Rep. Lindsey Prather

Maddy summaryHB 937 allocates $11 million annually from North Carolina's sports betting tax revenue to provide salary supplements for public school athletic coaches. It requires eligible public school units to ensure each full-time coach receives a combined total of at least $3,000 per year in state and local funds, with schools maintaining prior non-state funding levels for coaches. Schools that replace state funds with local money forfeit future state allocations, and unspent funds flow to the North Carolina YMCA Alliance for youth sports programs. The bill applies to all public school athletic coaches meeting specific eligibility criteria and takes effect for the 2025-2026 school year.

Maddy summaryHB 952 establishes the North Carolina Child Care Finance Agency to provide loans and bonds for constructing or rehabilitating childcare facilities. The agency will prioritize small providers (under 10 locations), high-quality licensed centers, faith-based organizations, and businesses offering on-site childcare for employees. It directly affects childcare providers, employers with childcare programs, and families seeking affordable, accessible care by financing facility development. This policy change creates a dedicated state mechanism to address North Carolina’s childcare shortage through targeted infrastructure investment.

Maddy summaryHB 888 appropriates $1 million from the General Fund to the North Carolina Community Health Worker Association (a nonprofit) for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The funds will directly support the Association's work in mobilizing, training, and certifying community health workers across North Carolina. This grant enables the Association to expand its workforce development efforts, specifically targeting the training and certification of community health workers. The bill affects the Association's operations and the community health workers they certify, but does not change health service delivery or eligibility for residents. The appropriation becomes effective July 1, 2025.

Maddy summaryHB 910 creates a $2 million recurring grant program to increase teacher diversity in North Carolina public schools, primarily benefiting school districts, colleges, and community organizations. The bill funds partnerships that support recruitment, training, and retention of educators of color through specific initiatives like dual enrollment programs, paid clinical experiences, mentorship, and financial aid for aspiring teachers. Grants require evidence-based proposals addressing recruitment or retention gaps and must include long-term sustainability plans. Local school systems and institutions of higher education will administer the program, with annual reporting required to track progress toward diversifying the educator workforce.

Maddy summaryHB 954 creates a State Critical Infrastructure and Construction Resiliency Fund to support disaster recovery and preparedness. It requires counties that experienced a Governor-declared Type I, II, or III disaster in the past three years to redirect 5% of their annual highway use tax revenue into the fund. The Governor can use these funds for new infrastructure projects and resiliency efforts in disaster-affected areas, as well as for state/local response activities following a federal disaster declaration under the Stafford Act. This directly affects eligible counties and their residents by providing dedicated resources for rebuilding and preventing future disaster impacts.

Maddy summaryHB 931 limits towing fees to reasonable and clearly disclosed amounts, prohibits charging storage fees when towing companies are closed, and bans towing to locations without 24-hour vehicle recovery access. It requires towing companies to accept debit/credit/cash payments without processing fees exceeding 2% of the total. The Utilities Commission enforces these rules, imposing up to $5,000 penalties per violation for noncompliance. This bill directly affects towing companies and vehicle owners in North Carolina by regulating fee practices and payment options.

Maddy summaryHB 933 increases Medicaid rates to ensure direct care workers for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities earn at least $18 per hour, affecting home/community providers, group homes, and waiver programs like NC Innovations. It adds 1,000 slots to the NC Innovations waiver program (with $36 million in annual state funding) and requires a 10-year plan to address unmet service needs. The bill also removes income and resource limits for Medicaid eligibility under the Health Coverage for Workers with Disabilities program. These changes take effect July 1, 2025, with $183 million in annual state funding supporting the wage increases and $36 million for new waiver slots.

Maddy summaryHB 922 revises definitions in North Carolina's public utility law to protect ratepayers from unreasonable fees charged by utilities. It specifically clarifies terms like "advertising" (excluding safety messages or mandated public notices), "clean energy facility," and "energy efficiency measure" to ensure utilities cannot charge customers for non-essential promotional activities or misrepresent energy sources. The bill directly affects all electricity, gas, and water utilities operating in North Carolina and their customers, requiring them to comply with these updated definitions when calculating rates. Key provisions include banning utilities from including certain marketing costs in rate base calculations and defining measurable energy efficiency improvements. This focuses on transparency in billing rather than creating new fee structures.

Maddy summaryHB 915 reenacts a 25% tax credit for film production companies in North Carolina that spend at least $250,000 on qualifying expenses within the state. The credit applies to costs like equipment rentals, wages (excluding payments over $1 million to top earners), insurance, and employee benefits, but excludes political ads, news broadcasts, live sports events, and obscene content. The credit is capped at $20 million per feature film and requires producers to notify the North Carolina Film Office before claiming it. This reenactment makes the credit effective for qualifying expenses occurring on or after January 1, 2025, after a prior sunset clause expired in 2015.

Maddy summaryHB 940 prohibits employment discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or pregnancy-related conditions in North Carolina. It requires employers to treat pregnant employees the same as others with similar abilities to work, provide reasonable accommodations (like modified schedules or breastfeeding breaks), and grant leave for pregnancy-related disability on par with other medical leave. The bill also mandates that employers allow return to the same or equivalent position after leave and clarifies that discrimination claims must be filed within three years. It directly affects employers with 15+ employees and pregnant or postpartum workers in North Carolina.