SB 528 (Child Care Regulatory Reforms and Flexibilities) allows five years of documented work experience in a licensed North Carolina child care facility to count as equivalent to the North Carolina Early Childhood Credential for lead teachers and star ratings. It also increases the maximum group size for toddlers from 18 to 20 children in centers maintaining a 1/9 staff-to-child ratio, while adjusting nap-time supervision requirements. These changes directly affect licensed child care centers, administrators, lead teachers, and staff by providing alternative pathways to meet credentialing requirements and adjusting operational standards for group sizes. The bill aims to increase flexibility for providers while maintaining safety and quality standards under North Carolina’s child care regulations.
This bill creates a voluntary program allowing businesses in North Carolina to contribute to portable benefit accounts for their independent contractors. The plan enables hiring parties to fund benefits such as health insurance, retirement, and disability through a third-party administrator, which helps contractors maintain coverage when moving between jobs. To encourage participation, the legislation allows businesses to deduct contributions as business expenses and permits contractors to exclude those amounts from their taxable income. Additionally, the bill includes a $100,000 appropriation to fund public education about the program, which will take effect on July 1, 2026.
HB 97 adds stomach cancer (gastric cancer) to the list of occupationally related cancers that qualify firefighters for "killed in the line of duty" benefits under North Carolina's Public Safety Employees' Death Benefits Act. This means firefighters who die from stomach cancer directly linked to their firefighting duties will automatically be eligible for death benefits, easing the process for families seeking compensation. The bill appropriates $500,000 annually from 2025-2027 to cover these benefits. It takes effect July 1, 2025, applying to qualifying deaths occurring on or after that date.
HB 637 grants flexibility to Pitt County Schools regarding salary supplements for advanced teaching roles. It allows the $10,000 supplement for an adult leadership teacher to be shared with other teachers. This sharing is permitted when those teachers are collaborating in a "community of practice" to address an instructional issue within schools participating in the R3 Program Community of Practice model. This bill applies exclusively to Pitt County Schools and becomes effective for the 2025-2026 school year.
HB 574 establishes a Workforce Development Pilot Project in North Carolina. This bill provides funds to the Office of State Budget and Management to be allocated to the North Carolina Workforce Development Coalition (NCWDC). The NCWDC will then provide grants to eligible North Carolina-based employers, with 20 to 1,500 employees, to support employer-sponsored training programs. These grants aim to increase job creation, reduce employee turnover, improve wages, and upgrade worker skills, especially in industries with identified training gaps. Employers can receive up to 50% of eligible training costs or $2,000 per trainee, with a maximum of $40,000 annually per employer.
HB 48 raises North Carolina's maximum weekly unemployment benefit from $350 to $400 for claimants filing on or after March 2, 2025, directly affecting unemployed workers. It also creates a 2025 tax credit for employers, allowing them to offset unemployment insurance taxes paid on 2024 fourth-quarter wages against their 2025 tax liability. The credit applies only to contributions remitted by January 31, 2025, and must be claimed via a specific report. The bill ratifies a governor's temporary disaster-related unemployment expansion but focuses on permanent changes to benefit levels and employer tax treatment.
