(The Center Square) – Pending decisions on whether to override vetoes, the General Assembly’s short session work concluded with 12 bills signed Wednesday by first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein.
The governor also issued his only veto of the session, saying no to Drug-Free Zones/Unauthorized Public Camping. House Bill 437 would have created drug-free homeless service zones and punishments for drug offense violations within them.
“This poorly constructed bill makes that goal harder and creates another significant unfunded mandate for local governments,” Stein said. “The bill also fundamentally misunderstands how people suffering from addiction get healthy. If government threatens criminal liability against those who seek treatment and against the people, organizations, and churches trying to help them, government stands in the way of services that promote health and safety, and people’s problems are actually made worse.”
Passage was 26-16 in the Senate and 73-40 in the House of Representatives.
Stein signed six bills earlier in the week, 33 total in the short session of 2026, and 106 for the two-year term thus far. Of his 16 vetoes, 12 have already been made law by successful three-fifths majority override votes in both chambers.
Neither chamber took up Expedited Removal of Unauthorized Persons (House Bill 96) after Stein’s veto of it a year ago. Two other bills are halfway to overrides – the House is done and Senate yet to take up Equality in State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI (House Bill 171), and the Senate is done and House yet to take up Freedom to Carry NC (Senate Bill 50).
The former is likely to get action; the latter is still questionable to have enough votes. Each chamber has scheduled to reconvene for any potential pending business needing attention at noon on July 27.
Signed on Wednesday by the governor:
• NC Farmland and Military Protection Act (House Bill 133, Senate Bill 504). This law prohibits acquisition of agricultural land adjacent to military installations by adversarial entities. This would include Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Belarus, Burma, China, Eritrea, Russia and Venezuela.
• DPS/Other Changes (House Bill 206). This legislation enables travel trailers used by North Carolina Emergency Management to be donated to local governments. Stein criticized the law as relates to appointment confirmation authority with the General Assembly.
• Home-Based Business Fairness Act (House Bill 372). This law forbids cities from prohibiting certain home-based businesses, such as certified public accountants or real estate agents.
• Modify Nonprofit Corp. Act/Charitable Org. (House Bill 517, Senate Bill 489). This law allows a charitable organization’s disclosure under state law to be satisfied by the acknowledgment required for a tax deduction under federal law.
• 2026 Wildlife Resources Changes (House Bill 747).
• Virtual Currency Kiosk Consumer Prot. Act (House Bill 920). This law targets virtual currency kiosks and protection of taxpayers from fraud by requiring regulation and licensing.
• Ferry Div. Audit/DOT Omnibus (House Bill 1094). This bill addresses issues at the Division of Motor Vehicles, IDs and crash reports.
• 2026 DST Admin/Technical/Clarifying Changes-AB (House Bill 1126, Senate Bill 936). Stein criticized the language of the bill allowing the state treasurer – today it is first-term Republican Brad Briner – to use private outside counsel rather than using state Department of Justice lawyers. The Justice Department is overseen by the state attorney general, and today that is first-term Democrat Jeff Jackson.
• Support the Dept. of Adult Correction-AB (Senate Bill 355).
• Adjust Counties/Reappraisal Moratorium (Senate Bill 474). This legislation was ripe for a veto because Stein wanted Buncombe County, a key Democratic voter bloc, and other jurisdictions recovering from Helene to be protected. The governor says it impedes the county. He said his signature was because “this bill provides legal clarity to local governments adopting new budgets after the statutory deadline.”
On Tuesday, Stein signed GSC Update Funeral Board and DOI Licensing (Senate Bill 857).
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