Governor Signs HB 607 into Law, Which Includes an AANC-Requested Legislative Agenda Item

AANC announced that on Thursday, July 7, Governor Roy Cooper signed into law HB 607: Various Court Changes. This bill includes a series of provisions that affect the North Carolina court system, including one of AANC’s offensive legislative goals for the 2022 short session – requiring summary ejectment training for magistrates.

Effective January 1, 2023, magistrates are now required to receive training on summary ejectment laws as part of their annual 12-hour in-service training. Recognizing that frequent changes affecting landlord tenant law and a lack of consistent interpretation and application across North Carolina’s 100 counties impacted AANC’s members, AANC began advocating for the inclusion of summary ejectment law as one of the required subjects for annual magistrate training

Coincidentally, AANC’s annual lobby day occurred on the exact right date for identifying a place for the AANC-requested language. While advocating for AANC’s legislative agenda during a meeting with Sen. Warren Daniel, one of AANC’s 2022 legislative advocate award winners, he expressed that he understood AANC’s concerns and immediately identified HB 607 as a location for the language. Thanks to the efforts of everyone who attended the annual lobby day and advocated for the summary ejectment training language, Sen. Daniel was able to work with his fellow Senators and House counterparts to include the language without issue in the final version of HB 607!

AANC applauds the legislature and the Governor for supporting this legislation. The passage of this law emphasizes the importance of the subject matter and recognizes the magnitude of what is at stake in summary ejectment actions.