HB 52 North Carolina House · 2025-2026 Session

Protect Those Who Serve and Protect Act of 2025.

HB 52, the "Protect Those Who Serve and Protect Act of 2025," increases penalties for assaults against public safety personnel and their animals. It creates a new Class I felony offense for throwing, spraying, or projecting substances (like water) at public safety officers or law enforcement/search and rescue animals while they are on duty or due to their role. The bill also prohibits intentionally pointing laser devices at these protected individuals or animals during duty. These changes update existing assault laws to explicitly cover a wider range of emergency workers (including firefighters, medical staff, National Guard members, and school employees) and add specific protections for animals used in public safety.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

House Passage

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 4, 2025 Last action Mar 12, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

Edition 2 → Edition 3 · 2 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to update its version number from Edition 2 to Edition 3, reflecting a committee substitute revision dated March 4, 2025. A key substantive change involves the removal of a provision that would have extended protections to school employees and volunteers, narrowing the scope of who qualifies under the bill. Additionally, the bill's internal version identifier was updated to reflect this new revision.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed by removing eligibility for school employees and volunteers who were previously included in the protected categories.

ELIGIBILITY

Deleted language that would have included school employees and volunteers as protected individuals under the bill.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill version identifier from Edition 2 to Edition 3 and changed the committee substitute date from February 25, 2025 to March 4, 2025.

Floor votes · House Mar 11, 2025

How they voted

105–9

Passed · 7 other

Total votes 121

Mar 11, 2025

D Democratic46

36 Yea 8 Nay 2

78% Yea

I Independent2

2 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican73

67 Yea 1 Nay 5

91% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 12, 2025

Committee

Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate

upper

Mar 11, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed 3rd Reading

lower

Mar 11, 2025

Amended

Amend Failed A1

lower

Mar 10, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reptd Fav

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Committee

Re-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reptd Fav Com Sub 2

lower

Feb 27, 2025

Committee

Re-ref to the Com on Judiciary 2, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Feb 25, 2025

Committee

Re-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Feb 25, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reptd Fav Com Substitute

lower

Feb 11, 2025

Committee

Re-ref to the Com on Judiciary 2, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Feb 5, 2025

Committee

Ref to the Com on State and Local Government, if favorable, Judiciary 2, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Feb 4, 2025

Introduced

Filed

lower

3 primary · 29 co-sponsors