HB 62 North Carolina House · 2025-2026 Session

Farmers Protection Act.

HB 62, the Farmers Protection Act, prohibits banks from denying or canceling financial services to farmers based on their greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizer use, or machinery type. It creates a rebuttable presumption that banks violating this rule are acting on ESG (environmental, social, governance) commitments, requiring banks to prove decisions were financially motivated. Banks must annually attest to compliance under penalty of perjury, and violations may result in civil penalties up to $10,000 per incident. The law directly affects farmers, banks, credit unions, and state financial associations by restricting discriminatory lending practices tied to environmental factors.

Issues: ✗ Environment

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 5, 2025 Last action Mar 17, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Edition 1 → Edition 2 · 6 edits

MODERATE

The bill was significantly rewritten to strengthen protections for farmers against bank discrimination based on environmental practices. The new version expands the definition of prohibited goals to include political aims, lowers the legal burden of proof for farmers to challenge banks, and adds the ability for farmers to sue directly. It also clarifies enforcement roles for credit unions and removes references to specific sponsors.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include political goals alongside environmental and social goals, and it now explicitly applies to credit unions with clearer enforcement authority.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'ESG commitment' was broadened to include 'political goals' in addition to environmental and social goals, potentially widening the scope of protected discrimination claims.

ENFORCEMENT

The burden of proof for banks to justify denying service was lowered from 'clear and convincing evidence' to the lower standard of 'a preponderance of the evidence,' making it easier for farmers to win cases.

The right to bring a civil lawsuit was expanded to include the 'agriculture producer' directly, whereas the previous version only allowed the Commissioner to sue.

SCOPE

The prohibition on discrimination was expanded to include the 'restriction' or 'cancelation' of services, not just the denial of service.

ELIGIBILITY

The bill was updated to explicitly apply to credit unions and clarified that the Administrator has enforcement authority over them.

TECHNICAL

References to specific primary sponsors and a detailed list of referring committees were removed, likely because the bill text was updated after the committee process.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 17, 2025

Committee

Re-ref to the Com on Commerce and Economic Development, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Mar 12, 2025

Committee

Re-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Mar 12, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reptd Fav Com Substitute

lower

Feb 25, 2025

Committee

Re-ref Com On Agriculture and Environment

lower

Feb 25, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reptd Fav

lower

Feb 25, 2025

Committee

Serial Referral To Commerce and Economic Development Stricken

lower

Feb 6, 2025

Committee

Ref to the Com on Judiciary 1, if favorable, Agriculture and Environment, if favorable, Commerce and Economic Development, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Feb 5, 2025

Introduced

Filed

lower

3 primary · 32 co-sponsors