Every session, the North Carolina General Assembly considers a bevy of bills related to animals, many of which relate to foxes and coyotes. This year was no exception. Only one major animal control related bill, S.L. 2013-377, was enacted. It … Read more

In the wake of new legislation enacted in June 2012, several counties have decided to make changes to how they organize and govern their local human services agencies.  Last September, I wrote about this issue and identified three counties that … Read more

When I teach about animal control law in North Carolina, I often describe the work as multifaceted. The individuals involved wear various hats – they are animal control officers, animal cruelty investigators, communicable disease investigators, public safety officials, animal welfare … Read more

Exciting news in the world of legislative reporting—the Daily Bulletin is going exclusively online! Since 1935, the School (a/k/a the Institute) of Government’s Legislative Reporting Service has been creating the Daily Bulletin, which includes summaries of every filed bill, amendment, … Read more

When animal control officials seize animals, local governments and animal welfare organizations can end up spending a lot of money to shelter, feed, and otherwise care for the animals. In 2005, the General Assembly enacted G.S. 19A-70, which allows animal … Read more

UPDATE September 2013: For more recent information on this topic, click here. Once H438 (S.L. 2012-126) became law on June 29, 2012, counties had some new options available for organizing and governing their human services agencies (see earlier posts here … Read more

Last week the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services entered into a settlement agreement with the federal government (see press release here). Pursuant to the agreement, the state is committed to implementing fairly significant changes related to housing and … Read more

UPDATE September 2013: For more recent information on this topic, click here. There was a lot of activity this past legislative session around the issue of local human services organization and governance.  In the final weeks of the session, the … Read more

UPDATE September 2013:  H 1075 was not enacted but the guardianship provisions discussed above were transferred to S 191, which was enacted as S.L. 2012-151. If a court or jury finds that a person is incapacitated, the Clerk of Superior … Read more

UPDATE September 2013: For more recent information on this topic, click here. To consolidate or not to consolidate, that [may be] the question. In the coming weeks, the NC General Assembly could act on legislation that would permit a county … Read more