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SB 421 North Carolina Senate · 2025-2026 Session

Prison Reform Omnibus.

SB 421, the "Fair and Rehabilitative Prison Labor Act," replaces outdated North Carolina prison labor laws to ensure incarcerated individuals receive fair pay, vocational training, and protections. It requires prison labor programs to pay at least $5 per hour (or state minimum wage for PIECP-certified programs), prioritize job skills for post-release employment, and prohibit using prison labor to displace migrant or seasonal agricultural workers. The bill mandates annual transparency reports on wages, hours worked, and job impacts in agriculture, and requires labor market assessments before agricultural contracts. These changes directly affect incarcerated people in North Carolina prisons, prison labor programs, and agricultural businesses that contract prison labor.
Issues: ✓ Criminal JusticeSupports Criminal JusticeBill mandates fair prison labor pay, vocational training for reentry, and prohibits displacing agricultural workers - directly advancing rehabilitation and reducing recidivism per criminal justice reform indicators.95% confidence ✓ ImmigrationSupports ImmigrationProhibits prison labor from displacing migrant agricultural workers, protecting immigrant laborers' employment in agriculture.95% confidence
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Mar 24, 2025 Last action Mar 25, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Filed → Edition 1 · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill underwent minor formatting and administrative updates as it moved from initial filing to its first edition. The primary changes involve updating the bill number reference and adding the Rules and Operations of the Senate as the referral committee with a specific date. No substantive policy changes were made to the prison reform provisions themselves.
TECHNICAL

Updated bill reference number from DRS45239-ND-46 to S421-v-1 to reflect the new edition version.

Added specific referral information showing the bill was referred to Rules and Operations of the Senate on March 25, 2025.

Reformatted header information to align with standard legislative document formatting for the first edition.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
3
Key actions
0
Committee
1
Mar 25, 2025
Committee
Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate
upper
Mar 24, 2025
Introduced
Filed
upper
0 primary · 3 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.