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Read. Follow. Verify.North Carolina requires licensure for educational interpreters and mandates annual training
Last action · May 8, 2025: Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate (Senate action)Sponsors: Hugh Blackwell and 5 others
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What This Bill Would Do
North Carolina HB 854 removes the exemption for educational interpreters and s from state licensure requirements, applies continuing education hours toward annual training mandates, and takes effect on October 1, 2026.
School interpreters in prekindergarten through grade 12 and higher education must obtain state licenses and complete 15 hours of approved annual job-related training, which can overlap with license renewal credits.
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Educational interpreters and transliterators
Must now obtain state licensure and complete 15 hours of annual job-related training.
Local educational agencies
Must approve annual job-related training hours for employed interpreters and transliterators.
Hearing-impaired students
Receive communication services from personnel subject to new state licensing and training standards.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is required to obtain a license under this bill?
How many hours of training must school interpreters complete each year?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently passed chamber. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Law.
Procedural history
20 actions- May 8, 2025SenateRef To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate
- May 8, 2025SenatePassed 1st Reading
- May 8, 2025SenateSpecial Message Received From House
- May 8, 2025HouseSpecial Message Sent To Senate
- May 7, 2025HousePassed 3rd Reading
- May 7, 2025HousePassed 2nd Reading
Show 14 earlier actions
- May 7, 2025HouseAdded to Calendar
- May 7, 2025HouseCal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- May 7, 2025HouseReptd Fav
- May 6, 2025HouseRe-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
- May 6, 2025HouseWithdrawn From Com
- May 6, 2025HouseSerial Referral To Finance Stricken
- May 6, 2025HouseRe-ref Com On Regulatory Reform
- May 6, 2025HouseReptd Fav Com Substitute
- Apr 28, 2025HouseSerial Referral To Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Added
- Apr 28, 2025HouseSerial Referral To Finance Added
- Apr 28, 2025HouseSerial Referral To Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Stricken
- Apr 10, 2025HouseRef to the Com on Education - K-12, if favorable, Regulatory Reform, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
- Apr 10, 2025HousePassed 1st Reading
- Apr 9, 2025HouseIntroducedFiled
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Voting Record
Second Reading
Total
115
- Yes
- 106
- No
- 1
- Present
- 0
- Not voting
- 8
- Abstain
- 0
How they voted (115)
91 more members
Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Show 1 more sponsor
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Removal of Occupational Licensing Exemption
The legislation integrates school-based educational interpreters into the broader state licensing framework managed by the North Carolina Interpreter and Transliterator Licensing Board.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.ncleg.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance55How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy15Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz20Current news / social attention level
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