S391 - Department of Transportation Omnibus. (SL 2025-47)
Session Year 2025
Overview: Section 20 of S.L. 2025-47 (Senate Bill 391) clarifies that any planting or replanting done in conjunction with selective vegetation removal for outdoor advertising must be done in accordance with the existing statutory requirement that the Department of Transportation (DOT) use plants and seeds in highway right-of-way that are native to the Southeastern United States with a strong preference for plants native to North Carolina, except that the DOT may use nonnative turf grasses and nonnative grasses, plants, and seeds for the purpose of soil and slope stabilization for erosion control. It also requires the DOT and the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, in consultation with North Carolina State University and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, to study and develop a list of native grasses, plants, and seeds to be used in place of nonnative species and to study and develop a list of invasive plant species and a plan for removing invasive species from State parks and highway right-of-way. A report on the study and development of the lists and plan must be submitted to the 2026 Regular Session of the General Assembly upon its convening.
This section became effective July 1, 2025.