GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2019

SESSION LAW 2020-14

HOUSE BILL 1063

AN ACT to appropriate funds for the purpose of upgrading base stations of the voice interoperability Plan for emergency responders (VIPER) network.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Findings. – The General Assembly finds all of the following:

(1)        Communication in any emergency is critical to the response of emergency personnel.

(2)        The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) pandemic has caused an unprecedented spike in the number and complexity of emergency requests from North Carolina citizens.

(3)        Our emergency responders depend on a reliable communication network supported by reliable, state of the art, updated equipment to help in their response to emergencies.

(4)        During this pandemic the citizens of North Carolina depend on their government to ensure that there is a reliable communication network supported by reliable, state of the art, updated equipment to allow emergency personnel to respond to their emergency calls for assistance.

(5)        VIPER, Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders, is the State of North Carolina's emergency response network.

(6)        VIPER includes the VIPER Medical Network, which enables emergency responders to communicate with hospital emergency rooms.

SECTION 2.  Transfer. – The State Controller shall transfer the sum of nineteen million eight hundred thousand five hundred thirty dollars ($19,800,530) from the Coronavirus Relief Reserve established in Section 2.1 of S.L. 2020‑4 to the Coronavirus Relief Fund established in Section 2.2 of that same act.

SECTION 3.  Appropriation. – There is appropriated from the Coronavirus Relief Fund to the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) the sum of nineteen million eight hundred thousand five hundred thirty dollars ($19,800,530) in nonrecurring funds for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year to be allocated to the Department of Public Safety to be used for tower hardware upgrades to the Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders (VIPER) network.

SECTION 4.  Requirements. – The requirements and limitations set forth in Part I of S.L. 2020‑4 shall apply to the funds appropriated by this act. OSBM shall include the funds transferred and appropriated under this act in the report required under Section 1.7 of S.L. 2020‑4.

SECTION 5.  Effective Date. – This act becomes effective July 1, 2020.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 8^th day of June, 2020.

                                                                    s/  Philip E. Berger

                                                                         President Pro Tempore of the Senate

                                                                    s/  Tim Moore

                                                                         Speaker of the House of Representatives

                                                                    s/  Roy Cooper

                                                                         Governor

Approved 9:50 a.m. this 12^th day of June, 2020