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Bill Summary · HB 827

HB 827 — Create Annual Sex Offense Registry Fee (North Carolina)

Status: Introduced Nov 12, 2024; public hearing held March 17, 2025; left pending in committee. Text effective date (if enacted): January 1, 2026. Sponsor: Rep. Scott.

Purpose

HB 827 would authorize sheriffs to collect an annual fee from persons required to register on the State’s sex offender registry. The fee is intended to support local costs of maintaining and verifying registry records.

Key provisions

  • Annual fee amount: each registrant would owe an annual fee equal to 1.25% (one and one-quarter percent) of the current Federal Poverty Level (FPL) guideline for a one‑person household as published by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
    • Example: if the one‑person FPL were $14,580, the fee would be $182.25 (illustrative only; actual fee would depend on the FPL in effect each year).
  • Collection timing and agent:
    • The fee is collected annually by the sheriff to whom the registrant returns their verification, following the anniversary of the registrant’s initial registration date.
  • Optional county-level adoption:
    • Each county sheriff must decide by January 1 each year whether to collect the annual fee in that county. That decision stands for the remainder of the calendar year. If no decision is made, the sheriff is treated as having chosen to collect the fee.
  • Use of proceeds:
    • Fees collected are retained by the collecting sheriff’s office and intended to supplement local funds for registry-related tasks (verification, record retention/maintenance, dissemination).
  • Noncompliance and collection:
    • Failure to pay the fee does not affect a registrant’s ability to register or otherwise comply with registry requirements. Counties may pursue unpaid fees through ordinary collection processes (as a claimant agency under Chapter 105A).
  • Indigency and exemptions:
    • Registrants may request an indigency determination; the sheriff (or designee) must decide within 10 business days and may waive all or part of the fee. Each year a registrant seeking relief must reapply and a new written determination must be recorded.
    • Registrants who are incarcerated or are under supervision of the Department of Adult Correction’s community supervision division at the time the fee would be collected are automatically deemed indigent and not assessed the fee for that year.
  • Recordkeeping: Determinations and actions under the indigency provision must be recorded and retained in the registrant’s records.

Who would be affected

  • Primary: Persons required to register on North Carolina’s sex offender registry.
  • Local government: County sheriff’s offices (administration of collection, recordkeeping, indigency determinations).
  • Counties may see modest revenue increases to support registry operations when sheriffs opt in.

Procedural/timeline aspects

  • Annual sheriff decision required each Jan 1 about county participation.
  • Fee collected at annual verification after the registrant’s registration anniversary.
  • Effective date specified in the bill: January 1, 2026 (if enacted).

Potential impacts and considerations

  • Local administrative burden: sheriff’s offices must implement collection, indigency reviews, and accounting.
  • Equity questions: indigency process required but fee remains a potential burden for low-income registrants who are not automatically exempt.
  • Enforcement: failure to pay does not impede registration compliance, reducing coercive enforcement but potentially complicating collections.
  • Fiscal effect: revenue flows to local sheriff offices; statewide fiscal impact depends on how many counties opt in and the number of registrants subject to fees.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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