Senate committee to discuss bill allowing organ donor registration on tax returns
RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina Senate committee is scheduled to discuss a bill Wednesday that would allow residents to register as organ and tissue donors through their state income tax returns.
House Bill 565, titled “Check Yes, Save Lives,” is listed on the Senate Health Care Committee calendar for 10 a.m. The calendar says a proposed committee substitute is for discussion only.
The bill would require North Carolina income tax forms to include an “Organ and Tissue Donation Election” section allowing a resident taxpayer, or the taxpayer’s spouse, to authorize organ and tissue donation after death. The taxpayer would not be required to answer the organ donation question to file a return, pay taxes or receive a refund.
The bill would authorize the Department of Revenue to request information needed to process the election. It also would allow tax information to be furnished to the Division of Motor Vehicles and organ procurement organizations for purposes of making an anatomical gift under state law.
Under the bill, an organ and tissue donor election made through a tax return would be valid when the return is filed and would remain valid until revoked by the donor. The bill also states that anatomical gifts made through the tax-return method would not include donation of the donor’s body.
The measure would require the Department of Revenue and DMV to coordinate updates to the Organ Donor Registry. It also would require the Department of Revenue to adopt rules by Jan. 1, 2027. Most of the bill would take effect Jan. 1, 2027, for tax returns for taxable years beginning on or after that date.
The bill passed the House in 2025. According to the bill page, the House approved the measure 110-1 on second reading April 30, 2025, and sent it to the Senate the next day. The bill was later re-referred to the Senate Health Care Committee, with a referral to Rules if it receives favorable action.
Primary sponsors listed on the bill page are Reps. Donna McDowell Reeder, Tim Reeder Potts, Phil Shepard and Celeste Cairns Huneycutt. Additional sponsors include lawmakers from both parties.
The bill would add another way for residents to join the state’s organ donor system, which currently includes authorization through a driver’s license or identification card, a will, certain communications during terminal illness or injury, and other methods under state law.
Because the committee calendar describes the proposed committee substitute as “for discussion only,” any final Senate version may differ from the House-passed language.
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.
