---
type: "Bill"
title: "The Jeff Rieg Law/Patients Religious Rights."
description: "The Jeff Rieg Law/Patients Religious Rights."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nc"
legislature: "North Carolina General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 447"
citation: "North Carolina HB 447 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["CHAPTERED", "DISASTERS & EMERGENCIES", "DISEASES & HEALTH DISORDERS", "HEALTH SERVICES", "HOSPITALS", "NAMED LAWS", "PATIENT RIGHTS", "PRESENTED", "PUBLIC", "PUBLIC HEALTH", "PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY", "RATIFIED", "RELIGION & RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Elmore", "Hanig", "Kidwell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 28
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-03-30"
last_action: "2021-09-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f58afdc9-7f0c-43fd-a72e-63a293969072"
source_url: "https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2021/H447"
source_hash: "7007ab0fa5b4117afb0f02c86524f5ecba99fdd081675eca23389dd712307d29"
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 447 (2021) — The Jeff Rieg Law/Patients Religious Rights.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Filed** (filed) — [source](https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/Bills/House/PDF/H447v0.pdf)
2. **Edition 1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/Bills/House/PDF/H447v1.pdf)
3. **Ratified** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/Bills/House/PDF/H447v2.pdf)
4. **SL 2021-156** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/Bills/House/PDF/H447v3.pdf)

## Votes

- Second Reading — **46–0** (pass) · upper
- Second Reading — **98–19** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Elmore — primary (person)
- Hanig — primary (person)
- Kidwell — primary (person)
- Arp — cosponsor (person)
- Boles — cosponsor (person)
- Carter — cosponsor (person)
- Clampitt — cosponsor (person)
- Cleveland — cosponsor (person)
- Gillespie — cosponsor (person)
- Goodwin — cosponsor (person)
- Greene — cosponsor (person)
- Howard — cosponsor (person)
- Humphrey — cosponsor (person)
- Hurley — cosponsor (person)
- Johnson — cosponsor (person)
- K. Baker — cosponsor (person)
- McNeely — cosponsor (person)
- McNeill — cosponsor (person)
- Moffitt — cosponsor (person)
- Moss — cosponsor (person)
- Penny — cosponsor (person)
- Pierce — cosponsor (person)
- Pittman — cosponsor (person)
- Pless — cosponsor (person)
- Riddell — cosponsor (person)
- Setzer — cosponsor (person)
- Stevens — cosponsor (person)
- Strickland — cosponsor (person)
- White — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-09-16** Ch. SL 2021-156 `became-law`
- **2021-09-16** Signed by Gov. 9/16/2021 `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-07** Pres. To Gov. 9/7/2021 `executive-receipt`
- **2021-09-03** Ratified
- **2021-09-01** Ordered Enrolled
- **2021-09-01** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-09-01** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2021-08-31** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-26** Re-ref Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-05** Re-ref to Health Care. If fav, re-ref to Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-05** Withdrawn From Com
- **2021-05-06** Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-06** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2021-05-06** Regular Message Received From House
- **2021-05-06** Regular Message Sent To Senate
- **2021-05-05** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-05-05** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2021-05-04** Placed On Cal For 05/05/2021
- **2021-05-04** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2021-05-04** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-28** Re-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-28** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-20** Re-ref Com On State Government `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-20** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-31** Ref to the Com on Health, if favorable, State Government, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-31** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2021-03-30** Filed `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f58afdc9-7f0c-43fd-a72e-63a293969072`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official North Carolina legislature records).