---
type: "Bill"
title: "Municipal Broadband Service Area."
description: "Municipal Broadband Service Area."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nc"
legislature: "North Carolina General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 396"
citation: "North Carolina HB 396 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["COUNTIES", "INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY", "INFRASTRUCTURE", "INTERNET", "MUNICIPALITIES", "PRESENTED", "PUBLIC", "RATIFIED", "TELECOMMUNICATIONS", "TELESERVICES", "WILSON COUNTY", "WILSON", "CHAPTERED"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["S. Martin"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 28
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-03-16"
last_action: "2017-07-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c6e86507-4969-4f82-bbc3-d26f3d39aa67"
source_url: "http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2017&BillID=H396&votesToView=all"
source_hash: "7af769144b7abf5009b230483536e8a81fc85448750a119db1a761321fab26b6"
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 396 (2017) — Municipal Broadband Service Area.

## 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/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H396v0.pdf)
2. **Edition 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H396v1.pdf)
3. **Edition 2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H396v2.pdf)
4. **Ratified** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H396v3.pdf)
5. **SL 2017-180** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H396v4.pdf)

## Votes

- Second Reading — **113–6** (pass) · lower
- Second Reading — **46–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- S. Martin — primary (person)
- B. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
- Belk — cosponsor (person)
- Farmer-Butterfield — cosponsor (person)
- G. Graham — cosponsor (person)
- Harrison — cosponsor (person)
- Insko — cosponsor (person)
- Terry — cosponsor (person)
- Willingham — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-07-25** Ch. SL 2017-180 `became-law`
- **2017-07-25** Signed by Gov. 7/25/2017 `executive-signature`
- **2017-06-29** Pres. To Gov. 6/29/2017 `executive-receipt`
- **2017-06-29** Ratified
- **2017-06-28** Ordered Enrolled
- **2017-06-28** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-06-28** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2017-06-28** Placed on Today's Calendar
- **2017-06-28** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-26** Re-ref Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-26** Withdrawn From Com
- **2017-06-08** Re-ref to Commerce and Insurance. If fav, re-ref to Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-08** Withdrawn From Com
- **2017-04-27** Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-27** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2017-04-27** Regular Message Received From House
- **2017-04-27** Regular Message Sent To Senate
- **2017-04-26** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-04-26** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2017-04-25** Placed On Cal For 04/26/2017
- **2017-04-25** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2017-04-25** Reptd Fav Com Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-25** Serial Referral To State and Local Government II Stricken
- **2017-04-10** Re-ref to the Com on Energy and Public Utilities, if favorable, State and Local Government II `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-10** Withdrawn From Com
- **2017-03-20** Ref To Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-20** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2017-03-16** Filed `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c6e86507-4969-4f82-bbc3-d26f3d39aa67`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official North Carolina legislature records).