AN ACT to allow judges to temporarily renew a domestic violence protective order upon the timely filing of a motion to renew a domestic violence protective order.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 50B‑3(b) reads as rewritten:

(b)      Protective orders entered pursuant to this Chapter shall be for a fixed period of time not to exceed one year. The court may renew a protective order for a fixed period of time not to exceed two years, including an order that previously has been renewed, upon a motion by the aggrieved party filed before the expiration of the current order; provided, however, that a temporary award of custody entered as part of a protective order may not be renewed to extend a temporary award of custody beyond the maximum one‑year period. The court may renew a protective order for good cause. If the hearing for a motion to renew a protective order is set on a date after which the current order will have expired, the court may temporarily renew the current order for a fixed period of time not to extend beyond the date of the renewal hearing or 30 days from the date the current order is set to expire, whichever occurs first, absent the express consent of both parties. This temporary renewal may not extend a temporary award of custody entered as part of a protective order beyond the maximum one‑year period. The commission of an act as defined in G.S. 50B‑1(a) by the defendant after entry of the current order is not required for an order to be renewed.

Protective orders entered, including consent orders, shall not be mutual in nature except where both parties file a claim and the court makes detailed findings of fact indicating that both parties acted as aggressors, that neither party acted primarily in self‑defense, and that the right of each party to due process is preserved.

Protective orders entered pursuant to this Chapter expire at 11:59 P.M. on the indicated expiration date, unless specifically stated otherwise in the order.

SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts the sum of twenty‑five thousand dollars ($25,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2022‑2023 fiscal year to be used to create digital or printed educational materials regarding the statutory changes made in Section 1 of this act that shall be made available to domestic violence court staff and nongovernmental stakeholders serving persons affected by domestic violence.

SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2022, and applies to pending motions to renew filed before, on, or after that date.