SB 375: Harrison's Law. - North Carolina

Ratified → SL 2025-73 · 3 edits

MINOR

This bill was formally ratified and signed into law as Session Law 2025-73, establishing Harrison's Law to revise criminal offenses. The document shows administrative updates including version number changes, page number formatting, and the addition of Governor Josh Stein's signature and approval date.

Scope change

No substantive policy changes to the bill's scope, applicability, or legal provisions were identified in this diff. The changes are primarily administrative and procedural related to the ratification process.

TECHNICAL

Added Governor Josh Stein's signature and approval date (July 9, 2025), converting the bill from a ratified draft to official Session Law 2025-73.

Updated bill version number from S375-v-5 to S375-v-6 and changed the header from 'Ratified Bill' to 'Session Law 2025-73'.

Removed 'Ratified Bill' designation and associated page numbering formatting.

Edition 4 → Ratified · 3 edits

MINOR

This bill was finalized and ratified after passing through committee stages. The substantive policy content of the bill remains unchanged, with only formatting, session information, and final ratification signatures added. The core provisions regarding hazing laws and central office employee compensation disclosure were not altered.

TECHNICAL

Added final ratification signatures from Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and House Presiding Officer Donna McDowell White, along with the official ratification date of June 30, 2025.

Changed the document header from 'Judiciary Committee Substitute' and 'House Committee Substitute' versions to 'Ratified Bill', indicating the bill has been officially approved and enacted into law.

Added page numbering and version identifier (*S375-v-5*) to reflect the final published version of the bill.

Edition 3 → Edition 4 · 6 edits

MODERATE

This bill was renumbered from Edition 3 to Edition 4 and significantly expanded its scope. While the original version focused solely on hazing laws, the new version adds a second major section requiring local school boards to publish detailed compensation and position information for central office employees. This represents a major policy shift from a single-issue hazing bill to a comprehensive education transparency and compensation disclosure measure.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from exclusively addressing hazing offenses to also requiring public disclosure of compensation data for central office employees in local school systems.

TECHNICAL

Bill number changed from S 3 to S 4, and the committee substitute date was updated to reflect House Committee Substitute #2 dated 6/25/25.

REQUIREMENT

Added new Section 2 requiring local boards of education to maintain and publish detailed records of central office employees, including total compensation, position titles, salary changes, promotions, and disciplinary actions.

Added requirement that local school boards publish compensation information for central office employees on their websites by August 15, 2025, and annually thereafter.

Added requirement to publish position descriptions, creation dates, department locations, and counts of positions by title for central office roles.

DEFINITION

Defined 'central office employees' to include superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors, supervisors, finance officers, and other personnel not assigned to school campuses.

SCOPE

The original hazing provisions were renumbered from Section 2 to Section 1(b), indicating the hazing content is now secondary to the new compensation disclosure requirements.

Edition 2 → Edition 3 · 2 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to expand the definition of hazing to include serious psychological injury in addition to physical injury. This change broadens the scope of prohibited conduct under Harrison's Law, making it easier to prosecute cases involving severe mental harm during initiation rituals.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to cover serious psychological injury alongside physical injury in the definition of hazing.

DEFINITION

The definition of hazing was changed from 'physical injury' to 'physical or serious psychological injury' to include mental harm as a punishable offense.

TECHNICAL

Minor formatting changes including page number updates and committee substitute adoption dates were added to the document header.

Edition 1 → Edition 2 · 7 edits

MODERATE

The bill was completely rewritten from a comprehensive hazing prevention law into a much narrower version called 'Harrison's Law.' The original version included detailed definitions, covered multiple types of organizations, and established both personal and organizational offenses with specific penalties. The new version simplifies the law to focus primarily on physical injury during initiation and removes most of the detailed definitions and organizational liability provisions.

Scope change

The bill's scope was significantly narrowed. The original version covered a wide range of hazing activities including consumption of substances, physical and mental brutality, and established liability for organizations and their leadership. The new version focuses narrowly on physical injury as part of initiation and removes most organizational liability provisions.

DEFINITION

Removed detailed definitions for terms like 'alcoholic beverage,' 'controlled substance,' 'educational institution,' 'local organization,' 'national organization,' 'minor,' 'serious bodily injury,' and 'student' that were present in the original version.

Narrowed the definition of hazing from a broad range of activities (including substance abuse, mental abuse, and various physical acts) to focus primarily on physical injury during initiation or membership prerequisites.

REQUIREMENT

Removed the requirement for educational entities to establish policies and procedures to prevent hazing that was in the original bill title and intent.

ENFORCEMENT

Changed the penalty structure significantly. The original version had complex personal and organizational offense provisions with varying penalties. The new version establishes a Class 2A1 misdemeanor for students and a Class I felony for school personnel.

Removed organizational offense provisions that held local organizations, national organizations, and educational institutions criminally liable when leadership knew about hazing and didn't intervene.

TIMELINE

Added a specific effective date of December 1, 2025, for the new version of the law.

TECHNICAL

Changed the bill's short title from 'Amend Hazing Laws' to 'Harrison's Law' and simplified the overall structure from multiple sections to a more concise format.

Filed → Edition 1 · 2 edits

MINOR

The bill text was reformatted and renumbered for the official session, while a substantive addition was made to expand hazing liability. The change adds explicit language holding postsecondary educational institutions responsible when employees, volunteers, or board members knowingly direct, supervise, or participate in hazing involving minors or students.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to explicitly include postsecondary educational institutions and their employees, volunteers, or governing board members in hazing liability when they knowingly direct, supervise, or actively participate in hazing involving minors or students.

SCOPE

Added language to subsection (3) of the hazing offense to explicitly hold postsecondary educational institutions liable when employees, volunteers, or governing board members knowingly direct, supervise, or actively participate in hazing a minor or student.

TECHNICAL

The bill was reformatted with updated session headers, bill numbers, and page numbering for official filing.

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