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SB 756

Supplemental appropriation to DNR, Wildlife Resources

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Mike Woelfel

Licensed professional land surveyors may enter private property, with notice when practical, to perform surveying tasks, under a new limited right of entry with protections for own

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Bill Summary · SB 756

SB 756 — Right of Entry for Professional Surveyors (Summary)

Status: Introduced Feb 21, 2025; passed first reading Mar 26, 2025 (see Procedural/Timeline)
Subject areas: Landowners; Property; Surveyors & surveying; Public / session laws

Main purpose

SB 756 creates a statutory, limited right-of-entry for licensed professional land surveyors to enter private property as reasonably necessary to perform land surveying services (e.g., locating property corners, boundary lines, rights‑of‑way, easements). The bill recodifies the earlier provision (G.S. 89C‑19.2) as a new criminal statute (G.S. 14‑159.15) and updates related licensure language (G.S. 89C‑2).

Key provisions and changes

  • Recodification

    • Moves/replaces G.S. 89C‑19.2 into the criminal statutes as G.S. 14‑159.15.
    • Amends G.S. 89C‑2 to cross‑reference the new limited right of entry.

  • Limited right of entry

    • A licensed professional land surveyor (including agents, employees, and supervised personnel) may enter others’ land when necessary to perform surveying tasks and may bring customary equipment and vehicles.
    • Surveyors should notify the landowner before entry whenever practicable and must make reasonable efforts to notify adjoining landowners whose property must be entered.

  • Restrictions and exclusions

    • Surveyors may not destroy, injure, damage, or move anything on another’s land without the landowner’s written permission; civil liability for such damage is retained.
    • The statute explicitly disallows entry onto:
    • Lands traversed by operating railroads or railroad-owned/operated property; and
    • Lands containing “critical infrastructure” or “critical infrastructure facilities” (terms defined consistent with federal law and limited to sites obviously secured or marked to forbid entry).

  • Liability and enforcement

    • An authorized entry for surveying under this section shall not constitute trespass and shall not subject the surveyor to arrest or civil action solely for the entry.
    • A surveyor (or person under the surveyor’s supervision) may not bring a civil cause of action against a landowner or lessee for personal injury or property damage incurred while on the land for surveying purposes — except where the landowner or lessee willfully or deliberately caused the injury or damage.

  • Effective date

    • The act takes effect when it becomes law and applies to acts on or after that date.

Who is affected

  • Directly: licensed professional land surveyors and their supervised personnel.
  • Indirectly: private landowners, lessees, occupants, and adjoining property owners (notification duties), and owners/operators of railroads and critical infrastructure (entry excluded).
  • Potentially impacts: attorneys/insurers handling landowner–surveyor disputes because of altered trespass/liability rules.

Procedural / timeline notes

  • Introduced: Feb 21, 2025.
  • Passed first reading in the Senate (Rules and Operations) on Mar 26, 2025.
  • Text recodifies and updates existing statutory language; becomes operative on enactment.

Practical considerations / potential impacts

  • Provides clarity and statutory protection to surveyors conducting routine boundary work, reducing risk of trespass claims when surveyors follow the statute (and notification practices).
  • Preserves landowner protections against property damage and limits surveyor remedies for injuries sustained on private land (which may shift risk allocation and insurance considerations).
  • The explicit railroad and critical‑infrastructure carve-outs reflect security and safety priorities, but may require surveyors to obtain alternate access arrangements when surveying near those sites.
  • Landowners should be aware of the notification expectations and their continued right to withhold permission to damage or move property.

If you want, I can extract the exact statutory redline language, prepare a one‑page handout for surveyors and landowners summarizing their rights/responsibilities, or track subsequent committee actions and final status.

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

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