Senate panel to hear constitutional amendments on farming and right-to-work policy
RALEIGH, N.C. — A Senate committee is scheduled to consider two proposed constitutional amendments Monday, one protecting the right to farm and engage in forestry and another placing right-to-work language in the North Carolina Constitution.
The Senate Agriculture, Energy and Environment Committee is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. Monday, May 18, in rooms 1124 and 1224 of the Legislative Building. The committee agenda lists Senate Bill 1081, “Constitutional Right to Farm,” and Senate Bill 1082, “NC Right to Work Amendment.”
S1081 was filed May 14 and is sponsored by Republican Sens. Buck Newton, Lisa Barnes and Brent Jackson, with several additional Republican senators listed as sponsors. The bill would add a new section to Article I of the state constitution protecting “the right of the people to engage in the cultivation of crops, the raising of livestock and poultry, the production of dairy and apiary products, the harvesting of timber, and other practices for the production of agricultural and forestry commodities.”
The proposed amendment says those practices are “a valued and essential part of the State’s heritage” and would be preserved for the public good, subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly and rules adopted under authority granted by lawmakers. If approved by the General Assembly, the measure would go before voters in November 2026.
S1082 also was filed May 14. It is sponsored by Republican Sens. Carl Ford, Gale Adcock Alexander and Steve Jarvis, with additional Republican senators listed as sponsors. The proposal would add right-to-work language to the state constitution, saying the right to work must be protected from “undue restraints and coercion.”
The proposed ballot language for S1082 would ask voters whether they support a constitutional amendment “to protect the right of North Carolinians to be employed without being forced to join and pay membership dues to a labor union or association.”
Both measures would bypass the governor if approved by the required legislative margins because constitutional amendments go directly to voters. The proposals touch two long-running political issues in North Carolina: agricultural land and production protections, and the state’s labor policy.
The committee hearing could show whether Senate Republicans intend to move the measures quickly as part of a broader 2026 ballot strategy.
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.
