Will the crime victims amendment cost North Carolina too much money?
There has been some speculation about cost - but it was often based on an early and different version of the legislation. The fiscal note developed by nonpartisan fiscal legislative staff was debated as part of the law that passed both chambers of the General Assembly with broad, bipartisan support in June 2018.
Any additional cost associated with this amendment will be to upgrade notification to victims of crime about custody status of the accused or proceedings related to their case. Based on vote results among members of the General Assembly as well as voters in November 2018, North Carolinians agree that we should already be doing this for crime victims and their families.
In comparisons to other states that have history implementing similar Marsy's Law legislation, like Illinois and California, there has been no indication of significant increased costs - and neither state has needed to allocate specific funding for implementation. In addition, many prosecutor's offices in North Carolina already have ways and technology in place to provide victims with notice and information. While Marsy’s Law may add a few responsibilities to DA’s and others in the court system, other than notice, there is little or no cost involved in the new law.