SOUTHEASTERN NC — With the deadline approaching for bills to progress pass one chamber, the North Carolina General Assembly will take up many pieces of legislation next week, including more than a dozen sponsored by local representatives. 

READ MORE: New bill would ban non-essential PFAS uses, fund study on Cape Fear region health effects

The bills range from loosened restrictions on firearms to additional restrictions on how parents govern children who may identify differently from their birth sex. Many of the bills remain in committee and none have passed the chamber they’ve been introduced in — the deadline to do so is May 8. Only bills that have passed either the House of Representatives or Senate will be considered past that date. 

Parents rights

House of Representatives Rep. Frank Iler (R-Brunswick) is backing two bills pertaining to parental rights — House Bill 560, Parents’ Protection Act, and House Bill 519, the Parents’ Medical Bill of Rights. 

The latter is sponsored in conjunction with Rep. Charles Miller (R-Brunswick, New Hanover) and would revise the laws regarding minor consent to medical treatment and give parents access to their minor child’s medical records. 

The current law allows minors to give consent for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of STDs and communicable diseases, pregnancy, substance abuse, and emotional disturbance given treatment does not include an abortion, sterilization or admission to a 24-hour facility. The proposed changes would only allow for pregnancy prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

The amendments do carve out an exception for physicians that suspect child abuse. Otherwise written parental consent must be taken prior to medical care. 

Additionally, a parent would be able to access their minor child’s medical records, aside from treatment the child agreed upon pregnancy. The record release would also be prohibited if the parent was under investigation for a crime against the child. 

The bill will be discussed in the House judiciary 2 committee on Tuesday, April 29.

H.B. 560 — in which Rep. Iler is a subsidiary sponsor, not a primary — would add to the state statute regarding adoption requirements. The current law states no adoption agency shall deny or delay the opportunity to become an adoptive parent or the placement of a child for adoption on the basis color or national origin of the child. 

The proposed amendments would stipulate race should also be added to that list, along with parents’ refusal, unwillingness, or lack of support to enable the child to engage in a gender transition.

The amendment states: “A parent, guardian, custodian, or caretaker who raises a juvenile consistent with the juvenile’s biological sex or who refers to a juvenile consistent with the juvenile’s biological sex shall not be subject to a petition supporting abuse or neglect.”  

The bill will be discussed in the House health committee on Tuesday, April 29. If approved, it would then head to the judiciary 2 committee. 

Guns and criminal justice

Rep. Miller is also a sponsor on two other bills, one pertaining to the Second Amendment and another that would revise the law on the death penalty. 

H.B. 270 would change the state’s default method of execution from lethal injection to electrocution. The convicted person could choose a different method, either firing squad or lethal injection, should the latter be available at the time of election. This decision must be made in writing 14 days prior to the execution date or else the choice is waived.

Several states have fielded similar pieces of legislation due to the difficult nature of obtaining drugs used in executions; North Carolina has a one-drug protocol using a lethal dose of an anes­thet­ic. Some man­u­fac­tur­ers — including Pfizer — have explic­it­ly banned the use of their prod­ucts exe­cu­tions, prompting some states to enact secre­cy statutes intend­ed to shield drug sup­pli­ers from public scrutiny.

There is currently a shortage of pentobarbital, a drug used for lethal injections, which has sent several other states, including Florida and South Carolina, to seek expansions to its execution methods. 

However, those two states have facilitated recent executions — North Carolina is under a de facto moratorium on the death penalty, despite it remaining legal. The state has not carried out an execution since 2006 due to a series of lawsuits and legal challenges. 

The bill will be discussed in the House judiciary 2 committee on Tuesday, April 29.

Rep. Miller is also following the lead of other states in producing legislation — H.B. 38, or the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act — that would prevent payment card networks from assigning a code to firearm purchases or maintaining a firearm registry. 

Credit and debit card companies utilize what’s called “merchant category codes” to classify businesses selling the same types of goods. These can be used to calculate rewards — think a credit card that offers cash back on gas purchases — tax reporting, and determining processing fees.

Firearm retail was previously categorized with sporting goods stores or miscellaneous retail, but in 2022 the International Organization for Standardization introduced a separate code for guns. It is required to be made available for implementation by May 1. 

The move has divided states already; California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in September 2023 requiring merchants to use the new code. If H.B. 38 is passed, North Carolina could join the several states banning the use of a code, including Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, West Virginia, Texas, Mississippi and Florida. 

The National Rifle Association has been against the specific code.

“Collecting firearm retailer financial transaction data amounts to surveillance and registration of law-abiding gun owners,” the NRA wrote in 2023 post. “Federal law contains multiple restrictions on the creation of a national firearms registry and the creation of this MCC should be perceived as an attempt to circumvent those restrictions.”

Until the law is passed, card companies and banks can choose whether or not to adopt the IOS’ firearm code. 

The bill is scheduled for a House vote on Tuesday, April 29.

Miller isn’t the only local representative with a pending firearm bill; Rep. Carson Smith (R-Pender) has also introduced H.B. 674, the Firearms Liberty Act. It carves out several new allowances, including: 

• The issuance of lifetime concealed handgun permits, where permits are now good for only five years
• A permit-holder to forgo retaking a training course if their permit was to lapse, allowing them up to a year to renew
• A person with a domestic violence protective order against them to enter into an agreement with a qualified licensed firearms dealer to take possession of surrendered guns for custody until removal of order
• Trained people to store a weapon in a locked chamber on school grounds in the case of an emergency

The bill will be discussed in the House judiciary 2 committee on Tuesday, April 29.

Health and environment

Rep. Iler and Rep. Ted Davis (R-New Hanover) are sponsoring H.B. 442, a bill aimed at restoring flounder and red snapper fishing season in North Carolina. 

Both species are under management plans by the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries to ensure they are not fished to endangerment or extinction. Both species’ seasons are limited by quotas, with a higher percentage of the total number allowed to be caught given to commercial fishermen. 

Davis and Iler’s legislation would override this plan by specifically carving out recreational fishermen rules. The season would occur between May 15 and July 31 of each year, with a limit of one fish per person per day, and no seasonal limit. Any flounder or red snapper caught and released — even if they don’t survive after release — would not be counted towards catch limits.

H.B. 442 would also require the Division of Marine Fisheries to track summer flounder and red snapper populations and provide an estimated timeline to be able to increase the daily creel limit above one fish per day. 

The bill will be discussed on Tuesday, April 29, in the House wildlife resources committee.

Rep. Davis has introduced a bill forbidding the use of firefighting foams that contain PFAS chemicals for testing and training purposes. 

Regulations around per-fluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances is popular among Davis’ constituents in the Cape Fear, as chemical company Chemours has dumped them into water supplies leading into the Cape Fear River and contaminating drinking water supplies across the region. The toxic chemicals are linked to cancer, development delays in children and reproductive issues, autoimmune illnesses and increased cholesterol levels.

Firefighters also use foams with PFAS that are used to create flammable liquid fires. These are sometimes used in firefighting training to simulate real fires, however, Davis’ bill would prohibit this practice unless done in a testing facility that has implemented appropriate containment, treatment, and disposal measures to prevent releases of the foam into the environment. 

The bill will be discussed Monday, April 28, in a meeting of the House rules committee. If approved, it would then head to the House floor for a vote by the entire chamber. 

Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com 

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