Thursday, September 3, 2009

NCGA: Legislative Update 4 - The Arc of NC Legislative Agenda Wrap Up

Part 4 is up today! As you can tell with the hard work and dedication of many advocates across the state we were able to make real positive change for North Carolina.

Senate Bill 526/Session Law 2009-212: School Violence Prevention Act-Glazier

This legislation was a hot issue throughout the session. This bill took the advocacy of multiple organizations working for almost three years but we achieved a significant victory with the signing of this bill into law.

This bill establishes clear definitions of bullying and harassment and requires each public school district to adopt policies and procedures for dealing with incidents when they occur. The bill includes an enumerated list of categories/characteristics that, real or perceived, have been statistically shown to make students, teachers and staff more likely targets of school violence, including verbal, social and emotional bullying as well as physical harassment, threats, and beatings.

Vote History: The Senate passed this bill 26 in favor 22 opposed and the House passed this bill 58 in favor 57 opposed. Speaker of the House Joe Hackney broke the tie in the House. The governor signed this bill into law on June 23, 2009.

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