GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1989

S	1 

SENATE BILL 950

Short Title:  State Employees Travel Allowance.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senator Ezzell.
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Referred to:  State Personnel.
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April 19, 1989

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO AUTOMATICALLY INCREASE THE ALLOWANCE FOR TRAVEL EXPENSES FOR STATE EMPLOYEES EVERY TWO YEARS WHENEVER THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX RISES, AND TO RELATE INCREASES IN THE ALLOWANCE FOR TRAVEL EXPENSES TO THE RISE IN THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 138-6(a) reads as rewritten:
	"(a) Travel on official business by the officers and employees of State departments, institutions and agencies which operate from funds deposited with the State Treasurer shall be reimbursed at the following rates:
(1)	For transportation by privately owned automobile, twenty-five cents (25¢) per mile of travel and the actual cost of tolls paid. No reimbursement shall be made for the use of a personal car in commuting from an employee's home to his duty station in connection with regularly scheduled work hours. Any designation of an employee's home as his duty station by a department head shall require prior approval by the Office of State Budget and Management on an annual basis.
(2)	For bus, railroad, Pullman, or other conveyance, actual fare.
(3)	For expenses incurred for subsistence, until June 30, 1991, payment of fifty-eight dollars ($58.00) per day when traveling in-state or seventy dollars ($70.00) per day when traveling out-of-state; then as follows: As of October 1, 1990, the ratio of the Consumer Price Index to such index two years earlier shall be determined, and payment per day when traveling in-state and payment per day when traveling out-of-state shall be increased effective on July 1 of the year following the year of determination by the same percentage increase indicated by this ratio calculated to the nearest tenth of one percentum (1/10 of 1%); provided that, if there has been a decrease in the Consumer Price Index in the past two years, no adjustment in the travel allowances shall be made for that biennium.  The Office of State Budget and Management shall cause to be published in the North Carolina Register the increased travel allowances no later than December 1 of the year before the year the increased allowances are to become effective.  When travel involves less than a full day (24-hour period), a reasonable prorated amount shall be paid in accordance with regulations and criteria which shall be promulgated and published by the Director of the Budget. Reimbursement to State employees for lunches eaten while on official business may be made only in the following circumstances:
a.	When an overnight stay is required reimbursement is allowed while an employee is in travel status;
b.	When the cost of the lunch is included as part of a registration fee for a formal congress, conference, assembly, or convocation, by whatever name called. Such assembly must involve the active participation of persons other than the employees of a single State department, institution, or agency and must be necessary for conducting official State business; or
c.	When the State employee is a member of a State board, commission, committee, or council which operates from funds deposited with the State Treasurer, and the lunch is preplanned as part of the meeting for the entire board, commission, committee, or council.
(4)	For convention registration fees not to exceed thirty dollars ($30.00) per convention." ¨
Sec. 2.  This act shall become effective July 1, 1989.