GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2025

H                                                                                                                                                    1

HOUSE BILL 1151

Short Title:      Additional Magistrates/Mecklenburg County.		(Public)
Sponsors:	Representatives T. Brown, Helfrich, and Lopez (Primary Sponsors). For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to:	Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

May 4, 2026

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to increase the number of magistrates for mecklenburg county.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 7A‑133(c) reads as rewritten:

"(c)      Each county shall have the numbers of magistrates and additional seats of district court, as set forth in the following table:

                                                            Magistrates                              Additional

County                                                Min.                                Seats of Court

…

Mecklenburg                                         38.543.5

…."

SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts the sum of four hundred five thousand five hundred eighty‑five dollars ($405,585) in recurring funds beginning in the 2026‑2027 fiscal year to be used to hire five additional magistrates to serve in Mecklenburg County pursuant to Section 1 of this act. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts the sum of fifteen thousand one hundred forty dollars ($15,140) in nonrecurring funds for the 2026‑2027 fiscal year to be used to hire five additional magistrates to serve in Mecklenburg County pursuant to Section 1 of this act.

SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2026.