RALEIGH — A sweeping bill to revamp North Carolina’s election laws passed a key state House committee Wednesday morning, but the Senate could make further alterations to the bill.
The 37-page bill would make changes to general election administration, voter registration, how elections are conducted and campaign finance laws. It passed the House Rules Committee on Tuesday morning, typically a final stop before a vote among the full chamber.
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The committee vote was 14-9 and at least one Republican member — Rep. Tricia Cotham, who switched her party affiliation from Democrat while in office in 2023 — voted against it. The bill would significantly lengthen the amount of time before party-switchers could run for office under their new affiliation.
The committee adopted additional amendments to the bill, marking at least the sixth different version of the legislation that was originally filed in April 2025.
“Election bills are complicated,” said House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell. “They often deal with multiple aspects of an election. One of the things that’s somewhat unique to an elections bill is it sort of takes time for folks to digest it and every time it changes, of course, that creates a new thing to go and look at and to make sure that our members understand.”
Hall said Republican members of the House and Senate are still discussing ideas.
“It’s probably largely the same policies, it’s the specifics that probably need to be worked out,” Hall said.
Senate leader Phil Berger didn’t endorse the measure when asked about it Tuesday, citing the many iterations of the bill.
“I’m going to withhold judgement on that bill until it gets over here because it seems that the expectation of what’s going to happen with that bill is subject to change moment by moment,” Berger told reporters.
When asked to clarify, he said: “I’m not sure what the House wants to do with that bill ultimately and, until I have a little bit more clarity on that, I just don’t think it makes a whole lot of sense for me to get too deeply involved in what might happen with that bill.”
Among the election changes in the bill:
- State Board of Elections and county board members would be barred from supporting or opposing candidates and encouraging or influencing voter turnout.
- People would have to belong to a political party for at least a year, up from 90 days, in order to run for office with that party designation.
- Political appointees to election boards would be paid more.
- Elections in all 100 counties would be audited over a six-year period by the state auditor.
- The exemption for reporting campaign finance contributions would increase making fewer contributions, loans and expenditures public
- So-called “never residents” would be removed from the definition of a covered voter
After at least one protestor stood up, committee chairman John Bell had all members of the public removed from the hearing. Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, said he worked with several Democrats to change the bill and make it “more palatable to more members of the House.”
“We may not have gotten to ‘yes’ votes with everybody, but hopefully they will be less enthusiastically no,” Blackwell said.
While some Democrats thanked Blackwell for his work on the legislation, they expressed concern about the many changes or proposed changes to election laws over the years.
“Our elections in North Carolina deserve some normalcy and some level of predictability,” said Rep. Amos Quick, D-Guilford. “These constant changes are confusing to us as legislators, so certainly confusing to the general public.”
House members honor former Rep. Clampitt
The House passed a resolution honoring former Rep. Mike Clampitt, a Republican who represented a district that included Jackson, Swain and Transylvania counties and served four terms in the legislature.
Clampitt spent years as a firefighter in Charlotte before moving to western North Carolina and starting a political career. He died in March after a battle with cancer. He was 71.
House members recalled Clampitt’s dedication to the job and service of others, including his work after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of western North Carolina. His former colleagues recalled his cooking – sometimes in secret as to not run afoul of building rules.
“Nobody enjoyed serving their constituents as much as Mike Clampitt did,” House Speaker Destin Hall said. “He really appreciated every aspect of it. Sometimes things can get frustrating and that’s just part of the job. But Mike Clampitt enjoyed every second of it and he appreciated the honor that he had to serve in this body and he showed up every day. You could look at him and tell how much he appreciated being here. It’s something that’s a good reminder for all of us.”
NC House passes tax bill, but some Democrats back Trump policy on research, development
The North Carolina House on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to pass a wide-ranging tax package that would reshape business deductions, tighten enforcement and create targeted tax changes across several industries.
Senate Bill 595 now heads to Gov. Josh Stein’s desk after the House’s 106-11 vote.
The biggest part of the legislation is a change in how companies can deduct research-and-development on their taxes. Companies would be required to spread R&D deductions over five years for state taxes instead of taking the full deduction in the year expenses are incurred. The provision decouples North Carolina from a recent federal change under President Donald Trump that restored immediate R&D spending.
The Senate passed the bill Tuesday along party lines, with Democrats in support of Trump’s new federal policy and Republicans against it.
“Trump is pushing a very pro-innovation, pro-entrepreneurship tax policy, this is the opposite,” Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, told WRAL Wednesday.
Chaudhuri said the change would hit startups in research-heavy sectors such as tech and science, because it effectively taxes income that does not exist when R&D spending is fully expensed in a single year. He said a company that receives a $1 million research grant and spends it in the same year would be allowed to deduct only $200,000 in that year under the state plan, leaving the remainder to be written off over time.
He said larger corporations could absorb the change, but smaller firms could be pushed to states such as Georgia and Tennessee.
Republicans said the measure is about budget stability and aligning revenue collection with long-term fiscal planning, not discouraging research. Senate GOP leaders said businesses still receive the full deduction, just over time, and that the change helps smooth short-term impacts on the state budget.
“The question would be what would that do to the revenue picture and, depending on the answer to that question, I think that’s a key component of whether or not we would be interested in taking that up,” said Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham.
Sen. Tom McInnis, R-Richmond, said on the Senate floor last week the bill reflects months of negotiations and will be beneficial for the state’s revenue.
“This is a bill that’s been worked on long enough,” McInnis said during floor debate last week, adding that lawmakers were not willing to delay it further.
The bill also includes new requirements for sports betting operators, requiring them to report to the state when a bettor wins more than $2,000, a change lawmakers say is aimed at improving tax compliance in the rapidly expanding industry.
It creates tax relief for timber farmers affected by Hurricane Helene, allowing additional deductions for qualifying storm-related losses.
It also changes how property tax refunds are handled, making it easier for taxpayers to recover funds when local governments improperly collect property taxes.
Other provisions shift oversight of vape shops from the Department of Revenue to Alcohol Law Enforcement, revise sales tax calculations tied to the elimination of the penny and increase penalties for frivolous tax filings from $500 to $2,000.
Chaudhuri says there are other provisions of the bill he thinks are great, but the start-up tax policy made his caucus unable to support it.
