---
type: "Bill"
title: "Education Changes for Military-Connected Students."
description: "Education Changes for Military-Connected Students."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nc"
legislature: "North Carolina General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 53"
citation: "North Carolina HB 53 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ARMED FORCES", "BOARDS", "CHAPTERED", "COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES", "COMMUNITY COLLEGES", "EDUCATION", "EDUCATION BOARDS", "FAMILY ISSUES", "HIGHER EDUCATION", "LOCAL GOVERNMENT", "PRESENTED", "PRIVATE SCHOOLS", "PUBLIC", "RATIFIED", "SECONDARY EDUCATION", "STUDENTS", "UNC"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bell", "Cleveland"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 33
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-02-03"
last_action: "2021-04-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3e2d95eb-2b10-49d5-a5ac-43d632f4dc11"
source_url: "https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2021/H53"
source_hash: "6a7b1a3690986e6b39f7a6187716c775474ae5d113feb2fc1808031a7327813b"
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 53 (2021) — Education Changes for Military-Connected Students.

## 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/H53v0.pdf)
2. **Edition 1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/Bills/House/PDF/H53v1.pdf)
3. **Edition 2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/Bills/House/PDF/H53v2.pdf)
4. **Edition 3** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/Bills/House/PDF/H53v3.pdf)
5. **Ratified** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/Bills/House/PDF/H53v4.pdf)
6. **SL 2021-9** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/Bills/House/PDF/H53v5.pdf)

## Votes

- M11 Concur — **119–0** (pass) · lower
- Second Reading — **45–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bell — primary (person)
- Cleveland — primary (person)
- Alston — cosponsor (person)
- Boles — cosponsor (person)
- Brown — cosponsor (person)
- Butler — cosponsor (person)
- Carney — cosponsor (person)
- Farkas — cosponsor (person)
- Gailliard — cosponsor (person)
- Harrison — cosponsor (person)
- Hawkins — cosponsor (person)
- Humphrey — cosponsor (person)
- Hunt — cosponsor (person)
- Logan — cosponsor (person)
- Lucas — cosponsor (person)
- Majeed — cosponsor (person)
- Martin — cosponsor (person)
- Moffitt — cosponsor (person)
- Moss — cosponsor (person)
- Pittman — cosponsor (person)
- Riddell — cosponsor (person)
- Strickland — cosponsor (person)
- Willis — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-04-09** Ch. SL 2021-9 `became-law`
- **2021-04-09** Signed by Gov. 4/9/2021 `executive-signature`
- **2021-04-05** Pres. To Gov. 4/5/2021 `executive-receipt`
- **2021-04-01** Ratified
- **2021-03-31** Ordered Enrolled
- **2021-03-31** Concurred In S Com Sub `amendment-passage`
- **2021-03-31** Added to Calendar
- **2021-03-31** Cal Pursuant 36(b)
- **2021-03-30** Regular Message Received From Senate
- **2021-03-30** Regular Message Sent To House
- **2021-03-29** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-29** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2021-03-25** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-24** Re-ref Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-24** Com Substitute Adopted
- **2021-03-24** Reptd Fav Com Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-17** Re-ref to Education/Higher Education. If fav, re-ref to Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-17** Withdrawn From Com
- **2021-03-15** Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-15** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2021-03-15** Regular Message Received From House
- **2021-03-12** Regular Message Sent To Senate
- **2021-03-11** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2021-03-11** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2021-03-10** Placed On Cal For 03/11/2021
- **2021-03-10** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2021-03-10** Reptd Fav Com Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-09** Re-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-09** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-23** Serial Referral To Education - Universities Stricken
- **2021-02-04** Ref to the Com on Homeland Security, Military, and Veterans Affairs, if favorable, Education - Universities, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-04** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2021-02-03** Filed `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3e2d95eb-2b10-49d5-a5ac-43d632f4dc11`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official North Carolina legislature records).