AN ACT to strengthen the law related to violations of domestic violence protective orders by increasing the penalty for repeat offenders as recommended by the Joint legislative committee on Domestic violence.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 50B‑4.1(f) reads as rewritten:
"(f)	Unless covered under some other provision of law providing greater punishment, any person who knowingly violates a valid protective order as provided in subsection (a) of this section, after having been previously convicted of two offenses under this Chapter, shall be guilty of a Class H felony."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2008, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date, but offenses committed before that date count in determining the total prior offenses.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 3rd day of July, 2008.

	s/	 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved 12:49 p.m. this 11th day of July, 2008