GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1995

H	3 

HOUSE BILL 114
Senate Finance Committee Substitute Adopted 7/27/95
Third Edition Engrossed 7/27/95

Short Title:  Alamance School Merger/Richm. Hosp.	(Local)

─────────────────────────────────────── 
Sponsors:

─────────────────────────────────────── 
Referred to:  

─────────────────────────────────────── 

February 7, 1995

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO ALLOW THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF ALAMANCE COUNTY TO AMEND THE PLAN OF MERGER OF THE ALAMANCE COUNTY SCHOOLS AND THE BURLINGTON CITY SCHOOLS, RELATING TO THE FUNDING OF THE SYSTEM AFTER THE MERGER, TO MODIFY THE APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS OF CERTAIN LOCAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT BOARDS, TO EXEMPT RICHMOND COUNTY FROM CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS RELATING TO THE SALE OF HOSPITAL FACILITIES TO NONPROFIT CORPORATIONS, AND MODIFYING THE ALLOCATION OF THE PROCEEDS OF THE NEW HANOVER COUNTY OCCUPANCY TAX.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  (a)	Notwithstanding  "A Plan for the Merger of the Alamance County Schools and the Burlington City Schools", approved under G.S. 115C-68.1, G.S. 115C-68.1(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The board of commissioners of a county in which two or more local school administrative units are located, but all are located wholly within the county, may adopt a plan for the consolidation and merger of the units into a single countywide unit.
The plan adopted under this subsection shall require that the county adopting the plan provide local funding per average daily membership to the resulting local school administrative unit for subsequent years of at least the highest level of any local school administrative unit in the county during the preceding five fiscal years before the merger, except that the board of commissioners may amend the plan after its adoption to require that the county adopting the plan provide local funding per average daily membership to the resulting local school administrative unit at a level not less than that provided for the 1995-96 school year (excluding that provided by any supplement applying to only one unit).
	The board of commissioners shall forward a copy of the plan and any amendment authorized by this subsection it adopts to the boards of education of all local school administrative units located within the county, immediately upon adoption."
(b) This section applies to Alamance County only.
Sec. 1.1.  Section 7(b) of Chapter 988 of the 1983 Session Laws (Reg. Sess. 1984), as amended by Chapter 39 of the 1989 Session Laws, reads as rewritten:
"(b)	All members of the Authority shall serve without compensation.  Vacancies in the Authority shall be filled by the appointing authority of the member creating the vacancy.  Members appointed to fill vacancies shall serve for the remainder of the unexpired term for which they are appointed to fill.  Members shall serve three-year terms, except the initial members of the following designations, who shall serve the following terms:
(1)	Members appointed pursuant to subdivisions (a)(1) and (a)(2) above shall serve a one-year term;
(2)	Of the members appointed pursuant to subdivision (a)(3) above, the appointee of the Greensboro City Council who owns or operates accommodations with more than 200 rental units shall serve a three-year term; the appointee of the Greensboro City Council who owns or operates accommodations with no meeting facilities shall serve an initial term which expires September 30, 1989; and one appointee of the board of commissioners shall serve a three-year term and one a two-year term, as designated by the board of county commissioners;
(3)	The member appointed pursuant to subdivision (a)(4) above shall serve a three-year term;
(4)	The member appointed pursuant to subdivision (a)(5) above shall serve a two-year term; and
(5)	The member appointed pursuant to subdivision (a)(6) shall serve an initial term which expires September 30, 1991.
Members may serve no more than two consecutive three-year terms. The members shall elect a chair, who shall serve for a term of two years.  A member of the Authority who is a member of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners or the Greensboro City Council may not serve as the chair or as any other officer of the Authority or as the chair or as any other officer of a committee of the Authority.  The Authority shall meet at the call of the chair and shall adopt rules of procedure to govern its meetings.  The finance officer for Guilford County shall be the ex officio finance officer of the Authority."
Sec. 1.2. Section 7.1 of Chapter 988 of the 1983 Session Laws (Reg. Sess. 1984), as amended by Chapter 39 of the 1989 Session Laws, is amended by designating the language in that section as subsection (a) and adding a new subsection to read:
"( b)	A member of the High Point Convention and Visitors Board who is a member of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners or the High Point City Council may not serve as the chair or as any other officer of the Board or as the chair or as any other officer of a committee of the Board."
Sec. 2. (a)	G.S. 131E-8(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	A municipality as defined in G.S. 131E-6(5) or hospital authority as defined in G.S. 131E-16(14), upon such terms and conditions as it deems wise, with or without monetary consideration, may sell or convey to a nonprofit corporation organized under Chapter 55A of the General Statutes any rights of ownership the municipality or hospital authority has in a hospital facility including the building, land and equipment associated with the hospital, if the nonprofit corporation is legally committed to continue to operate the facility as a community general hospital open to the general public, free of discrimination based upon race, creed, color, sex or national origin.  The nonprofit corporation shall also agree, as a condition of the municipality or hospital authority's conveying ownership, to provide such services to indigent patients as the municipality or hospital authority and the nonprofit corporation shall agree.  "
(b)	This section applies to Richmond County only.
Sec. 3.  Section 35 of Chapter 908 of the 1983 Session Laws, as amended by Chapter 987 of the 1983 Session Laws and Chapter 971 of the 1985 Session Laws, reads as rewritten:
"Sec. 35.  Disposition of Taxes Collected. (a)	New Hanover County shall distribute the net proceeds of the occupancy tax as follows:
(1)	Sixty percent (60%) of the net proceeds shall be deposited in a special fund, the cash balance of which shall be deposited at interest or invested in accordance with G.S. 159-30; and
(2)	Forty percent (40%) of the net proceeds shall be distributed on a quarterly basis to the county and its municipalities in accordance with the method by which the one percent (1%) local sales and use taxes levied in the county pursuant to Article 39 of Chapter 105 of the General Statutes are distributed.
'Net proceeds' means gross proceeds less the cost to the county of administering and collecting the tax.
	Unless a change in the use of occupancy tax revenue is authorized pursuant to subsection (b), the revenue deposited in a special fund in accordance with subdivision (1) shall be used by the county to control beach erosion, and the revenue distributed between the county and its municipalities in accordance with subdivision (2) shall be used to promote travel and tourism.  No revenue distributed under subdivision (2), however, may be used to plan, construct, operate, maintain, or in any way promote a civic center, convention center, public auditorium, or like facility.
(b)	The purposes for which revenue from the room occupancy tax may be used by the county and its municipalities may be changed only by resolution of the New Hanover Board of County Commissioners after being approved by a majority of the votes cast in an election held in New Hanover County on the question of how revenue from the room occupancy tax should be used.  The ballot presented to the qualified voters of the county in an election concerning the use of revenue from the room occupancy tax shall state all the proposed uses of this revenue and the percentage of the revenue to be used for each purpose.  Any change in use of revenue from the room occupancy tax made by the county commissioners after voter approval may likewise be changed only by resolution of the county commissioners after being approved by the voters in another election.
	The question of how revenue from the room occupancy tax should be spent may be submitted to the qualified voters of the county only at the time of a statewide general election.  All elections under this section shall be conducted in accordance with the laws then governing elections in this State."
Sec. 4.  This act is effective upon ratification.  Section 3 of this act applies to taxes levied on or after the first day of the first month following ratification.