SB 618 North Carolina Senate · 2025-2026 Session

Lasting Economic and Academic Prosperity Act.

SB 618, the Lasting Economic and Academic Prosperity (LEAP) Act, establishes a state-funded endowment program to support early childhood development and child care initiatives in North Carolina. It directs the Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) to use private donations (called "excluded amounts") and state funds held in a LEAP Reserve to generate investment income, which will supplement existing early childhood programs. The bill requires strict accounting to separate these funds, mandates annual reporting on spending and income to lawmakers, and appropriates $450,000 for fundraising in 2025-2026, with annual 5% increases for eight years. This directly affects North Carolina children by stabilizing early childhood program funding and incentivizes private donors through state matching.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Mar 25, 2025 Last action Mar 26, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Filed → Edition 1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill underwent formatting and structural updates during its transition from filing to first edition. The most significant substantive change involves the addition of a new provision requiring the Office of State Controller to transfer funds to the LEAP Reserve each fiscal year, establishing a formal mechanism for funding the LEAP Endowment Program.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on economic and academic prosperity initiatives, but the funding mechanism for the LEAP Reserve has been formalized with specific annual transfer requirements.

FISCAL

Added a new requirement for the Office of State Controller to transfer funds to the LEAP Reserve each fiscal year, establishing a formal annual funding mechanism for the LEAP Endowment Program.

TECHNICAL

Removed placeholder text and deleted a section marker that appeared to be a formatting artifact or incomplete provision.

Updated bill identification from 'DRS35225-MCa-84' to 'S618-v-1' and adjusted header formatting to reflect official Senate Bill 618 status.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 26, 2025

Committee

Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate

upper

Mar 25, 2025

Introduced

Filed

upper

2 primary · 5 co-sponsors