HB 547 North Carolina House · 2025-2026 Session

Children's Services Protection Act.

HB 547, titled the "Children's Services Protection Act," limits the liability of nongovernmental organizations and independent contractors working with the Department of Health and Human Services and its affiliated agencies. For nongovernmental organizations, the bill specifies they are liable for their own negligence but not for harm caused by the public agency. For independent contractors providing health, human, and welfare services, their liability is capped at the same monetary limits as the public agency, and the State will indemnify them for damages exceeding those limits. This act clarifies legal responsibilities for entities contracting with public agencies to deliver these services.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

May 2025

House Passage

May 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Mar 26, 2025 Last action May 7, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

Edition 2 → Edition 3 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was revised from Edition 2 to Edition 3, primarily adding a new subsection (e) that clarifies liability exceptions for nongovernmental contractors. This change ensures that contractors providing services to minors who commit abuse under state law cannot claim limited liability protection, while also updating the effective date section formatting.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to explicitly exclude nongovernmental contractors from limited liability protections if they commit abuse against minors, regardless of the contract terms.

ELIGIBILITY

Added new subsection (e) stating that nongovernmental contractors providing services to minors who take actions qualifying as abuse under G.S. 7B-101(1) are not subject to the limited liability protections in subsection (d).

REQUIREMENT

Updated subsection (d) to reference both subsections (b) and (e) when determining liability exceptions for nongovernmental contractors.

TECHNICAL

Updated document versioning from Edition 2 to Edition 3 with revised effective date formatting and page numbering.

Floor votes · House May 7, 2025

How they voted

108–1

Passed · 12 other

Total votes 121

May 7, 2025

D Democratic46

38 Yea 1 Nay 7

82% Yea

I Independent2

2 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican73

68 Yea 5

93% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

May 7, 2025

Committee

Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate

upper

May 7, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed 3rd Reading

lower

May 7, 2025

Lower · Passed

Amend Adopted A1

lower

May 6, 2025

Committee

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

lower

May 6, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reptd Fav

lower

Apr 30, 2025

Committee

Re-ref Com On Judiciary 1

lower

Apr 30, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reptd Fav Com Substitute

lower

Mar 31, 2025

Committee

Ref to the Com on Health, if favorable, Judiciary 1, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Mar 26, 2025

Introduced

Filed

lower

3 primary · 14 co-sponsors