---
type: "Bill"
title: "Filling Vacancies/U.S. Senate."
description: "Filling Vacancies/U.S. Senate."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nc"
legislature: "North Carolina General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 659"
citation: "North Carolina HB 659 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["APPOINTMENTS", "COUNCIL OF STATE", "ELECTIONS", "GOVERNOR", "POLITICAL PARTIES", "PRESENTED", "PUBLIC", "PUBLIC OFFICIALS", "RATIFIED", "NATIONAL ELECTIONS", "CHAPTERED"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bert Jones", "Burr", "Saine"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 32
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-04-06"
last_action: "2018-06-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/df7b998f-bb73-4966-ad4a-77a3a1eadd2b"
source_url: "http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2017&BillID=H659&votesToView=all"
source_hash: "3c45c4759e02ecea46dcd8e812378754746436e59aa981ceddae49d89617ceb9"
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 659 (2017) — Filling Vacancies/U.S. Senate.

## 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/H659v0.pdf)
2. **Edition 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H659v1.pdf)
3. **Edition 2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H659v2.pdf)
4. **Ratified** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H659v3.pdf)
5. **SL 2018-102** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H659v4.pdf)

## Votes

- M11 Concur — **71–39** (pass) · lower
- Second Reading — **35–9** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bert Jones — primary (person)
- Burr — primary (person)
- Saine — primary (person)
- Blackwell — cosponsor (person)
- Boswell — cosponsor (person)
- Faircloth — cosponsor (person)
- K. Hall — cosponsor (person)
- Shepard — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-06-26** Ch. SL 2018-102 `became-law`
- **2018-06-26** Became Law W/o Signature `became-law`
- **2018-06-15** Pres. To Gov. 6/15/2018 `executive-receipt`
- **2018-06-14** Ratified
- **2018-06-13** Ordered Enrolled
- **2018-06-13** Concurred In S Com Sub `amendment-passage`
- **2018-06-13** Added to Calendar
- **2018-06-12** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2018-06-12** Special Message Received For Concurrence in S Com Sub
- **2018-06-12** Special Message Sent To House
- **2018-06-12** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-06-12** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2018-06-12** Placed on Today's Calendar
- **2018-06-12** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-12** Re-ref Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-12** Com Substitute Adopted
- **2018-06-12** Reptd Fav Com Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-11** Re-ref to Select Committee on Elections. If fav, re-ref to Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-11** 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`
- **2017-04-26** Amend Failed A1 `amendment-failure`
- **2017-04-26** Added to Calendar
- **2017-04-26** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2017-04-26** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-11** Ref To Com On Elections and Ethics Law `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-11** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2017-04-06** Filed `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/df7b998f-bb73-4966-ad4a-77a3a1eadd2b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official North Carolina legislature records).