A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to establish a program for PAWNBROKERS to aid in the recovery of stolen property.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Chapter 91A of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 91A-15. Program to aid in the recovery of stolen property.
(a)	In order to implement the provisions of G.S. 91A-10(6) that no pawnbroker shall take any article known to such pawnbroker to be stolen unless there is a written agreement with local or State police, there is established the Pawnbroker Stolen Goods Recovery Program.
(b)	If a pawnbroker suspects that an item to be taken as a pawn, pledge, or security is stolen, the pawnbroker may take the property if the transaction is immediately reported in writing to the local police and the State Bureau of Investigation.
(c)	If an investigation shows that the property is stolen, the pawnbroker shall receive one point. At the end of each calendar year, all the funds received under subsection (d) of this section, as well as an allocation made by the Department of Insurance from monies received by the State from the license fees paid by pawnbrokers and from the property insurance premium tax placed in the Pawnbroker Stolen Goods Recovery Program Fund, and pawnbrokers shall be paid from these funds in proportion to the number of points they have earned under the program.
(d)	Insurance companies shall also pay into the Fund twenty-five percent (25%) of the amount of claims that it would have had to pay out for any insured property recovered under this program that was returned to its rightful owner."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2003.