10 new laws taking effect Jan. 1 in North Carolina

Between the lines: Before we get into the 10 provisions most likely to affect you, know that despite passing all these laws, legislators have been unable to agree on a budget for the fiscal year that began six months ago.

• That leaves raises for teachers and state workers in limbo, and threatens the future of the state's Medicaid health care program.

The intrigue: Only one of the new laws taking effect survived a veto from Democratic Gov. Josh Stein — H.B. 805.

• It made several changes to state law, like allowing lawsuits against medical providers who perform gender transitions, banning state funds from being used for gender transition surgery, allowing students to opt out of school activities that conflict with their religious beliefs and letting parents control which library books their kids check out.
• The newest provision taking effect Jan. 1 excludes gender identity from state definitions of biological sex, which N.C. Health News reported echoes an executive order from President Donald Trump.
• Republicans overrode Stein's veto with help from three Democratic representatives: Nasif Majeed and Carla Cunningham, from Charlotte, and Edgecombe County's Shelly Willingham.

Other new laws set to take effect soon:

S.B. 479, also known as the SCRIPT Act, aims to provide more transparency for prescription drug costs and protect independent pharmacies.

• The bill does this by trying to rein in pharmacy benefit managers, who negotiate discounts with manufacturers and wholesalers and represent insurers, but can also favor large pharmacy chains, The News & Observer reported.
• The legislation bars those benefit managers from steering patients to preferred pharmacies as well as from paying some pharmacies more than others.

The portion of H.B. 926 taking effect Jan. 1 prohibits local governments from getting stricter about road design than the state Department of Transportation.

H.B. 67 lets internationally trained doctors apply for medical licenses in North Carolina.

• It also places North Carolina in an interstate medical licensure compact, making moves within the U.S. easier for physicians.
• And new standards are set requiring filtering of surgical smoke, which a medical journal recently described as "a hidden killer in the operating room."

H.B. 74 exempts all temporary UNC employees from overtime and minimum wage rules.

Legislators tackled some other practical matters that proved relatively uncontroversial.

S.B. 321 makes it easier and cheaper to become a certified public accountant by eliminating some of the required college credit hours.

• North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants chair Kelly Puryear said when the bill passed that it "addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing our profession: the shrinking CPA pipeline."

H.B. 506 formally shifts control of the state's $139 billion pension plan and other investments away from the treasurer to a new state agency, the North Carolina Investment Authority.

• Treasurer Brad Briner campaigned on a promise that he would end the sole-fiduciary model that until now granted him full authority over investing state money, and shift to having a board vote on decisions.
• Kevin Sigrist, the agency's interim chief investment officer, said last month in a press release that this is a "watershed event in terms of governance." Briner chairs the newly formed five-member board.

S.B. 248 makes it simpler for adoptive parents to access a child's birth certificate.

• In a letter in support of the change by the Iredell County Board of Commissioners, the commissioners argued the change would make it less time-consuming for the local register of deeds to access vital records for those who have been adopted. Previously, the process involved making formal requests to the N.C. Vital Records office.

H.B. 40 updates the law dealing with married couples' community property after death.

H.B. 388 allows attorneys to electronically store wills.

• The new law is meant to solve a problem that sometimes occurs when an original will cannot be located after a person's death, but a signed copy exists.
• Previously, if that situation occurred, validating the copy of the will required a formal petition under the presumption that a lost will had been destroyed, according to the law firm Poyner Spruill.

What's next: The General Assembly is scheduled to reconvene in mid-January.