House Bill 975 / SL 2025-42
House Bill 975 amends North Carolina law in two main ways. First, it directs the North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services and the relevant commission to adopt rules allowing emergency medical services personnel to carry pepper spray, either openly or concealed, while on duty. Those rules may include training requirements, employer approval, and a prohibition on discharging pepper spray in the ambulance patient compartment during transport. The bill defines pepper spray broadly to include chemical irritants such as mace, oleoresin capsicum, and tear gas.
Second, the bill creates a limited exemption from the practice-of-veterinary-medicine licensing laws so EMS personnel may provide emergency transport or emergency medical services to injured K-9 police animals and certified search and rescue dogs at the scene of an emergency. It also adds a new immunity provision stating that EMS personnel are not subject to prosecution for providing such aid in good faith, while preserving liability for gross negligence, wanton conduct, or intentional wrongdoing. The search-and-rescue dog provision applies to dogs certified by a national certification organization and deployed by or contracted with a government agency.
The bill modifies Chapter 131E and Chapter 90 of the North Carolina General Statutes by creating a new rulemaking mandate for EMS pepper spray possession and by carving out a narrow exception to veterinary licensing restrictions for emergency treatment of working dogs. It affects EMS personnel, EMS agencies, the Office of Emergency Medical Services, the Veterinary Medical Board’s licensing framework, and agencies that deploy police K-9s and search and rescue dogs. The law also establishes a limited immunity standard for EMS responders who assist injured working dogs at emergency scenes, effective 30 days after enactment for that portion of the bill.
The available legislative record shows no committee transcripts or recorded votes, so there is no documented floor debate or opposition in the provided materials. The bill was enacted as Session Law 2025-42 and approved by the Governor, which indicates it received sufficient support to pass both chambers and become law. Overall, the outcome suggests a generally favorable or uncontroversial reception, at least based on the absence of recorded dissent in the supplied context.
The main policy sensitivities in the bill are the authorization for EMS personnel to carry pepper spray and the creation of an exception to veterinary practice rules. Potential concerns could include workplace safety, training standards, use-of-force or weapon-carry issues for EMS workers, and whether emergency treatment of animals by non-veterinarians should be limited to narrow circumstances. The bill addresses some of these concerns by allowing agencies to require training and approval, prohibiting pepper spray use in the ambulance compartment, and limiting the veterinary exemption and immunity to good-faith emergency care for injured K-9 police units and certified search and rescue dogs, while excluding gross negligence and intentional misconduct from protection.