The state Senate came back into Session on Monday and took up just a few key items before leaving again on Wednesday, and the House is set to return for a few days next week before also departing.

The adjournment resolution passed by the Senate calls for the General Assembly to return a few more times after that, on August 31^st, September 28^th, October 26^th, November 16^th, and November 30^th before officially ending the 2025-2026 Session.

At this point, it looks like the only dates when the state legislature will actually return to conduct business are the November ones.

Among the items the Senate took up this week:

HB 958, which passed the Senate and now goes to the House for a vote, makes changes to how elections are administered, including:

• Reducing early voting by seven days for primary elections and municipal races.
• Permitting the State Auditor to conduct post-election audits of county election systems and control at least once every six years.
• Requiring a candidate filing in a partisan primary to have been affiliated with the party for at least a year prior (current law is 90 days).
• Requires the DMV to provide full Social Security numbers to the state board for identity verification (current law requires only the last four digits).

A conference report for HB 268 (which means the House and Senate have worked out their difference on the bill and both chambers must simply vote on it) was approved by the Senate. The legislation makes some corrections to the state budget that’s already been approved and signed into law by the governor, including:

• Requiring the governor’s appointment to the Local Government Commission (the body that reviews and approves bond issuances of city and county governments) must now have served as a mayor or on city council and be confirmed by the General Assembly.
• Shifting some control over state property from the Department of Administration, a Cabinet agency under the governor, to the State Auditor, Labor Commissioner, and State Treasurer.
• Restoring to the Department of Insurance virtually all of the $2.7M in staffing cuts that were contained in the budget.

The legislation containing items on IIANC’s Legislative Agenda, HB 356, is still pending, having passed the Senate and now awaiting assignment of conferees to work out the differences - at this point, we expect that will get done, and the bill will get passed when the General Assembly is back to work in November.

Also of Note

• The first meeting of the Governor’s Health Care Affordability Commission was held on July 21^st.

Click HERE to watch the full three-hour meeting. There is a presentation on the state’s current health care affordability landscape starting at the 0:28:50 mark featuring Barak Richman from Duke University that’s very interesting.

• Of note for IIANC members who deal with HOAs and Condominium Associations, beginning in 2027, these entities must file an annual report with the NC Secretary of State - the filing itself should be straightforward, but it is a new legal requirement to be aware of.

  
  Click HERE to read an informative blog on the changes to the NC Nonprofit Corporation Act regarding who must file the new annual report and when the reports are due, as well as a summary of other changes (and what did not change) in the laws governing HOAs and condominium associations.

Special Recognition

A big shout-out to IIANC CEO Aubie Knight for winning the 2026 Association Executives of NC James J. Lowery Outstanding CEO Award!

Aubie was attending a Big “I” conference and wasn’t able to accept the award in person at the Association Executives of NC Annual Conference this week, but IIANC Chief Advocacy Officer Joe Stewart (a former AENC Board President) was there and able to accept it on his behalf.