A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to make it a felony to commit a hate crime against an emergency worker.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Article 8 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 14‑34.11.  Felonious hate crime against emergency workers.
(a)	The following definitions apply in this section:
(1)	Emergency worker. – A law enforcement officer, a firefighter, an emergency medical technician, or a medical responder.
(2)	Serious bodily injury. – As defined in G.S. 14‑32.4.
(b)	Unless the conduct is covered under some other provision of law providing greater punishment, anyone who assaults, attempts to assault, or threatens to assault a person because the person is an emergency worker is guilty of a felonious hate crime against an emergency worker and shall be punished as provided by this section.
(c)	Except as provided otherwise by this section, an offense committed under this section is a Class H felony.
(d)	An offense committed under this section is a Class F felony if the person inflicts serious bodily injury on the emergency worker.
(e)	An offense committed under this section is a Class E felony if the person commits the assault with a firearm.
(f)	If a person commits an offense under this section by luring the emergency worker to a location by falsely reporting or having another person falsely report that emergency services are needed with the intent of harming the emergency worker because he or she is an emergency worker, the person shall be punished as though convicted of an offense one class higher."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2017, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.