123); a Utility Worker Protection Act that increases penalties for assaulting utility workers and, by amendment, extends protections to transportation workers (HB258); updates to the criminal code addressing strangulation and habitual domestic violence (HB308); and a childcare workforce pilot program to establish 10 academies and shorten certain licensing training (HB389). Several local bills and technical corrections also passed.

Votes at a glance

- House Bill 26 / HB63 / HB147 (block vote on local annexation/de‑annexation bills): passed; clerk recorded 108 affirmative, 4 negative on the vote recorded in the transcript. - House Bill 143 (Maysville Occupancy Tax): passed (clerk recorded prior second‑reading tally 108 affirmative, 5 negative; third reading passage recorded). - House Bill 53 (Safe Driver Incentive Plan thresholds): second‑reading recorded 112 affirmative, 1 negative; third reading passed by voice and ordered sent to the Senate. - House Bill 123 (Criminal falsification of medical records): committee substitute second‑reading recorded 88 affirmative, 24 negative; passed third reading and ordered sent to the Senate. - House Bill 149 (School financial flexibility pilot): recorded second‑reading tally shows 107 affirmative (transcript text) and third reading passage; ordered sent to the Senate. - House Bill 258 (Utility Worker Protection Act, as amended to add transportation workers): amendment adopted (recorded 112‑0 on that roll call) and committee substitute second‑reading recorded 109 affirmative, 1 negative; third reading passed and ordered engrossed and sent to the Senate. - House Bill 266 (Women Veterans Day date amendment to May 1): amendment adopted (recorded 109‑1) and bill passed (recorded 110‑0 on second reading) and ordered sent to the Senate. - House Bill 308 (Criminal law changes including strangulation): second‑reading recorded 110 affirmative, 2 negative; third reading passed and ordered sent to the Senate. - House Bill 354 (Civil procedure gatekeeper orders and AOC database): second‑reading recorded 89 affirmative, 24 negative; bill passed; the database effective date is specified in the bill as 12/01/2025. - House Bill 358 (DOI accreditation changes): second‑reading recorded 113‑0; third reading passed and ordered sent to the Senate. - House Bill 377 (Uniform Electronic Wills Act and related statutory updates): passed on second and third readings and ordered sent to the Senate. - House Bill 389 (Childcare workforce pilot program): committee substitute second‑reading recorded 113‑0; third reading passed and ordered sent to the Senate. - House Bill 397 (Allow epinephrine nasal spray): passed on second and third readings and ordered sent to the Senate. - House Bill 481 (General Statutes Commission technical corrections): passed on second and third readings and ordered sent to the Senate.

What the bills do (selected details)

- HB123 (criminal falsification of medical records): The sponsor described the bill as targeting "willful destruction, alteration, falsification of, or willful omission of information from a medical record" when done to conceal medical error, abuse, neglect or services that caused serious injury or death. The sponsor said, "This would be a class H felony, if you did that and someone was injured." The bill applies to licensed, certified or credentialed health care providers and distinguishes careless mistakes from willful concealment.

- HB258 (Utility Worker Protection Act): Sponsor said the bill "increases the penalties for assaulting them" (utility workers) and "clearly defines what constitutes as an assault on these workers." Representative Crawford successfully offered a friendly amendment adding transportation workers to the bill, saying, "This simply adds transportation workers to the bill." The amendment was adopted unanimously in the recorded vote shown in the transcript.

- HB308 (criminal law changes): The bill, described as requested by district attorneys, includes changes to the definition and penalties for strangulation and creates a felony for habitual domestic violence. A floor speaker said, "When a victim is strangled by her partner, it is the last stop before death, the studies show," urging support for tougher penalties.

- HB389 (childcare workforce pilot): Sponsor described creation of 10 additional academies based at community colleges, shortening an essential training course from roughly 15 weeks to 2–3 weeks and providing free background checks and health screenings to trainees. Sponsor estimated the program could create about 1,000 teachers and expand capacity by thousands of child‑care slots.

Other business and next steps

Members made committee and scheduling announcements, recognized pages, and the chair noted the bill‑filing deadline for the session. The House adjourned and will reconvene Thursday, April 10 at 11:00 a.m., subject to Rule 15.1.

Reporting note: Direct quotes and vote tallies are taken from the House proceeding as read into the record during the April 8 session. Where transcript roll‑call numbers were provided, they are reported exactly as read by the clerk; for items decided by voice vote the record notes passage without a numerical roll call.