AN ACT to ensure domestic violence protective orders are available for same‑sex couples.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 50B‑1(b) reads as rewritten:

(b)      For purposes of this section, the term personal relationship means a relationship wherein the parties involved:involved either:

(1)        Are current or former spouses;spouses.

(2)        Are persons of opposite sex who live together or have lived together;together.

(3)        Are related as parents and children, including others acting in loco parentis to a minor child, or as grandparents and grandchildren. For purposes of this subdivision, an aggrieved party may not obtain an order of protection against a child or grandchild under the age of 16;16.

(4)        Have a child in common;common.

(5)        Are current or former household members;members.

(6)        Are persons of the opposite sex who are in a dating relationship or have been in a dating relationship. For purposes of this subdivision, a dating relationship is one wherein the parties are romantically involved over time and on a continuous basis during the course of the relationship. A casual acquaintance or ordinary fraternization between persons in a business or social context is not a dating relationship.

SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2026‑2027 fiscal year to be used to establish a public awareness and prevention campaign regarding domestic violence within same‑sex relationships.

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to domestic violence protection orders issued on or after that date.