GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1995

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 718

Short Title:  Parks & Recreation/Natural Heritage.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Representatives Gray, Black; Baker, J. Brown, Cummings, Hackney, Ives, Justus, G. Miller, K. Miller, Sexton, Shaw, and Weatherly.

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Referred to:  Health and Environment, if favorable, Finance.

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March 30, 1995

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO EARMARK FUNDS FOR THE PARKS AND RECREATION TRUST FUND AND THE NATURAL HERITAGE TRUST FUND.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 113-44.15 reads as rewritten:
"§ 113-44.15.  Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.
(a)	There is established a Parks and Recreation Trust Fund in the State Treasurer's Office. The Trust Fund shall be a nonreverting special revenue fund consisting of gifts and grants to the Trust Fund, monies credited to the Trust Fund pursuant to G.S. 105-228.30(b), and other monies appropriated to the Trust Fund by the General Assembly.
	(b)	Beginning July 1, 1995, funds in the Trust Fund are annually appropriated to the Department and, unless otherwise specified by the General Assembly or the terms or conditions of a gift or grant, shall be allocated and used as follows:
(1)	Sixty-five percent (65%) for the State Parks System for capital projects, repairs and renovations of park facilities, and land acquisition.
(2)	Thirty percent (30%) to provide matching funds to local governmental units on a dollar-for-dollar basis for local park and recreation purposes. These funds shall be allocated by the Secretary based on criteria patterned after the Open Project Selection Process established for the Land and Water Conservation Fund administered by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior.
(3)	Five percent (5%) for the Coastal and Estuarine Water Beach Access Program.
Of the funds appropriated to the Department from the Trust Fund each year, no more than three percent (3%) may be used by the Department for operating expenses associated with managing capital improvements projects, acquiring land, and administration of local grants programs.
(c)	The Department shall report on an annual basis to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, the appropriations committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the Fiscal Research Division on allocations from the Trust Fund."
Sec. 2.  G.S. 105-228.30(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	The register of deeds of each county shall remit the proceeds of the tax levied by this section to the county finance officer. The finance officer of each county shall credit one-half of the proceeds to the county's general fund and shall remit the remaining one-half of the proceeds, less the county's allowance for administrative expenses, to the Department of Revenue on a quarterly basis. A county may retain two percent (2%) of the amount of tax proceeds allocated for remittance to the Department of Revenue as compensation for the county's cost in collecting and remitting the State's share of the tax. Of the funds remitted to it pursuant to this section, the Department of Revenue shall credit seventy-five percent (75%) to the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund established under G.S. 113-44.15 and twenty-five percent (25%) to the Natural Heritage Trust Fund established under G.S. 113-77.7."
Sec. 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1996.