HB 7 North Carolina House · 2025-2026 Session

NC Reclaiming College Education on America's Constitutional Heritage (REACH) Act.

HB 7, the NC REACH Act, requires all students graduating with a baccalaureate degree from a UNC system university or an associate degree from a North Carolina community college to complete at least three credit hours of coursework in American history or government. This coursework must include reading key documents like the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail, plus a final exam worth 20% of the grade. Students may qualify for exemptions through AP/IB/Cambridge scores, dual enrollment, or prior equivalent coursework. The bill ensures these requirements do not increase total graduation credit hours or conflict with accreditation standards, with annual compliance reports due to the legislature starting in 2026.
Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 29, 2025 Last action Apr 2, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Edition 1 Edition 2 · 3 edits
MINOR
This bill revision adds George Washington's Farewell Address to the required reading list for UNC system students and modifies how the new American history requirement fits into degree requirements. The change ensures the requirement doesn't increase total credit hours by mandating the removal of one elective course instead.
Scope change
The bill's scope remains the same (UNC constituent institutions), but the implementation mechanism changed to prevent credit hour increases.
REQUIREMENT

George Washington's Farewell Address was added to the list of required documents students must read in full for the American history instruction requirement.

The requirement now mandates that one elective course must be removed from degree requirements to offset the new American history course, preventing an increase in total credit hours needed for graduation.

TECHNICAL

The sponsor names and committee referral information were removed from the bill header, likely due to procedural changes during the legislative process.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
10
Key actions
1
Committee
7
Apr 2, 2025
Committee
Re-ref Com On Appropriations
lower
Apr 2, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reptd Fav Com Substitute
lower
Mar 20, 2025
Committee
Serial Referral To Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Added
lower
Mar 20, 2025
Committee
Serial Referral To Appropriations Added
lower
Mar 20, 2025
Committee
Serial Referral To Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Stricken
lower
Feb 3, 2025
Committee
Re-ref to the Com on Higher Education, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
lower
Jan 30, 2025
Committee
Ref To Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
lower
Jan 29, 2025
Introduced
Filed
lower
3 primary · 7 co-sponsors

Sponsors