Crossover deadline
Definition
A crossover deadline is the last day a bill can pass its chamber of origin and move to the other chamber to stay alive that session. Bills that miss it are usually dead for the year, though budget and tax bills are often exempt.
Why it matters
Deadlines compress debate into a rush before crossover, favoring lobbyists who can track dozens of bills at once and push priority items through committee fast. They also create a common workaround: gutting a bill that already crossed over and replacing its text with unrelated language, letting sponsors skip the scrutiny a fresh bill would face.
Seen in the wild
North Carolina's 2025 crossover deadline was May 8, 2025. The legislature passed a wave of bills in the days beforehand, and non-exempt bills that had not passed at least one chamber by that date were no longer eligible for action in the 2025-2026 biennium.