A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to decriminalize non‑statutory criminal offenses and violations.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 14‑4 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14‑4.  Violation of local ordinances an infraction.
(a)	If any person shall violate an ordinance of a county, city, town, or metropolitan sewerage district created under Article 5 of Chapter 162A, the person shall be guilty of an infraction punishable by a fine of not more than fifty dollars ($50.00).
	
(c)	Nothing in this section shall restrict the authority of a county, city, town, or metropolitan sewerage district to impose civil penalties for the violation of any ordinance pursuant to G.S. 153A‑123, 160A‑175, or 162A‑81."
SECTION 2.  Article 1 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 14‑4.2.  Notice of crimes.
(a)	Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, no person shall be convicted of a criminal offense unless the offense appears in this Chapter, Chapter 20 of the General Statutes, or Article 5 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes or the offense is a common‑law offense.
(b)	Subsection (a) of this section does not apply to a person who has actual knowledge that the behavior which is the basis for being charged with the offense constitutes a crime.
(c)	This section applies to offenses committed on or after December 1, 2021."
SECTION 3.  Prosecutions for offenses committed before the effective date of this act are not abated or affected by this act, and the statutes that would be applicable but for this act remain applicable to those prosecutions.
SECTION 4.  Section 1 of this act becomes effective December 1, 2021, and applies to violations on or after that date. The remainder of this act becomes effective December 1, 2021.