AN ACT to AMEND THE LAW REGARDING township abc elections in certain townships.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 18B‑600(f) reads as rewritten:
"(f)	Township Elections. – An election may be called on any of the propositions listed in G.S. 18B‑602 in any township located within:
(1)	A county where ABC stores have heretofore been established by petition pursuant to law.
(2)	A county where ABC stores have been established pursuant to law, in which county according to data from the North Carolina Department of Commerce: (i) one‑third or more of the employment is travel related, (ii) spending on travel exceeds four hundred million dollars ($400,000,000) per year, and where the entirety of two townships consists of one island (and several smaller islands not making up more than one percent (1%) of the total land area of the two townships) where that island:
a.	Has a population of 4,000 or over according to the most recent decennial federal census;
b.	Is located with one side facing the ocean and another side facing a coastal sound.
(3)	A county where the population of all cities in the county that have previously approved the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages comprises more than twenty percent (20%) of the total county population as of the most recent federal census.
In the case of subdivision (2) of this section, an election may be called in the two townships voting together on the proposition contained in G.S. 18B‑602(h).
The election shall be held by the county board of elections upon request of the county board of commissioners or upon petition of twenty‑five percent (25%) of the registered voters of the township, or in the case of subdivision (2) of this section, of the two townships taken together. The election shall be conducted and the results determined in the same manner as county elections held under this Article. For purposes of this Article, townships holding any election under this subsection shall be treated on the same basis as counties, and municipalities located within those townships shall be treated on the same basis as cities. In the case of an election under subdivision (2) of this subsection, the votes of the two townships counted together shall determine the result of the election.
For purposes of this subsection, the name and boundary of a township is as it is shown on the Redistricting Census 2000 TIGER Files with modifications made by the Legislative Services Office on its computer database as of May 1, 2001.
In any township election held under this subsection, the area within any incorporated municipality is excluded, and no permits may be issued under this subsection in any excluded area.
In order for an establishment to qualify for a permit under this subsection, the establishment's gross receipts from food and nonalcoholic beverages shall be greater than its gross receipts from alcoholic beverages."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 18B‑604 reads as rewritten:
"§ 18B‑604.  Timing and effect of subsequent elections.
(a)	Time Limits. – No county alcoholic beverage election may be held within three years of the certification of the results of a previous election on the same kind of alcoholic beverages in that county. No city alcoholic beverage election may be held within three years of the certification of the results of a previous election on the same kind of alcoholic beverage in that city. Otherwise, alcoholic beverage elections may be held at any time, subject to the applicable provisions of this Chapter and Chapter 163.
(b)	Effect of Favorable County Vote on  City or Township. – If a majority of voters vote in favor of certain alcoholic beverage sales in a county election, sale of that kind of alcoholic beverage shall be lawful throughout the county, regardless of the vote in any city or township at that or any previous or subsequent election, and regardless of any local act making sales unlawful in that city or township, unless the local act was ratified before the effective date of Article II, Section 24(1)(j) of the Constitution of North Carolina. A county malt beverage or unfortified [wine] election in favor of a particular ballot proposition which is more restrictive than the form of sale already allowed in a city or township within that county shall not affect the legality of those previously authorized sales in the city or township.
(c)	Effect of Negative County Vote on  City or Township. – If a majority of voters vote against certain alcoholic beverage sales in a county election, sale of that kind of alcoholic beverage shall be unlawful throughout the county, except that sale of that alcoholic beverage shall remain lawful in any city or township in which sale is lawful because of a city or township election or a local act.
(d)	Effect of City or Township Election on County. – A city or township alcoholic beverage election shall not affect the lawfulness of sale in any part of the county outside that  city or township.
	
(f)	When Sales Stop. – When the sale of any alcoholic beverage that was previously lawful becomes unlawful because of an election, the sale of that alcoholic beverage shall cease 90 days after certification of the results of the election."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 18B‑404(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	Issuance. – If mixed beverages sales have been approved for an establishment under G.S. 18B‑603(d1) or under G.S. 18B‑603(e), or for an establishment located in a township in which mixed beverages have been approved the purchase‑transportation permit for that establishment may be issued by the local board of any city located in the same county as the establishment, provided the city has approved the sale of mixed beverages. Otherwise a licensed establishment may obtain a mixed beverages purchase‑transportation permit only from the local board for the jurisdiction in which it is located. If there is no ABC store within the establishment's jurisdiction, then the mixed beverages permittee shall obtain a mixed beverages purchase‑transportation permit from the nearest and most convenient ABC store."

SECTION 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 10th day of June, 2003.

	s/	 Marc Basnight
	 President Pro Tempore of the Senate

	s/	 Richard T. Morgan
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved 12:39 p.m. this 19th day of June, 2003