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HB 873

Health Care Practitioner Maternal Mental Health Continuing Education Requirements

2026 Regular Session Introduced by RaShon Young

HB 873 expands DEQ's power to recover brownfields costs from developers via upfront and two-part fees, liens, and enforcement.

Withdrawn prior to introduction
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Bill Summary · HB 873

Summary — HB 873 (DEQ Agency Bill) — First/Committee Substitute (North Carolina, 2025)

Status and purpose
- HB 873 is an agency bill filed at the request of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The bill makes targeted statutory changes to improve DEQ’s administrative processes and to clarify responsibilities and fees related to inactive hazardous sites, hazardous waste recycling, and brownfields redevelopment. A Committee Substitute was reported favorable (Reptd Fav Com Substitute) on 4/30/2025.

Key provisions
1. Use of tax‑maintained properties for public hearings
- Authorizes and directs governing authorities to permit DEQ to use public buildings and schools for DEQ public hearings without charge (aside from custodial and utility fees).
- Use is prohibited during regular school hours or when it would interfere with normal school activities; local rules may apply.
- Requires local boards of education and charter schools to adopt policies allowing DEQ access to facilities that can accommodate group meetings.
- Effective upon enactment and applies beginning with the 2025–2026 school year.

  1. Clarify responsible parties for inactive hazardous sites

    • Clarifies who is a “responsible party” for the existence of inactive hazardous waste sites (includes persons who discharged, arranged for discharge, accepted, or transported hazardous substances resulting in the site).
    • Reaffirms that bona fide purchasers without knowledge (innocent landowners) and holders of security interests are not responsible parties.
    • States that landowners who purchased with knowledge (or reasonable basis to know) of contamination become responsible parties if they conduct activities that cause exposure or migration of contamination.
    • Confirms the State’s authority to sue to recover costs from responsible parties and to pursue reimbursement to the Inactive Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund.

  2. Hazardous waste recycling requirements

    • Defines “off‑site recycling facility” (facility that accepts hazardous waste shipments from off‑site for recycling).
    • Requires off‑site recycling facilities to comply with Chapter 130A (Article 9) and applicable DEQ rules (including 15A NCAC 13A .0113).
    • Treats commercial hazardous‑waste recycling facilities (as defined in statute) as subject to Article requirements and Commission rules for commercial hazardous waste facilities.

  3. Brownfields fees and payment process

    • Establishes an initial application fee of $2,000 for prospective developers who submit a proposed brownfields agreement.
    • Requires a prospective developer who enters a brownfields agreement to pay a fee equal to DEQ and Department of Justice costs related to the agreement; the fee is payable in two installments (first installment due when the agreement is entered, second due upon submission of final remediation report).
    • Fees and interest are credited to the Brownfields Property Reuse Act Implementation Account.
    • Provides for interest on unpaid fees at the rate set by the Secretary of Revenue and authorizes a lien against the developer’s real and personal property and the brownfields property until payment is made.

Who is affected
- Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ): expanded access to facilities for hearings and clearer authority to enforce cost recovery and fee collection.
- Local school boards and charter schools: must adopt facility‑access policies and may host DEQ hearings subject to limits.
- Prospective brownfields developers and property owners: subject to initial and cost‑recovery fees, lien and collection provisions, and tax/accounting treatment changes tied to redevelopment.
- Owners/occupants of contaminated sites and entities engaging in hazardous waste recycling: clarified regulatory expectations and potential liability exposure.
- Department of Justice: involvement in brownfields agreement cost accounting and enforcement.

Procedural/timeline notes
- Introduced and referred to relevant committees in April 2025; Committee Substitute Favorable reported 4/30/2025.
- School‑use provisions expressly apply beginning with the 2025–2026 school year.
- Further floor action, concurrence of other chambers (if applicable), and gubernatorial signature required before enactment.

Fiscal/administrative impacts
- The bill is designed to recover DEQ and DOJ costs from developers and to clarify enforcement authority; explicit statewide fiscal estimates are not provided in the text. The fee structure and lien authority are intended to shift costs of brownfields agreement administration and enforcement to participating developers and noncompliant owners.

Note
- HB 873, as filed in 2025, is an omnibus DEQ agency bill and should not be conflated with unrelated bills using the same bill number in other states or with different subject matter.

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

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