GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2019

SESSION LAW 2020-43

SENATE BILL 814

AN ACT to appropriate funds for the nc promise TUITION plan.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  Notwithstanding G.S. 18C‑164, by August 15, 2020, the Office of State Budget and Management shall transfer the sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in nonrecurring funds from the cash balance in the Education Lottery Reserve Fund (Budget Code: 23004; Fund Code: 2C01) to UNC Board of Governors – Institutional Programs (Budget Code: 16011).

SECTION 1.(b)  By August 15, 2020, the Department of Public Instruction shall transfer the sum of five million dollars ($5,000,000) in nonrecurring funds from the cash balance in the School Bus Replacement Fund (Budget Code: 73510; Fund Code: 7200) to UNC Board of Governors – Institutional Programs (Budget Code: 16011).

SECTION 2.(a)  The funds transferred in this act are appropriated to the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year to be used for the NC Promise Tuition Plan established under G.S. 116‑143.11, which sets tuition at five hundred dollars ($500.00) per semester for North Carolina residents and two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) per semester for nonresidents at Elizabeth City State University, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Western Carolina University.

SECTION 2.(b)  Departmental receipts, as defined in G.S. 143C‑1‑1, are appropriated for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year up to the amounts needed to implement the provisions in this act for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year.

SECTION 3.  It is the intent of the General Assembly to appropriate from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina the following additional funds for the purpose of the "buy down" of any financial obligations incurred by Elizabeth City State University, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Western Carolina University for the NC Promise Tuition Plan:

(1)        For the 2021‑2022 fiscal year, the sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) in recurring funds.

(2)        For the 2022‑2023 fiscal year, the sum of four million dollars ($4,000,000) in recurring funds.

(3)        For the 2023‑2024 fiscal year, the sum of three million four hundred thousand dollars ($3,400,000) in recurring funds.

(4)        For the 2024‑2025 fiscal year, the sum of three million dollars ($3,000,000) in recurring funds.

For the 2024‑2025 fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years, it is the intent of the General Assembly that the net appropriation for the "buy down" of any financial obligations incurred by Elizabeth City State University, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Western Carolina University for the NC Promise Tuition Plan shall not exceed the sum of eighty‑one million four hundred thousand dollars ($81,400,000) in recurring funds.

SECTION 4.  The provisions of the State Budget Act, Chapter 143C of the General Statutes, are reenacted and shall remain in full force and effect and are incorporated in this act by reference.

SECTION 5.  Except where expressly repealed or amended by this act, the provisions of any other legislation enacted during the 2019 Regular Session of the General Assembly expressly appropriating funds to an agency, a department, or an institution covered under this act shall remain in effect.

SECTION 6.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2020.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 15^th day of June, 2020.

                                                                    s/  Ralph E. Hise, Jr.

                                                                         Presiding Officer of the Senate

                                                                    s/  Tim Moore

                                                                         Speaker of the House of Representatives

                                                                    s/  Roy Cooper

                                                                         Governor

Approved 9:54 a.m. this 26^th day of June, 2020