GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1989

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 1932

Short Title:  School Asbestos Removal.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Representative R. Hunter.
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Referred to:  Appropriations.
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May 10, 1989

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE AWARDING OF GRANTS FROM THE CRITICAL SCHOOL FACILITY NEEDS FUND FOR THE INSPECTION AND REMOVAL OF ASBESTOS FROM PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDINGS, AND TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO THE CRITICAL SCHOOL FACILITY NEEDS FUND FOR THIS PURPOSE. 
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 115C-489.2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C-489.2.  Grants from the Fund.
(a)	The board of education and the boards of county commissioners of the county in which the local school administrative unit is located in whole or in part shall apply jointly for a grant from the Fund to meet a particular critical need in the local school administrative unit.  Grants may be made only for projects that meet the statewide school facility minimum standards adopted by the State Board of Education pursuant to G.S. 115C-489.3.
The application shall contain information on how the critical need for which funds are requested would be met and how much State money is required for the project.  The application shall also include an analysis of the school facility needs of the county and a long-range plan for meeting those needs.
At the request of a board of county commissioners or a local board of education, the State Board of Education shall provide technical assistance in facility planning to a local school administrative unit and a county preparing an application for a grant from the Fund.
(b)	The Commission on School Facility Needs shall make grants from the Fund to the counties which it determines, according to the following criteria, have the greatest critical school facility needs in relation to resources available to pay for school facility needs:
(1)	The critical school facility needs in the county, as determined by the Commission on School Facility Needs pursuant to G.S. 115C-489.4. (Until the Commission issues a final report on critical school facility needs in the counties, the Commission shall use the preliminary report.) 
(2)	Ability to pay as measured by:
a.	The per pupil adjusted property tax base in the county.  The per pupil adjusted property tax base in the county is the property tax base in the county adjusted using the sales assessment ratio study performed by the Department of Revenue, and
b.	The per capita income of the county.
(3)	Any critical nonschool needs that may force the county to divert its resources from school facilities.
(c)	The board of education and the boards of county commissioners of the county in which the local school administrative unit is located in whole or in part may jointly apply for a grant from the Fund to cover the removal of asbestos from public school buildings. The Commission on School Facility Needs shall make grants from the Fund to counties according to need as determined by asbestos levels in school buildings and the degree of hazard posed by such levels, and in accordance with financial eligibility established by the Commission.  Before the Commission makes a grant award, the local boards applying for the grant shall submit a written evaluation by a certified asbestos management consultant that an emergency exists which constitutes a threat to the health of the occupants of the building and that the asbestos must be removed by a date certain.  No grant award may exceed five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in any year."
Sec. 2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Education, Critical School Facility Needs Fund, $10,000,000 for the 1989-90 fiscal year, and $10,000,000 for the 1990-91 fiscal year, to be allocated by the Commission on School Facility Needs for the removal of asbestos from public school buildings.
Sec. 3. This act shall become effective July 1, 1989.