GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 1816

Short Title:  Gender Equity Reporting.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Representatives Adams; Alexander, Blue, Boyd-McIntyre, Cunningham, Earle, Easterling, Goodwin, Hackney, Hall, Hensley, Howard, Hunter, Insko, Jarrell, Jeffus, Luebke, Nesbitt, Wainwright, and Womble.

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Referred to:  Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House.

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May 30, 2000

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO AMEND THE STATE GENDER EQUITY REPORTING REQUIREMENTS AND TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR AN INTERNET ACCESSIBLE REPORTING DATABASE.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 143-157.1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 143-157.1.  Reports on gender-proportionate appointments to statutorily created decision-making regulatory bodies.
(a)	In appointing members to any statutorily created county board of health, district board of health, area mental health authority, board of social services, alcoholic beverage control board, or to any other decision-making or regulatory public office as that term is defined by G.S. 143-47.6(2), the appointing authority should select, from among the most qualified persons, those persons whose appointment would promote membership that accurately reflects the proportion that each gender represents in the population of the State as a whole, unless the law regulating such appointment requires otherwise.  If there are multiple appointing authorities for the commission, council committee, board, or other entity they may consult with each other to accomplish the purposes of this section.
(b)	Each commission, council, committee, board, or other entity described in subsection (a) to which appointments are made shall submit a report to the Secretary of State annually by December 1 which discloses for each appointing authority the total membership of the commission, council, committee, board, or other entity, the total number of appointments made and the number of appointments of each gender made, expressed both in numerical terms and as a percentage of the total membership of the commission, council, committee, board, or other entity during the period commencing July 1 of the preceding year and ending June 30 of the current year.  For purposes of this section, the ‘total membership' of the commission, council, committee, board, or other entity shall be the total number of members authorized for that commission, council, committee, board, or other entity during the period covered by the rapport. In addition, each appointing authority shall designate a person responsible for retaining all applications for appointment, who shall ensure that information describing each applicant's  gender and qualifications is available for public inspection during reasonable hours.  Nothing in this section requires disclosure of an applicant's identity or of any other information made confidential by law.  In those cases where a county or a city is the appointing authority, a copy of all the reports referred to above shall also be filed by December 1 with the clerk to the board of county commissioners or the city clerk, whichever is applicable, who shall report them annually to the governing boards of the respective county or city.
(c)	The Secretary of State may create and furnish on request forms for the reports required by subsection (b).  If the Secretary of State so requires, use of these forms is mandatory.  Upon receipt of the reports required by subsection (b), and within funds appropriated for that purpose, the Secretary of State shall compile them into a single report and submit a copy thereof to the Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.  The Secretary of State shall maintain the individual reports received from each commission, council, committee, board, or other entity for public inspection and copying pursuant to the Public Records Act, Chapter 132 of the General Statutes."
Section 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Secretary of State for the 2000-2001 fiscal year the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) to develop a database of information based on G.S. 143-157.1.  Such database shall be designed to be publicly accessible on the internet, and shall allow reporting agencies to electronically make the reports required by G.S. 143-157.1.
Section 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2000.