---
type: "Bill"
title: "Clarify Legal Filing Law."
description: "Clarify Legal Filing Law."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nc"
legislature: "North Carolina General Assembly"
session: "2003"
identifier: "HB 394"
citation: "North Carolina HB 394 (2003)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ATTORNEYS", "CALENDAR", "COURTS", "HOLIDAYS", "PRESENTED", "PUBLIC", "RATIFIED", "CHAPTERED", "REP. STAM"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2003-03-10"
last_action: "2003-07-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ef3fea57-dcd2-44f7-bd8d-06b006ac29e7"
source_url: "http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2003&BillID=H394&votesToView=all"
source_hash: "81177449089e5ad0a8affa3415297dbf9fefce132635ee19c49ab91ae569794d"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-nc"]
---

# North Carolina HB 394 (2003) — Clarify Legal Filing Law.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Filed** (filed) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2003/Bills/House/PDF/H394v0.pdf)
2. **Edition 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2003/Bills/House/PDF/H394v1.pdf)
3. **Edition 2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2003/Bills/House/PDF/H394v2.pdf)
4. **Edition 3** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2003/Bills/House/PDF/H394v3.pdf)
5. **Ratified** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2003/Bills/House/PDF/H394v4.pdf)
6. **SL 2003-337** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2003/Bills/House/PDF/H394v5.pdf)

## Votes

- Second Reading — **50–0** (pass) · upper
- M11 Concur — **112–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Gorman — cosponsor (person)
- Stam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2003-07-20** Ch. SL 2003-337 `became-law`
- **2003-07-20** Signed By Gov. 7/20/2003 `executive-signature`
- **2003-07-14** Pres. To Gov. 7/10/2003 `executive-receipt`
- **2003-07-09** Ratified
- **2003-07-08** Concurred In S/Com Sub `amendment-passage`
- **2003-06-29** Placed On Cal For 6/30/2003
- **2003-06-26** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2003-06-26** Rec To Concur S Com Sub
- **2003-06-24** Passed 2nd & 3rd Reading `passage, reading-2, reading-3`
- **2003-06-19** Placed On Cal For 6/24/2003
- **2003-06-19** Withdrawn From Cal
- **2003-06-18** Com Substitute Adopted
- **2003-06-18** Reptd Fav Com Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2003-04-09** Ref To Com On Judiciary I `referral-committee`
- **2003-04-09** Rec From House
- **2003-04-08** Passed 2nd & 3rd Reading `passage, reading-2, reading-3`
- **2003-04-07** Placed On Cal For 4/8/2003
- **2003-04-07** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2003-04-07** Reptd Fav Com Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2003-03-11** Ref To Com On Judiciary II `referral-committee`
- **2003-03-10** Filed `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ef3fea57-dcd2-44f7-bd8d-06b006ac29e7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official North Carolina legislature records).