SB 694 North Carolina Senate · 2025-2026 Session

Remove Barriers to Employment from Court Debt.

SB 694 automatically restores driver's licenses in North Carolina after 36 months for individuals whose licenses were revoked solely due to unpaid fines for minor traffic offenses (e.g., speeding tickets), removing a major barrier to employment. This change applies to people who haven’t paid court costs or fines but haven’t committed serious offenses like driving while license revoked. The bill requires the state to notify affected individuals via mail and online about license restoration and appropriates funds for a text reminder system to help prevent missed court dates. Individuals will still owe unpaid fines but no longer face license suspension for nonpayment after the 36-month period.

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's header and formatting were updated to reflect its official filing status and version number. A substantive change was made to clarify that courts must report motor vehicle infraction payment failures to the Division of Motor Vehicles as specified in G.S. 20-24.2, ensuring proper inter-agency communication for enforcement purposes.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on removing employment barriers related to court debt, but the enforcement mechanism for motor vehicle infractions was clarified to specify the Division of Motor Vehicles as the reporting recipient.

ENFORCEMENT

Added 'the Division of Motor Vehicles' to clarify the specific agency that must receive reports of unpaid penalties and costs for motor vehicle infractions, aligning with existing statutory requirements in G.S. 20-24.2.

TECHNICAL

Added version identifier 'S694-v-1' and updated filing information to reflect the bill's progression from initial filing to Edition 1.

Removed original document tracking number 'DRS35248-MWa-65A' and replaced with updated Senate filing information including the Rules and Operations Committee referral date.

Floor votes

How they voted

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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 · 6 co-sponsors