One constitutional amendment has already been approved for the November ballot — a provision that would require mail-in voters to include photo identification with their ballot. It’s already state law, but this would add it to the constitution. That was passed at the end of 2024. 

As of May 19, 2026, there are six others under consideration. All six were heard in committees within a 24-hour span. And more could be filed at any time because constitutional amendments are exempt from rules that limit the bills legislators can consider during the short session. 

Two proposals would limit taxes. Senate Bill 1080 would lower the state’s constitutional cap on the income tax rate from 7% to 3.5%. The state’s income tax rate is already slated to drop to 3.49% in 2027, so it wouldn’t actually lead to lower taxes, but it would keep state lawmakers in the future from raising it again without first getting voters to approve it. 

The second, House Bill 1089, would require lawmakers to “enact a property tax levy limit” to rein in county governments’ ability to raise property tax rates. However, it lacks specifics about what the limit might be. 

Two other proposals would put existing state laws in the state constitution. Senate Bill 1081 would create a constitutional right to “engage in farming and forestry.” The right to farm was written into state law in 1979. Senate Bill 1082 would enshrine the state’s 1947 right to work law. In committee hearings Monday, the sponsors of those bills were unable to come up with any actual threats to the existing laws.   

The final two would further limit the governor’s appointment powers. House Bill 144 would allow voters, rather than the governor, to select the members of the State Board of Education. They would be elected from 14 districts, likely to be the same as the congressional districts, with the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction becoming the board chair. 

House Bill 443 would spell out the process by which the governor can replace an elected member of the Council of State in case of a vacancy. The party of the departing official would nominate three potential replacements, and the governor would select one.  

Bitzer told NC Newsline some of these are likely policy priorities that Republican leaders want to accomplish now in case they lose control of one or both legislative chambers in November. Constitutional amendments are not subject to the governor’s veto.

When it comes to enacting conservative policy objectives, “the most stable and hardest to change is a constitutional amendment,” he said. 

Constitutional amendments require a vote of three-fifths in the House and Senate. Senate Republicans hold the 30 seats they will need to approve any amendment favored by the leadership, assuming they’re all present on the same day. 

House Republicans are one vote shy of the 72 votes they need, but have proven themselves adept at finding votes across the aisle. Former Mecklenburg Democrats Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed have left their party and are now unaffiliated. And with the state budget still under negotiation, the $2 billion surplus this year could give Republican leaders more room to trade a project earmark for a Democratic vote.

Once they reach the ballot, amendments need only a simple majority to become law. The income tax cap amendment on the ballot in 2018 passed with 57% support, reflecting some crossover support among Democrats, Bitzer said. The same could be true in 2026. 

“The tax issues — the property tax, the income tax — hearing those as limitations or caps, I think, will resonate with the public initially,” Bitzer said. “How the fight over that is framed will be, I think, a crucial voter education piece.”

While critics of the proposals have accused Republicans of turning the constitution into a “political tool” to boost their electoral prospects, Bitzer sees it as along the same lines as the extreme partisan gerrymandering — “gerrymaxxing,” he calls it — throughout the South.