SB 358 North Carolina Senate · 2025-2026 Session

Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

SB 358, the "Hate Crimes Prevention Act," expands North Carolina's hate crime laws by increasing penalties for offenses motivated by the victim's actual or perceived race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or gender expression. It upgrades certain misdemeanors to higher classifications (like Class H felonies) and adds civil remedies for victims, including compensation for emotional distress and attorney fees. The bill also mandates the State Bureau of Investigation to create a hate crimes database, requires law enforcement officers to receive specialized training on identifying and reporting hate crimes, and directs prosecutors to develop hate crime prosecution training. These changes directly affect victims of hate crimes, law enforcement agencies, and prosecutors by strengthening legal responses and data collection.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Mar 20, 2025 Last action Mar 24, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Filed → Edition 1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill underwent formatting and versioning updates during its legislative journey from filing to first edition. The most substantive change involves a modification to the definition of 'serious bodily injury' in the hate crimes statute, expanding what constitutes a qualifying injury for enhanced penalties.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded by broadening the definition of serious bodily injury to include protracted conditions causing extreme pain, in addition to the existing criteria of substantial risk of death or serious permanent disfigurement.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'serious bodily injury' was expanded to include 'protracted condition that causes extreme pain' alongside existing criteria of substantial risk of death or serious permanent disfigurement, making it easier to qualify certain injuries for enhanced hate crime penalties.

TECHNICAL

Document formatting changes including updated version identifiers (DRS45108-MLa-44 changed to S358-v-1), session date updates, and reorganization of header information during the legislative process.

The bill was referred to the Rules and Operations of the Senate committee on March 24, 2025, indicating procedural progression through the legislative review process.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 24, 2025

Committee

Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate

upper

Mar 20, 2025

Introduced

Filed

upper

2 primary · 10 co-sponsors