With a 104 to 8 vote, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed the Raise The Age bill. The Senate now has the bill for consideration. The Senate budget does include policy language supporting Raise The Age legislation, however no funds were allocated in the Senate budget. The recently passed House budget includes both language and funds supporting Raise The Age legislation. This is a major step towards finally raising the age in North Carolina.
The next step for Raise the Age will likely happen during budget negotiations. The House and the Senate must hash out the differences in their budgets. It is important that we maintain as much of the original bill as possible, most importantly including low level felonies. Please reach out to your elected representatives and let them know you want North Carolina to raise the age on all misdemeanors and low level felonies. North Carolina deserve to get a fair chance in life like the children in every other state in the nation.