North Carolina’s Ungraded Lumber Bills Defeated

AWC’s advocacy efforts successfully prevented all vehicles of ungraded lumber legislation from advancing in North Carolina during the 2025 legislative session, protecting both building safety and industry standards.

These bills threatened the industry by allowing state residents to mill and self grade lumber for sale and structural use after taking an inadequate short certification course. This approach would have bypassed existing, robust lumber grading practices and weakened building codes critical for safe construction. This marks another year of success in a long standing effort to protect building safety and prevent unvetted lumber from entering the market.

AWC’s advocacy efforts also centered on strengthening existing partnerships and fortifying collaborative strategies for future legislative advocacy. AWC partnered closely with the North Carolina Forestry Association (NCFA) and the American Lumber Standard Committee (ALSC), while facilitating strong member engagement to ensure lawmakers understood the risks posed by ungraded lumber. These coalitions proved critical to our success. With this groundwork, AWC worked closely with ALSC and its subscribers, who are accredited lumber grading agencies, urging further involvement and designing a plan of action for future legislation. Moving forward, ALSC is positioned to be the primary voice of opposition as the established representatives for accredited lumber grading agencies while receiving AWC’s technical and advocacy support.