---
type: "Bill"
title: "Clarify Motor Vehicle Laws."
description: "Clarify Motor Vehicle Laws."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nc"
legislature: "North Carolina General Assembly"
session: "2011"
identifier: "SB 581"
citation: "North Carolina SB 581 (2011)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["COMMERCE", "DMV", "LICENSE PLATES", "LICENSES & PERMITS", "MOTOR VEHICLES", "PRESENTED", "PUBLIC", "RATIFIED", "RETAILING", "TITLES", "TRANSPORTATION", "RECORDS", "CHAPTERED", "SEN. APODACA"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: []
version_count: 4
action_count: 20
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2011-04-12"
last_action: "2011-06-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c8667334-052e-41ab-8d44-d572a00e8f21"
source_url: "http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2011&BillID=S581&votesToView=all"
source_hash: "d10321902b1d6384ac8d23ec796a1eb5581b0c8a2ae6b9747e50de87f6401f67"
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 581 (2011) — Clarify Motor Vehicle Laws.

## 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/2011/Bills/Senate/PDF/S581v0.pdf)
2. **Edition 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/Senate/PDF/S581v1.pdf)
3. **Ratified** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/Senate/PDF/S581v2.pdf)
4. **SL2011-318** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/Senate/PDF/S581v3.pdf)

## Votes

- Second Reading — **115–1** (pass) · lower
- Third Reading — **111–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Apodaca — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-06-27** Ch. SL 2011-318 `became-law`
- **2011-06-27** Signed By Gov. 6/27/2011 `executive-signature`
- **2011-06-20** Pres. To Gov. 6/20/2011 `executive-receipt`
- **2011-06-17** Ratified
- **2011-06-16** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2011-06-15** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2011-06-14** Placed On Cal For 6/14/2011
- **2011-06-14** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2011-06-14** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-06-06** Re-ref Com On Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-06** Withdrawn From Com
- **2011-05-24** Ref To Com On Finance `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-24** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2011-05-19** Passed 2nd & 3rd Reading `passage, reading-2, reading-3`
- **2011-05-18** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-02** Re-ref Com On Transportation `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-02** Withdrawn From Com
- **2011-04-14** Ref To Com On Finance `referral-committee`
- **2011-04-14** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2011-04-12** Filed `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c8667334-052e-41ab-8d44-d572a00e8f21`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official North Carolina legislature records).