HB 589 North Carolina House · 2025-2026 Session

The Second Look Act.

HB 589, "The Second Look Act," allows North Carolina courts to reduce prison sentences for certain inmates who have served significant time. It directly affects people sentenced under specific laws (like those for violent crimes) who have served at least 10 years in prison or 50% of their sentence if under 10 years. Courts must consider factors like the person’s age, rehabilitation progress, community safety, and victim input before reducing a sentence. The bill takes effect December 1, 2025, and applies to requests filed after that date.

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Mar 31, 2025 Last action Apr 1, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Filed → Edition 1 · 3 edits

MINOR

This diff shows primarily formatting and metadata changes to HB 589, the Second Look Act, rather than substantive policy changes. The bill's text content appears unchanged, with modifications limited to header information, sponsor listings, and document identifiers.

TECHNICAL

Added additional sponsors (Representatives Price, A. Jones, and Greenfield) to the bill's sponsor list and updated the referral information to include specific date and committee details.

Changed document identifier from DRH40349-ML-51B to H589-v-1 and updated page footer to reflect House Bill 589-First Edition.

Updated bill header to show 'Edition 1' and removed the 'Filed' date stamp, indicating this is a new version of the bill text.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 1, 2025

Committee

Ref To Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

lower

Mar 31, 2025

Introduced

Filed

lower

3 primary · 16 co-sponsors