Senate Bill 584 - Criminal Law Reform

• Creates new G.S. 14-4.1 requiring legislative review of any administrative rules adopted after January 1, 2020 that create criminal offenses or impose criminal penalties, regardless of whether the rule received 10 or more written objections.

• Modifies G.S. 150B-21.3(b1) to subject regulatory crimes to delayed effective dates and allows legislators to introduce disapproval bills during the first 30 legislative days of any regular session.

• Extends the deadline for state agencies, boards, and commissions to submit lists of crimes defined in the North Carolina Administrative Code from December 1, 2018 to November 1, 2019.

• Extends the deadline for counties, cities, and towns to report ordinances with criminal penalties from December 1, 2018 to November 1, 2019, and prohibits criminal penalties on ordinances adopted between January 1, 2020 and January 1, 2022 unless the required report was submitted by November 1, 2019.

• Directs the General Statutes Commission to study reported ordinances and administrative code crimes and recommend whether such conduct should be criminalized through general state law; report due to the 2020 Regular Session by May 1, 2020.

• Changes G.S. 93A-8 penalty for unfair trade practice violations to Class 1 misdemeanor, effective December 1, 2019.