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, such as Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia. 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).
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. Committee rooms have been renovated, they’ve had video and audio capability put in place. 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!
UPDATE: Good news! As of April, 2025 the House of Representatives now has video of their floor work sessions archived on YouTube, albeit with a several week lag time for the video to actually appear. House committee meetings remain unarchived, but for our efforts here.
The Senate’s work remains without any video archive access at all.
Videos appear in reverse chronological order.
2024 committee hearings
House Judiciary 2 Committee – June 26, 2024
On June 19, the House Judiciary 2 Committee discussed three bills:
- SB 445, which will allow certified copies of court-filed documents to be recorded without meeting certain conforming requirements of the Register of Deeds.
- HB 1070, which would change provisions regarding summary ejectment (a landlord evicting a tenant) and property crimes.
- SB 625, which would make changes to laws affecting juveniles and associated services, most notably shortening how long it takes to terminate biological parents’ parental rights from 12 to nine months, staying the Regional Abuse and Medical Specialist (RAMS) program and penalties for substance abuse while a child is in utero.
All three passed, though SB 625 was opposed by each present Democrat on the committee.
SB 445 can be found here.
HB 1070 can be found here.
SB 625 can be found here.
House Rules Committee – June 26, 2024
An excerpt where the committee discusses of Senate Bill 607 , a 36-page bill that includes establishing licensure for naturopathic doctors, reflexologists, massage therapists and music therapists. The bill also contains 16 pages of environmental provisions, and one provision which would stop the state from collecting data on how many state employees are so low income that they qualify for public benefits.
Senate Health Care – June 19, 2024
On June 19, the Senate Health Care committee met to vote on HB 287, the Health Care Omnibus. The bill includes:
- Requirement to provide opioid antagonist education
- Clarifying Medicaid benefits for inmates – Reciprocal licenses for marriage and family therapists
- Eliminating certificate of need review for inpatient rehabilitation services, rehabilitation facilities, and rehabilitation beds
- Allowing master’s level psychologists to practice independently without supervision upon obtaining 4,000 hours of experience
- Increasing the number of education hours required for licensure as a massage therapist
The bill passed and will be referred to the Senate Rules Committee.
Committee on Rules and Operations of the Senate Meeting – June 19, 2024
On June 19, the Senate Rules and Operations of the Senate Committee met and voted to pass two bills:
- HB 199, which makes a slew of changes to transportation law which were recommended by the Division of Motor Vehicles.
- HB 563, which will regulate the sale of and impose an excise tax on hemp-derived consumable products while placing safeguards to keep said products away from children.
HB 199 can found here: https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2023/H199
HB 563 can be found here: https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2023/H563
“MOMnibus 2.5” Press Conference – June 18, 2024
On the 2024 Black Maternal Health Day of Action, Sen. Natalie Murdock (D-Chatham, Durham) and Rep. Zachary Hawkins held a joint press conference to advocate for the “MOMnibus 2.5,” or SB 838. The bill aims to address racial disparities in maternal health outcomes which disproportionately affect Black women.
SB 838 can be found at this link: https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2023/S838
Senate Finance Committee – June 18, 2024
Note: this recording only captures public comment and the vote on HB 563.
On June 18, the Senate Finance Committee met to discuss and vote on two bills:
- HB 199, which makes a slew of changes to transportation law which were recommended by the Division of Motor Vehicles.
- HB 563, which will regulate the sale of and impose an excise tax on hemp-derived consumable products while placing safeguards to keep said products away from children.
Both bills passed with little discussion from lawmakers.
HB 199 can found here: https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2023/H199
HB 563 can be found here: https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2023/H563
House Health Committee – June19
Lawmakers considered one bill: A committee substitute for Senate Bill 425: Medicaid Agency Omnibus. The bill:
- Clarifies the manner of service of petition and notice of hearing for disabled adults
- Amends the definition of a family child care home
- Modernizes local health director qualifications so that people with different types of degrees/ professional preparation can be a local health director
- Extends unlicensed kinship care to half siblings of relative children.
- Clarifies first responders to whom infants may be surrendered on duty.
- Allows application to court for limited custody of surrendered infant upon initiation of notice by publication.
- Updates guidelines for trauma-informed standardized assessment
- Quality rating improvement system modifications
- Temporarily extends option to decrease Medicaid enrollment burden on county health departments of social services
- Creates uniform reference to East Carolina University regional behavioral health facility.
- Updates the Hospital Violence Protection Act
- Clarifies Medicaid benefits for inmates
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