In 2025, North Carolina state legislators reacted to the brutal death of a Ukrainian refugee that garnered national attention by quickly drafting and passing a bill that retooled criminal law and shifted how judicial officers do their jobs. Another headline-grabbing law siphoned $6 million from free civil legal aid following concerns from GOP lawmakers that grant money was spent on "leftist groups."

Though passed in the wee hours of 2024, a purported hurricane relief bill has thrown Gov. Josh Stein into a legal battle with Republican legislators over his appointment powers.

Here are notable 2025 bills in North Carolina:

Public Safety Law Targets Legal Aid Funding

Free legal aid in North Carolina's poorest counties took an unprecedented hit this year after a major funding source from interest income on lawyers' trust accounts was cut off. Senate Bill 429, or The Public Safety Act, passed in the summer of 2025 and forbids North Carolina Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts, or NC IOLTA, to award grants from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026.

The Public Safety Act created a wide array of changes to the state's criminal laws, like creating a new criminal offense for exposing a child to a controlled substance and tightening the restrictiveness of release protocols for autopsy information. However, a section of the bill on the second-to-last page prevented any expenditure of IOLTA grants through June 2026.

The freeze was spurred by the state's Republican lawmakers, who said grants for legal assistance programs were funneling to left-leaning organizations promoting diversity, equity and inclusion agendas. Leaders from the North Carolina State Bar, which manages the program, weathered scrutiny from GOP lawmakers in October during a House Select Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing.

In the hearing, legislators seemed more concerned with smaller grantees with a partisan bent. Rep. Harry Warren, who chairs the House select committee, said during his opening remarks that IOLTA has gone "somewhat rogue" in handing out grants to "leftist groups."

The funding remains in limbo for now, imperiling its largest grantee, Legal Aid of North Carolina. As a result of the law, LANC saw $6 million disappear from next year's budget. LANC is a nonprofit that provides free legal services to those who could not otherwise afford it. Last year, LANC handled more than 20,000 cases across the state.

"We are experiencing a crisis in civil legal aid in North Carolina that's unprecedented in the United States," LANC CEO Ashley Campbell told Law360, referencing the fact that LANC doesn't get an annual allocation from the legislature for civil legal aid and relies heavily on IOLTA funding.

The organization is nonpartisan and is prohibited by federal law from engaging in political activity, Campbell said. During the hearing, critical comments from lawmakers were not directed at LANC, she added.

"We continue to have that conversation of, it appears there's bipartisan support for the work we do, and can we get some type of fix in place that allows funds to flow back to Legal Aid of North Carolina?" Campbell said.

As a result of the funding cut, LANC was forced to lay off 45 employees. The nonprofit announced in November that it's having to close nine offices across the state. As of Dec. 18, three offices had already closed in Rocky Mount, Goldsboro and Boone. The six that remain in Asheville, Gastonia, Concord, Henderson, Ahoskie and either Pembroke or Fayetteville are expected to close in 2026, Campbell said.

On the ground, the cuts and reduced services might look like an LANC attorney not being able to go to court with a domestic violence victim, instead offering advice over the phone about appearing pro se, Campbell said. She expects courts to see more pro se litigants in the wake of the law.

Transit Stabbing Ends Cashless Bail 

North Carolina legislators ended cashless bail following the stabbing death of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on the light rail in Charlotte. Iryna's Law, or House Bill 307, passed in late September by a vote of 82-30, with multiple Democrats crossing the aisle to vote for the measure.

The bill provided that a person charged with a first- or second-time violent offense faces a secured bond or house arrest. These conditions also apply to triple offenders for nonviolent or violent offenses, as well.

Judicial officials are now also required to consider the prior three years of mental health history for someone who committed a violent offense. If that person had been involuntarily committed during that time or if a judicial official thinks they're a danger to themselves or others, the person must be evaluated and held if treatment is required.

Some Democratic legislators, however, said the bill could do more to provide mental health assistance and that it didn't identify funding for the law's likely outcome of more incarceration.

Gov. Josh Stein signed the bill weeks later, though not without criticism. On social media, he criticized a provision that hastens death penalty appeals and expands the state's execution methods to include firing squads.

Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed in Charlotte on the city's light rail system in August. Her accused killer, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., had recently been arrested for misusing the 911 system and was freed on a promise to appear.

Brown was charged with a federal crime of an act of violence causing death on a mass transportation system and faces a murder charge in state court. The law also makes committing a capital felony while on public transit "an aggravating factor" for seeking the death penalty.

Zarutska's death prompted a number of other legislative and judicial actions around the state.

In September, North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby ordered the creation of a task force to study rules on pretrial release policies. The North Carolina Office of the State Auditor released a preliminary report on Charlotte Area Transit System's security contracts, and in early October, U.S. Rep. Tim Moore proposed a bill to create a pathway for crime victims to sue judges found to have acted with "intentional disregardd for public safety."

Hurricane Relief Mixed With Power Plays

A far-reaching North Carolina law that melded Hurricane Helene relief efforts with power shake-ups among the branches of government prompted several lawsuits, one that stayed heated over the course of 2025. 

Senate Bill 382 passed in the final month of 2024, when state lawmakers overrode then-Gov. Roy Cooper's veto. Buried in the law were provisions that stripped Democratic-controlled offices of certain powers, such as the executive branch's ability to name State Board of Elections members and county board chairs.

It also limited the governor's ability to fill vacant seats on the state court of appeals and the North Carolina Supreme Court by forcing him to choose a replacement from a list of three candidates recommended by the political party of the outgoing judge or justice. The law also abridged the governor's appointment powers for the North Carolina Utilities Commission and curbed his authority over the Building Code Council.

Stein filed a lawsuit in February 2025 challenging those changes. He argued the law tries to transfer the power to fill those spots "from the popularly elected governor to partisan insiders," flying in the face of the North Carolina Constitution.

That litigation has locked Stein in an appellate battle with Rep. Destin Hall, speaker of the North Carolina House and Sen. Phil Berger Jr., president pro tem of the North Carolina Senate. Republican State Treasurer Bradford Briner, whom S.B. 382 tasked with appointing a member of the Utilities Commission, subsequently intervened.

The legislative defendants argued that S.B. 382 was within their "express powers" and accused Stein of interfering with restrictions that promote checks and balances between the branches of government.

In June, a three-judge state court panel ruled that Republican lawmakers can't restrict the governor's ability to fill judicial vacancies in the state appellate courts, partially striking down S.B. 382. Those judges found that the section of the law that limited his ability to appoint appellate judges was unconstitutional.

However, that same panel didn't overturn other provisions of the law that alter the governor's appointment powers for the North Carolina Utilities Commission and curb his authority over the Building Code Council.

Both Stein and Republican lawmakers quickly cross-appealed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel heard argument in October.

The case is Stein v. Hall, case number 25-745 in the North Carolina Court of Appeals and 25CV004705-910 in the North Carolina Superior Court, District 10.

--Editing by Linda Voorhis.