House Bill 126 / SL 2025-12 (=S59)
HB 126 amends North Carolina’s laws governing voluntary agricultural districts and enhanced voluntary agricultural districts to add more time and public process before farmland in those districts can be condemned or rezoned. Under the bill, a State or local public agency or governmental unit must request a hearing before the local agricultural advisory board before formally initiating condemnation or rezoning of qualifying farmland in a covered district. The advisory board must then hold a public hearing, prepare written findings and recommendations, and submit them to the agency.
The bill also extends the advisory board’s timeline from 30 days to 45 days to hold the hearing and issue its findings, and it bars the agency from formally initiating the condemnation or rezoning action until 120 days after the board submits its findings and recommendations. The act becomes effective October 1, 2025, and applies to condemnation or rezoning actions initiated on or after that date.
HB 126 changes G.S. 106-740 by making the hearing requirement mandatory rather than optional for ordinances covering voluntary agricultural districts and enhanced voluntary agricultural districts, and by lengthening the procedural delay before condemnation or rezoning can proceed. The practical effect is to strengthen notice, review, and delay protections for qualifying farmland, while giving local agricultural advisory boards a larger role in land-use decisions affecting agricultural lands. It affects State and local agencies seeking to condemn or rezone farmland in these districts, as well as landowners and agricultural interests within the covered districts.
The available record suggests the bill moved through the legislature without recorded opposition in the provided materials, and it was ratified and signed into law. The absence of committee transcripts or vote details limits the ability to identify specific debate, but the enacted changes indicate broad support for additional procedural protections for farmland and for giving agricultural advisory boards more time to review proposed actions. Overall, the bill appears to have been viewed favorably as a farmland-preservation measure.
The main policy tension in HB 126 is between protecting farmland and preserving flexibility for public agencies to pursue condemnation or rezoning for other public purposes. Supporters would likely favor the added hearing requirement, longer review period, and 120-day waiting period as safeguards for agricultural land and local input. Potentially affected agencies may view the bill as adding delay and procedural hurdles to land acquisition or rezoning projects, especially where timing is important. No specific objections or amendments are documented in the provided materials.