NC Legislature: Session Dates and Schedule

In this article

When Session Begins

The North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) meets in regular, biennial sessions that start in odd numbered years.1

  • Currently, we are in the 2025-2026 biennium
  • Login now to search bills in current session

Each regular session begins at noon on the second Wednesday in January after the election of members of the General Assembly. On that day, the House and Senate hold an organizational session to elect officers, adopt rules, and otherwise organize the session.

When they adjourn for the day, they stand adjourned until noon on the third Wednesday after the second Monday in January.  On this day, the substantive business of the General Assembly begins.2

  • In 2025, the NC General Assembly held its organizational session on Wednesday, January 8, and began its substantive session on Wednesday, January 29.
  • Click here to view the current NC Legislative Calendar in Roboro.

During Session

Long Session vs. Short Session

Although the NCGA technically meets in a single biennial session that begins in January of each odd-numbered year, historically, the body has followed a pattern of meeting in two separate periods during the biennium.

  • Long Session: During odd-numbered years, the General Assembly typically meets from January through mid-summer/early-fall in what is called the Long Session.
  • Short Session: During even-numbered years, the General Assembly typically meets from late spring to mid-summer in what is called the Short Session.

More recently, this pattern has changed so that the General Assembly is often in session for longer periods of time punctuated by briefer periods of adjournment.

Intermittent Adjournments and Skeleton Sessions

At various times during session, one or both chambers may not have substantive legislative business to attend to for a period of a few days or weeks. During such periods, the House and Senate may jointly adjourn to a future date, or an individual chamber may adjourn for a period of not more than three days.3

  • Skeleton Session: When the chambers do not want to jointly adjourn to a future date but also do not want to violate the three-day rule, they will hold “skeleton sessions” where only a limited number of members are present and carry out pro forma or administrative actions.
  • Three-Day Rule: This practice satisfies the three-day rule while allowing the chambers to essentially pause until they are ready to resume substantive legislative work.

Bill Request, Bill Introduction, and Crossover Deadlines

Important deadlines for the regular session are established by rules of the House and Senate that are adopted at or near the beginning of each session.

These deadlines include:

  • Request Deadline: When a bill drafting request must be submitted to the General Assembly’s Central Staff for drafting and preparation for introduction.
  • Introduction Deadline: When a bill must be introduced in order to be eligible for consideration during the session.
  • Crossover Deadline: When certain bills must have passed at least one chamber in order to remain eligible for consideration during the session.

The House and Senate rules usually vary as to the bill request and introduction deadlines, but will have the same crossover deadline. The House and Senate rules will also have different request and introduction deadlines for different types of bills.

For the 2025-2026 Regular Session, the deadlines were established as follows:

House Bill Request and Bill Introduction Deadlines4:

  • Local Bills
    • Request Deadline — February 20
    • Introduction Deadline — March 6
  • Public Bills:
    • Request Deadline — March 6
    • Introduction Deadline — April 3

Senate Bill Request and Bill Introduction Deadlines5:

  • Local Bills:
    • Request Deadline — February 13
    • Introduction Deadline — February 27
  • Public Bills:
    • Request Deadline — February 27
    • Introduction Deadline — March 25

Crossover Deadline6:

  • Crossover Deadline — May 8

When Session Ends

North Carolina has no requirement for when it must adjourn the regular session sine die, which is the final day of adjourning a regular session and for which no future date of return to session is set.  Without a sine die adjournment, the regular session will continue through the last day of the second year of the biennial session.

Extra Sessions

Even when the General Assembly has adjourned a regular session sine die, there are several methods for the General Assembly to come back into session for one or more extra sessions during the biennium.

  • By the NCGA itself: The General Assembly may call itself into extra session if the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives receive written requests from three-fifths of all the members of the Senate (30 Senators) and three-fifths of all the members of the House of Representatives (72 Representatives).7
  • By the Governor: There are two instances when the Governor may call the General Assembly into extra session.
    • (1) The Governor may, on extraordinary occasions, with the advice of the Council of State, call the General Assembly into extra session by proclamation. The proclamation must state the purpose or purposes for which the General Assembly is being convened.8
    • (2) The Governor will also call the General Assembly into extra session when required by the veto provisions of the North Carolina Constitution.9 During a veto session, the General Assembly may only consider the bills that were vetoed by the Governor.10

References

  1. Subdivision (1) (Regular Sessions) of Section 11 (Sessions) of Article II (Legislative) of the North Carolina Constitution
  2. North Carolina General Statute §120-11.1
  3. Section 20 (Powers of the General Assembly) of Article II (Legislative) of the North Carolina Constitution
  4. Rule 31.1 of House Bill 1 in Roboro
  5. Rule 40.1 of Senate Bill 1 in Roboro
  6. Rule 31.1 of House Bill 1 and Rule 40.2 of Senate Bill 1 in Roboro
  7. Subdivision 2 (Extra sessions on legislative call) of Section 11 (Sessions) of Article II (Legislative) of the North Carolina Constitution
  8. Subdivision (7) (Extra sessions) of Section 5 (Duties of Governor) of Article III (Executive) of the North Carolina Constitution
  9. Section 22 (Action on bills) of Article II (Legislative) of the North Carolina Constitution
  10. Subdivision (11) (Reconvened sessions) of Section 5 (Duties of Governor) of Article III (Executive) of the North Carolina Constitution;
  1. North Carolina General Assembly Website
  2. North Carolina General Statues
  3. North Carolina Constitution

Related Articles