North Carolina cities and counties would screen child-facing jobs

Starting Oct. 1, 2025, North Carolina counties and cities would have to run a criminal history record check on anyone applying for a job that requires working with children in any capacity. That turns a child-safety screen into a statewide baseline for local government hiring, instead of leaving it up to each board or council.

The rule matters because it draws a hard line around child-facing jobs. Local employers could still use the results in hiring decisions, but they would no longer be able to skip the check when children are part of the work.

The record that follows the applicant

The bill rewrites both the county and city hiring statutes to require checks conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation, using the State and National Repositories of Criminal Histories. It does not apply to every local job, only those that involve children.

For applicants, that means the background screen becomes part of the entry gate for those roles. Available key vote records show the bill advanced without recorded no votes.