---
type: "Bill"
title: "An Act to Safeguard Children."
description: "An Act to Safeguard Children."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nc"
legislature: "North Carolina General Assembly"
session: "2003"
identifier: "SB 993"
citation: "North Carolina SB 993 (2003)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ADMIN. HEARINGS OFFICE", "BOARDS", "COURTS", "CRIMES", "EDUCATION", "EDUCATION", "STATE BOARD OF", "ELEMENTARY EDUCATION", "EMPLOYMENT", "ETHICS", "EVIDENCE", "FEES", "INVESTIGATIONS", "LICENSING & CERTIFICATION", "OCCUPATIONS", "PRESENTED", "PUBLIC", "RATIFIED", "SAFETY", "SECONDARY EDUCATION", "STUDENTS", "TEACHERS", "WITNESSES", "SEN. GARROU", "CHAPTERED"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 5
action_count: 30
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2003-04-02"
last_action: "2003-08-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/38d5d1f0-0959-43e4-b04a-581d789f3a40"
source_url: "http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2003&BillID=S993&votesToView=all"
source_hash: "4ce419f9c842b878f8ebf1bd85c1d2cf51bb505df44a43b841139b14cddb777b"
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 SB 993 (2003) — An Act to Safeguard Children.

## 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/Senate/PDF/S993v0.pdf)
2. **Edition 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2003/Bills/Senate/PDF/S993v1.pdf)
3. **Edition 2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2003/Bills/Senate/PDF/S993v2.pdf)
4. **Ratified** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2003/Bills/Senate/PDF/S993v3.pdf)
5. **SL 2003-408** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2003/Bills/Senate/PDF/S993v4.pdf)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **113–0** (pass) · lower
- Motion 8\To Concur — **48–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Dalton — cosponsor (person)
- Garrou — cosponsor (person)
- Hagan — cosponsor (person)
- Stevens — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2003-08-13** Ch. SL 2003-408 `became-law`
- **2003-08-13** Signed By Gov. 8/13/2003 `executive-signature`
- **2003-07-17** Pres. To Gov. 7/16/2003 `executive-receipt`
- **2003-07-15** Ratified
- **2003-07-14** Concurred In H Amend # 3 `amendment-passage`
- **2003-07-10** Placed On Cal For 7/14/2003
- **2003-07-10** Rec To Concur In H Amend
- **2003-07-09** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2003-07-09** Amend Failed #4 `amendment-failure`
- **2003-07-09** Amend Adopted #3 `amendment-passage`
- **2003-07-09** Amend Failed #2 `amendment-failure`
- **2003-07-08** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2003-07-08** Amend Failed #1 `amendment-failure`
- **2003-06-26** Placed On Cal For 6/27/2003
- **2003-06-23** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2003-06-23** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2003-05-28** Re-ref Com On Finance `referral-committee`
- **2003-05-28** Withdrawn From Cal
- **2003-05-28** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2003-05-28** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2003-05-01** Ref to the Com on Education and, if favorable, to the Com on Finance `referral-committee`
- **2003-05-01** Rec From Senate
- **2003-05-01** Passed 2nd & 3rd Reading `passage, reading-2, reading-3`
- **2003-04-28** Placed On Cal For 4/30/2003
- **2003-04-28** Withdrawn From Comm
- **2003-04-23** Re-ref Com On Finance `referral-committee`
- **2003-04-23** Com Substitute Adopted
- **2003-04-23** Reptd Fav Com Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2003-04-03** Ref to Judiciary I. If fav, re-ref to Finance `referral-committee`
- **2003-04-02** Filed `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/38d5d1f0-0959-43e4-b04a-581d789f3a40`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official North Carolina legislature records).