A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to the department of agriculture and consumer services to improve food safety and security.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services the sum of seventy‑two thousand dollars ($72,000) for the 2003‑2004 fiscal year to establish and operate the Food Safety and Security Task Force.
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services the sum of one million eight hundred sixty‑six thousand eight hundred nine dollars ($1,866,809) for the 2003‑2004 fiscal year and the sum of one million three hundred seventy‑seven thousand seven hundred nine dollars ($1,377,709) for the 2004‑2005 fiscal year to upgrade the laboratory and the investigative and enforcement capabilities of the Department related to food safety and security.
SECTION 3.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services the sum of three hundred eighty‑four thousand seven hundred forty‑eight dollars ($384,748) for the 2003‑2004 fiscal year to be used as the ten percent (10%) matching requirement to obtain a grant of approximately three million eight hundred forty‑seven thousand four hundred eighty‑three dollars ($3,847,483) from the United States Department of Homeland Security for funding a multiagency Food Safety and Security Project to reduce the vulnerability of North Carolina food supplies to criminal and terrorist acts.
SECTION 4.  The Food Safety and Security Task Force shall report to the General Assembly no later than December 15, 2004, any recommendations for changes in laws, regulations, or programs needed to enhance food safety and security in North Carolina.
SECTION 5.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2003.