Want to catch up with your lawmakers are doing? It’s challenging, given that the modern streaming era has come slowly to our state legislature compared to neighboring states. For years, the only way for the public to participate (aside from traveling to Raleigh) at the state legislature was to listen to an audio stream of proceedings from the floor of the House of Representatives, with the audio archived on the legislative website. If you wanted a recording of Senate proceedings, you needed to contact the legislative library and for $1.25 they would provide you with a recording (it’s now on a thumb drive, it used to be on a CD).
But beginning during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the NC General Assembly started to broadcast video of all of its proceedings and many committee hearings for the first time. As more committee rooms have been renovated, they’ve had video and audio capability put in place. Subsequently, those hearings and legislative sessions have continued to be broadcast on YouTube (with the exception of Senate sessions, which reverted back to audio only).
However, this content is ephemeral. As soon as the YouTube feed ends, the video disappears and is not archived in any public spaces, again, in contrast to neighboring states.
At NC Health News, we’re dedicated to government transparency and so looking to make these videos available to the public, within our means. We’re recording the videos as they stream on YouTube (so, please pardon any anomalies in the recordings). We are archiving and posting to YouTube recordings of committee hearings at the NC General Assembly that are related to public health, health care or environmental health, areas of our coverage.
Interested in supporting this effort? Contact NC Health News to talk about sponsorship of this page!
Videos appear in reverse chronological order.
House Judiciary 2 Committee Meeting – June 12, 2024
Note: the recording does not include discussion of HB 903 (making tianeptine a Schedule II controlled substance.
The House Judiciary Committee voted on one bill and discussed two more bills on June 12:
- H903, which would make tianeptine a Schedule II controlled substance.
- H966, which would allow property owners to request the county sheriff to remove unauthorized persons (commonly called squatters).
- H1024, which would require a permit for non-consensual towing, private property to display prominent signage with fees and which towing business the owner will use, creation of a database for consumers to search where their vehicle has been towed, and a commission to handle allegations of unlawful towing by consumers.
Several representatives expressed skepticism about the enforcement of HB 966. Concerns included the burden on law enforcement to expedite the removal of a potentially hostile “unauthorized person” and a property owner only needing an affidavit rather than a judicial order.
Within the meeting, HB 966 was amended to require a property owner to file for a judicial order, patterned after the current law for expedited removal of unauthorized persons in vacation rentals.
Fred Baggett, speaking on behalf of the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police, said the new amendment was “appealing to law enforcement.” Marie Evitt, speaking on behalf of the North Carolina Sheriffs Association, said her concerns had been addressed by the amendment.
However, Katie Thomas, speaking on behalf of North Carolina realtors, said “we did support this bill before that last amendment.” Thomas said the bill treated property owners and “trespassers” as if they were in a landlord-tenant relationship, penalizing property owners.
House Children, Families, and Aging Policy Committee – June 11, 2024
The committee received a presentation from Kelly Crosbie, the director of the NC Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Use Services. The presentation concerned “Investments in North Carolina’s Behavioral Health System for Children & Families.”
House Environment Committee – June 11, 2024
The House Environment Committee discussed HB 864, which would force PFAS manufacturers to pay public water systems to remove any PFAS contamination the manufacture
House Health Committee – June 11, 2024
The House Health Committee voted on two bills on June 11:
- H939: Access to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, a bill to allow any health care provider (e.g. primary care physicians) to bill health insurance plans for prescribing transcranial magnetic stimulation for the treatment of depressive disorders.
- H1029: Right to Try Individualized Treatments, a bill to allow patients with severe and/or life-threatening illnesses to try experimental treatments and protect providers and experimental drug manufacturers if the patient dies.
Both bills passed with no opposition.
Senate Health Care Committee – May 22, 2024
Two bills were discussed:
S871: Right To Try Individualized Treatments, which passed quickly.
About 5:20: The committee started discussing H681: Interstate Med. Lic. Compact/Mil. Licensure, which had significant language changed from last week which would give nurse practitioners and certified registered nurse anesthetists more leeway in their practice. These provisions engendered almost an hour of discussion, which at time became sharp.
You can view the bill history here: https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2023/H681. The amended and approved bill will become version 2.
House Judiciary Committee – May 15, 2024
No documents were present on the committee page at the time of the hearing.
Senate Health Committee – May 15, 2024
For more information, see the committee page with handouts here:
https://www.ncleg.gov/Committees/CommitteeInfo/SenateStanding/139/Documents/17465
Joint Legislative Committee on Medicaid, April 2, 2024
For more information, see the committee page with handouts here:
https://www.ncleg.gov/Committees/CommitteeInfo/NonStanding/6660/Documents/17388
Part 1 – Joint Legislative Committee on Health and Human Services, April 2, 2024
We had technical difficulties and so this committee recording is divided into two parts.
For more information, see the committee page with handouts here:
https://www.ncleg.gov/Committees/CommitteeInfo/NonStanding/6507/Documents/17387
Part 2 – Joint Legislative Committee on Health and Human Services, April 2, 2024
We had technical difficulties and so this committee recording is divided into two parts.
For more information, see the committee page with handouts here:
https://www.ncleg.gov/Committees/CommitteeInfo/NonStanding/6507/Documents/17387
House Select Committee on Substance Abuse, March 13, 2024
For more information, see this committee page:
https://www.ncleg.gov/Committees/CommitteeInfo/HouseSelect/217/Documents/17366
Joint Legislative Committee on Medicaid, March 12, 2024
For more information, see this committee page:
https://www.ncleg.gov/Committees/CommitteeInfo/NonStanding/6660/Documents/17367