AN ACT repealing the ban on public employee collective bargaining.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 95‑98 reads as rewritten:

§ 95‑98.  Contracts between units of government and labor unions, trade unions or labor organizations concerning public employees declared to be illegal.

Any agreement, or contract, between the governing authority of any city, town, county, or other municipality, or between any agency, unit, or instrumentality thereof, or between any agency, instrumentality, or institution of the State of North Carolina, and any labor union, trade union, or labor organization, as bargaining agent for any public employees of such city, town, county or other municipality, or agency or instrumentality of government, is hereby declared to be against the public policy of the State, illegal, unlawful, void and of no effect.

SECTION 2.  Effective July 1, 2026, there is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Labor the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2026‑2027 fiscal year to inform public employees about this act.

SECTION 3.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.