In a Friday morning event at the North Carolina Governor's Mansion, Gov. Josh Stein hosted a bipartisan group of lawmakers and Council of State members to sign three bills into law.
Those bills overhauled who is in charge of investing state pension funds, allow licensed social workers to apply to offer services across state lines, and another that allows long-serving officers to continue working without forfeiting a "special separation allowance."
Stein did not take any action on more controversial pieces of legislation the General Assembly sent him this week. Those include a bill letting people carry concealed weapons without a permit and a pair of immigration bills.
Senate Bill 153 requires state law enforcement agencies to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and allows victims of illegal immigrants in so-called "sanctuary cities" to sue local governments. House Bill 318 extends how long local sheriffs must hold people in jails to await ICE detention and adds crimes to the list for which ICE detainers need to be honored.
Stein left Friday morning's event without taking any questions, either about the bills he signed or the bills awaiting action.
Before Friday, the first-term governor had signed only three bills into law, in part a consequence of the pace at which the General Assembly is considering legislation.
Here's more about the bills Stein signed Friday.
House Bill 506 — State Investment Modernization Act
State Treasurer Brad Briner, a Republican, has championed the idea of surrendering some of his power as the sole decision maker over how state retirement funds are invested.
House Bill 506 creates a new State Investment Authority, which is made up of Briner, someone he appoints, an appointee from the speaker of the House, an appointee from the Senate's president pro tempore and an appointee from the governor who is confirmed by the General Assembly.
The idea, Briner has said, is to help the state's $127 billion pension plan produce better returns.
In legislative hearings, Briner has suggested that part of the state's cautious approach to investment in recent years was concern about electoral blowback if investments falter. Prior to Friday, North Carolina had been one of only three states with a sole fiduciary investment model for retirement funds.
"We have fallen short on the investment side. That has come at a cost to our taxpayers, that has come at a cost to our retirees, and this legislation allows us to fix that problem," Briner said Friday.
Improving the state's investment performance by even one percent annually would, Briner said, result in an extra $2 billion annually in the state budget.
The Investment Authority is set to start managing funds on January 1, 2026.
House Bill 231 — Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact
North Carolina will be able to create interstate license agreements for social workers with neighboring states like Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia, allowing social workers to provide services across state lines.
"We do not have enough social workers in North Carolina to meet everyone's need. Currently, complex licensure transfer requirements create barriers to social workers who are wanting to move here and take care of our people," Stein said.
The interstate license issue became particularly acute in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Valerie Arendt, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers' North Carolina chapter, said Friday.
"Our social workers in Western North Carolina (were) displaced to bordering states. Due to licensing laws, licensed clinical social workers couldn't legally continue therapy with their clients unless they were licensed in each of those states, disrupting care at a time when it was most needed," Arendt said.
The compacts will be especially be useful for social workers who are offering teleheath services, Arendt added.
House Bill 50 — LEO Special Separation Allowance Options
When a law enforcement officer reaches 30 years of service or turns 55 years old with at least five years of service, they are eligible to retire and take what is called a special separation allowance. The problem is, that benefit had disappeared when they turn 62 years old.
That means experienced officers who wanted to keep working were instead retiring, Stein said Friday.
"They deserve to have options for when and how they retire so that if they want to stay on the job and serve their communities, they can without losing their hard-earned benefits," Stein said.
The legislation creates an option where instead of taking their special separation allowance when they turn 55 or achieve 30 years of service, an officer who has served 30 years can choose to delay the benefit until they actually retire.
In that case, the officer would receive 0.85% of their annual salary when they reached the 30-year mark multiplied by 30. That benefit would begin to pay out when the officer retires for a period equal to the time between when they achieved 30 years of service and turned 62 years old.
If an officer joined a local police department when they turned 27 years old, for instance, they would be able to receive the benefit for five years after retiring. That benefit would be based on whatever the officer was earning when they turned 57 years old and reached the 30-year service mark, no matter what raises they may have accrued while still working beyond that point.
N.C. Department of Public Safety Eddie Buffaloe, the former chief of the Elizabeth City Police Department, called the bill a game changer for law enforcement.
"This is an intentional effort, an intentional effort to retain our most experienced law enforcement officers in departments in every corner of this state, for they are noble professionals that we need to keep," Buffaloe said.
