GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

H	2 

HOUSE BILL 248
Committee Substitute Favorable 3/31/99

Short Title:  Precinct Boundaries.	(Public)

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Sponsors:

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Referred to:  

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March 4, 1999

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO AMEND THE STATUTES CONCERNING PRECINCT BOUNDARIES.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  Article 12A of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes reads as rewritten:
"ARTICLE 12A.
"Precinct Boundaries.
"§ 163-132.1.  Participation in 2000 Census Redistricting Data Program of the United States Bureau of the Census.
(a)	Purpose. – The State of North Carolina shall participate in the 2000 Census Redistricting Data Program, conducted pursuant to P.L. 94-171, of the United States Bureau of the Census, including Phase I (Block Boundary Suggestion Program) and Phase II (concerning the designation of precincts on 2000 Census maps or databases), so that the State will receive 2000 Census data by voting precinct and be able to revise districts at all levels without splitting precincts and in compliance with the United States and North Carolina Constitutions and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended.
(b)	Phase I (Block Boundary Suggestion Program). – The State shall participate in the Block Boundary Suggestion Program of the United States Bureau of the Census so that the maps the Census Bureau will use in the 2000 Census will contain adequate features to permit reporting of Census data by precinct for use in the 2001 redistricting efforts. The Legislative Services Office shall send preliminary maps produced by the Census Bureau in preparation for the 2000 Census, as soon as practical after the maps are available, to the county boards of elections to determine which of their precincts have boundaries that are not coterminous with a physical feature, a current township boundary, or a current municipal boundary, as shown on those preliminary 2000 Census maps. The Legislative Services Office shall:
(1)	Assist county boards of elections in identifying the precincts with boundaries not shown on the preliminary Census maps and in identifying physical features the county boards may wish to have available for future precinct boundaries;
(2)	Place those boundaries and features on maps deemed appropriate by the State Board;
(3)	Request the U.S. Census Bureau to hold for census block identification in the 2000 U.S. Census all physical features the county boards have identified as current or potential precinct boundaries; and
(4)	Request the U.S. Census Bureau to hold for census block identification in the 2000 U.S. Census all other physical features already on 1990 Census maps.
(c)	Phase II. – The State shall participate in Phase II of the 2000 Census Redistricting Data Program so that, to the extent practical, the precinct boundaries of all North Carolina counties will appear on the 2000 Census maps or database. The State's effort shall be conducted as follows:
(1)	By January 1, 1998, or as soon thereafter as they become available, the Legislative Services Office shall provide the county boards of elections with access, on paper or electronically, to the Census Bureau's maps for Phase II of the Census Redistricting Data Program.
(2)	After receiving the maps, the county boards of elections shall designate their precinct lines along the lines the Census Bureau indicates on the maps it will hold as block boundaries for the 2000 Census. Where necessary, the county boards of elections shall alter precincts, including any precincts approved under the provisions of G.S. 163-132.1A, 163-132.2, or 163-132.3 or designated by local act, to conform to lines the Census Bureau indicates it will hold as Census block boundaries as shown on the official block maps to be used for the 2000 Census and to consist only of contiguous territory. The county boards of elections, at a time deemed necessary by the Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board of Elections, shall file with the Legislative Services Office the maps on which they have designated their precincts pursuant to this subsection.
(3)	After examining the maps, the Legislative Services Office shall submit to the Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board of Elections its opinion as to whether the county board of elections has complied with the provisions of this subsection, with notations as to where those boundaries do not comply with these standards.
(4)	If the Executive Secretary-Director determines that the county board of elections has complied, he shall approve the precinct boundaries as filed and those precincts shall be the official precincts.
(5)	If the Executive Secretary-Director determines that the county board of elections has not complied, he shall not approve those precinct boundaries but shall alter the precinct boundaries so that each precinct consists solely of contiguous territory and that each precinct's boundaries are coterminous with 2000 Census block boundaries nearest to the precinct boundaries shown by the county boards on the maps. These altered precincts shall then be the official precincts. 
(6)	Upon the adoption of a resolution by a county board of elections and instead of altering precinct lines as required by G.S. 163-132.1(c)(5), the Executive Secretary-Director may combine for Census reporting purposes only two or more adjacent precincts of the county into a Combined Reporting Unit, if the Executive Secretary-Director finds that:
a.	The boundaries of the Combined Reporting Unit conform with the Census block boundaries as shown on the official block maps to be used in the 2000 Census;
b.	The Combined Reporting Unit consists only of contiguous territory;
c.	The precincts of which the Combined Reporting Unit consists were bounded as of January 1, 1996, by ridgelines, as certified on official county maps by the county manager of the relevant county, or if there is no county manager the chair of the board of commissioners, and the boundaries failed to comply with subdivision (2) of this subsection only because those ridgelines were unrecognized as Census block boundaries in the 2000 official Census maps;
d.	The Combined Reporting Unit does not contain a majority of the territory of more than one township; and
e.	To alter those precinct boundaries would result in significant voter dislocation.
		If the Executive Secretary-Director recognizes a Combined Reporting Unit for specific precincts, the official boundaries of those individual precincts forming the Combined Reporting Unit shall be those which the Legislative Services Office submitted to the Executive Secretary-Director under subdivision (3) of this subsection.
(7)	The Executive Secretary-Director shall file the completed maps with the Census Bureau and request that the Census Bureau provide summaries of 2000 Census data by precinct and Combined Reporting Units.
(d)	Freezing of Precincts. – Notwithstanding the provisions of G.S. 163-132.3, after the Executive Secretary-Director approves the precincts in accordance with subsection (c) of this section and before January 2, 2002, no county board of elections may establish, alter, discontinue, or create any precinct except by division of one precinct into two or more precincts using lines that the Census Bureau has indicated it will use as 2000 Census block boundaries for that division. Provided that, whenever an annexation ordinance adopted under Parts 1, 2, or 3 of Article 4A of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes, or a local act of the General Assembly annexing property to a municipality, becomes effective during the period beginning with the date of the annexation as reported through the U.S. Census Bureau's 1998 Boundary and Annexation Survey and ending January 2, 2002, and any part of the boundary of the area being annexed which is actually contiguous to the city is also a precinct boundary for elections administered by the county board of elections then the county board of elections may exercise one of the following options:
(1)	Direct by resolution that the annexed area is automatically moved into the 'city precinct', provided that if the annexed area is adjacent to more than one city precinct, the board of elections shall place the area in any one or more of the adjacent city precincts. 
(2)	Adopt a resolution moving the precinct boundary to a visible feature that the Census Bureau has indicated it will use as a 2000 block boundary.
The county board of elections shall submit any proposed change made during the freeze under this subsection to the Legislative Services Office, which shall review the proposal and write a letter advising the Executive Secretary-Director of its opinion as to the legal compliance of the proposal. If the proposal complies with the law, the Executive Secretary-Director shall approve the proposal. No newly created or altered precinct boundary is effective until approved by the Executive Secretary-Director as being in compliance with the provisions of this subsection. 
(e)	Municipal and Township Boundaries. – Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (c) and (d) of this section, the county boards of elections may designate precinct boundaries on municipal or township boundaries that are not designated on the 2000 official Census block maps, according to directives promulgated by the Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board of Elections and adopted to insure that all precincts shall be included on the 2000 Census database.
(f)	Additional Rules. – In addition to the directives promulgated by the Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board of Elections under G.S. 163-132.4, the Legislative Services Commission may promulgate rules to implement this section. 
																														"§ 163-132.3.  Alterations to approved precinct boundaries.
(a)	No county board of elections may change any precinct boundary unless the proposed new precinct consists solely of contiguous territory and its new boundaries are coterminous with those of:
(1)	Townships, as certified by the county manager, or the chairman of the board of county commissioners if there is not a county manager, on the official map of the county;
(2)	The census blocks established under the latest U.S. Census or the boundaries contained on the latest preliminary U.S. Census maps, issued under P.L. 94-171, whichever occurs later;
(3)	The following visible physical features, readily distinguishable upon the ground:
a.	Roads or streets;
b.	Water features or drainage features;
			f.	Rail features; or
g.	Major above-ground power lines
		as certified by the North Carolina Department of Transportation on its highway maps or the county manager of the relevant county or, if there is no county manager, the chair of the county board of commissioners, on official county maps.
(4)	Municipalities, as certified by the city clerk on the official map of the city; or
(5)	A combination of these boundaries.
The county boards of elections shall report precinct boundary changes by filing with the Legislative Services Office on current official census maps or maps certified by the North Carolina Department of Transportation or the county's planning department or on other maps or electronic databases approved by the Executive Secretary-Director the new boundaries of these precincts. The Executive Secretary-Director may require a county board of elections to file a written description of the boundaries of any precinct or part thereof. No newly created or altered precinct boundary is effective until approved by the Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board as being in compliance with this subsection. No precinct may be changed under this section between the date its boundaries become effective under G.S. 163-132.1(c)	and January 2, 2002. Any changes to precincts during that period shall be made as provided in G.S. 163-132.1(d).
(b)	The Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board of Elections and the Legislative Services Office shall examine the maps of the proposed new or altered precincts and any required written descriptions. After its examination of the maps and their written descriptions, the Legislative Services Office shall submit to the Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board of Elections its opinion as to whether all of the proposed precinct boundaries are in compliance with subsection (a) of this section, with notations as to where those boundaries do not comply with these standards. If the Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board determines that all precinct boundaries are in compliance with this section, the Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board shall approve the maps and written descriptions as filed and these precincts shall be the official precincts.
(c)	If the Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board determines that the proposed precinct boundaries are not in compliance with subsection (a) of this section, he shall not approve those precinct boundaries. He shall notify the county board of elections of his disapproval specifying the reasons. The county board of elections may then resubmit new precinct maps and written descriptions to cure the reasons for their disapproval.
"§ 163-132.4. Directives.
The Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board of Elections may promulgate directives concerning its duties and those of the county boards of elections under this Article.
"§ 163-132.5. Cooperation of State and local agencies.
The State Budget Office, the Department of Transportation and county and municipal planning departments shall cooperate and assist the Legislative Services Office, the Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board of Elections and the county boards of elections in the implementation of this Article.
"§ 163-132.5A:  Repealed by Session Laws 1991 (Regular Session, 1992), c. 927, s. 1.
"§ 163-132.5B. Exemption from Administrative Procedure Act.
The State Board of Elections is exempt from the provisions of Chapter 150B of the General Statutes while acting under the authority of this Article.  Appeals from a final decision of the Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board of Elections under this Article shall be taken to the State Board of Elections within 30 days of that decision.  The State Board shall approve, disapprove or modify the Executive Secretary's decision within 30 days of receipt of notice of appeal.  Failure of the State Board to act within 30 days of receipt of notice of appeal shall constitute a final decision approving that of the Executive Secretary.  Appeals from a final decision of the State Board under this Article shall be taken to the Superior Court of Wake County. 
"§ 163-132.5C.  Local acts and township lines.
(a)	Notwithstanding the provisions of any local act, a county board of elections need not have the approval of any other county board or commission to make precinct boundary changes required by this Article.
(b)	Precinct boundaries established, retained or changed under this Article, or changed to follow a district line where a precinct has been divided in a districting plan, may cross township lines. 
"§ 163-132.5D.  Retention of precinct maps.
The Executive Secretary-Director of the State Board of Elections shall retain the maps and written descriptions which he approves pursuant to G.S. 163-132.3. 
			"§ 163-132.5F.  U.S. Census data by precinct.
The State shall request the U.S. Census Bureau for each decennial census to provide summaries of census data by precinct and shall participate in any U.S. Bureau of the Census' program to effectuate this provision. 
"§ 163-132.6:  Repealed by Session Laws 1991 (Regular Session, 1992), c. 927, s. 1."
Section 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 2 and 3 of Chapter 423 of the 1995 Session Laws, the version of G.S. 163-132.3 contained in Section 1 of this act is effective upon this act's becoming law and does not expire. To the extent it is inconsistent with the provisions of this act, Section 3 of Chapter 423 of the 1995 Session Laws is repealed.
Section 3. Notwithstanding the repeal of G.S. 163-132.1A and 163-132.2 contained in Section 1 of this act, the precincts established under the repealed provisions, as amended under G.S. 163-132.3, shall continue to be in effect until new precincts are established under G.S. 163-132.1. 
Section 4. This act is effective when it becomes law.