---
type: "Bill"
title: "North Carolina Racial Justice Act."
description: "North Carolina Racial Justice Act."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nc"
legislature: "North Carolina General Assembly"
session: "2009"
identifier: "SB 461"
citation: "North Carolina SB 461 (2009)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CAPITAL PUNISHMENT", "CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES", "COUNCIL OF STATE", "COUNCILS", "COURTS", "CRIMINAL PROCEDURE", "DISCRIMINATION", "EVIDENCE", "FISCAL NOTES", "GOVERNOR", "MINORITIES", "PRESENTED", "PUBLIC", "PUBLIC OFFICIALS", "RATIFIED", "SENTENCING", "TITLE CHANGE", "CHAPTERED", "SEN. MCKISSICK"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 10
action_count: 32
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2009-03-05"
last_action: "2009-08-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/03170218-ade4-4f75-9932-227fe2a8d435"
source_url: "http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009&BillID=S461&votesToView=all"
source_hash: "06966217ddc3eae21bfc278a31f482c56bb2b6a20bb807c29c3fd5e7de6cca3a"
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 461 (2009) — North Carolina Racial Justice Act.

## 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/2009/Bills/Senate/PDF/S461v0.pdf)
2. **A1: ASA-8-V-4** (committee substitute) — [source](https://webservices.ncleg.net/ViewBillDocument/2009/1816/0/S461-ASA-8-V-4)
3. **A3: AST-26-V-1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://webservices.ncleg.net/ViewBillDocument/2009/1818/0/S461-AST-26-V-1)
4. **Edition 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/Senate/PDF/S461v1.pdf)
5. **Edition 2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/Senate/PDF/S461v2.pdf)
6. **Edition 3** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/Senate/PDF/S461v3.pdf)
7. **Edition 4** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/Senate/PDF/S461v4.pdf)
8. **Edition 5** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/Senate/PDF/S461v5.pdf)
9. **Ratified** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/Senate/PDF/S461v6.pdf)
10. **SL2009-464** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/Senate/PDF/S461v7.pdf)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **61–54** (pass) · lower
- Motion 8\To Concur — **25–18** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Atwater — cosponsor (person)
- Berger of Franklin — cosponsor (person)
- Boseman — cosponsor (person)
- Clodfelter — cosponsor (person)
- Dorsett — cosponsor (person)
- Foriest — cosponsor (person)
- Graham — cosponsor (person)
- Jones — cosponsor (person)
- Kinnaird — cosponsor (person)
- Malone — cosponsor (person)
- McKissick — cosponsor (person)
- Nesbitt — cosponsor (person)
- Shaw — cosponsor (person)
- Vaughan — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2009-08-11** Ch. SL 2009-464 `became-law`
- **2009-08-11** Signed By Gov. 8/11/2009 `executive-signature`
- **2009-08-06** Pres. To Gov. 8/6/2009 `executive-receipt`
- **2009-08-06** Ratified
- **2009-08-05** Concurred In H/com Sub `amendment-passage`
- **2009-08-04** Placed On Cal For 8/5/2009
- **2009-08-04** Withdrawn From Cal
- **2009-07-29** Placed On Cal For 8/4/2009
- **2009-07-29** Withdrawn From Cal
- **2009-07-28** Placed On Cal For 7/29/2009
- **2009-07-20** Rec To Concur H Com Sub
- **2009-07-15** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2009-07-14** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2009-07-13** Placed On Cal For 7/14/2009
- **2009-07-08** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2009-07-08** Withdrawn From Com
- **2009-06-30** Re-ref Com On Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2009-06-30** Reptd Fav Com Sub 2 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2009-06-09** Re-ref Com On Judiciary I `referral-committee`
- **2009-06-09** Reptd Fav Com Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2009-05-19** Ref to the Com on Ways and Means/Broadband Connectivity, if favorable, Judiciary I `referral-committee`
- **2009-05-19** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2009-05-14** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2009-05-14** Amend Failed #4 `amendment-failure`
- **2009-05-14** Amend Adopted #3 `amendment-passage`
- **2009-05-13** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2009-05-13** Amend Failed #2 `amendment-failure`
- **2009-05-13** Amend Adopted #1 `amendment-passage`
- **2009-05-12** Com Substitute Adopted
- **2009-05-12** Reptd Fav Com Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2009-03-09** Ref To Com On Judiciary I `referral-committee`
- **2009-03-05** Filed `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/03170218-ade4-4f75-9932-227fe2a8d435`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official North Carolina legislature records).