Drug-free zones and public camping bill sent to governor

House Bill 437 was presented to the governor after ratification and House concurrence in a Senate committee substitute.

RALEIGH — A bill dealing with drug-free zones near homeless service facilities and unauthorized public camping was presented to the governor July 2.

House Bill 437, titled “Drug-Free Zones/Unauthorized Public Camping,” lists its latest action as “Pres. To Gov. 7/2/2026.” The bill was ratified July 1 after the House concurred in a Senate committee substitute June 30.

The bill page lists the measure as a public bill with no counties specifically cited. Its listed subject areas include controlled substances, courts, crimes, homeless services, local government, public officials and property.

The Legislative Reporting Service summary says the bill, as originally filed, titled part of the measure the Drug-Free Homeless Service Zones Act. The summary says it would define facility-based service to include certain shelters, transitional housing providers, permanent supportive housing entities and other publicly funded entities primarily providing treatment, preventive care or other services to homeless persons.

The summary says the bill would define a drug-free homeless service zone as the area within 300 feet of a facility-based service or its accompanying grounds. It also says the bill would establish criminal penalties tied to controlled substance offenses within those zones and to operators of facility-based services who intentionally allow certain offenses.

A later summary says the bill was changed to remove the condition that a violator of the Class E felony offense be at least 21 years old and to require that the violator know or reasonably know the area is a drug-free homeless zone. The summary also says the bill would increase the penalty from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class H felony when an operator of a facility-based service intentionally allows a person to commit a specified controlled substance offense.

The measure has statewide legal and local government implications because it would change criminal law and rules affecting publicly funded homeless service facilities across North Carolina.

Editor’s note: This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.