A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to establish a 311 system for nonemergency calls and to allow money in the emergency telephone system fund to also be used to develop and maintain the 311 system.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 62A‑2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 62A‑2.  Legislative purposes.
The General Assembly declares it to be in the public interest to provide a toll free number through which an individual in this State can gain rapid, direct access to public safety aid. The number shall be provided with the objective of reducing response time to situations requiring law enforcement, fire, medical, rescue, or other public safety service. To reduce the response time of calls made to the toll-free number, a second toll‑free number may be established to receive nonemergency calls."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 62A‑3(1) reads as rewritten:
"(1)	"911 system" or "911 service" means an emergency telephone system that provides the user of the public telephone system the ability to reach a public safety answering point by dialing the digits 911. The term 911 system or 911 service also includes "Enhanced 911 service", which means an emergency telephone system that provides the user of the public telephone system with 911 service and, in addition, directs 911 calls to appropriate public safety answering points by selective routing based on the geographical location from which the call originated and provides the capability for automatic number identification and automatic location identification features. The 911 system or 911 service also includes a 311 system to receive nonemergency calls."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 62A‑8 reads as rewritten:
"§ 62A‑8.  Payments from Fund.
(a)	Money from the Emergency Telephone System Fund shall be used only to pay for:
(1)	The lease, purchase, or maintenance of emergency telephone equipment, including necessary computer hardware, software and database provisioning, addressing, and nonrecurring costs of establishing a 911 system and a nonemergency 311 system.
(2)	The rates associated with the service supplier's 911 service and 311 service and other service supplier recurring charges.
(b)	The following expenses are not eligible for payment from the Fund:  the lease or purchase of real estate, cosmetic remodeling of emergency dispatch centers, hiring, training, and compensating dispatchers, and the purchase of mobile communications vehicles, ambulances, fire engines, or other emergency vehicles.
(c)	A local government may contract with a service supplier for any term negotiated by the service supplier and the local government and may make payments from the Emergency Telephone System Fund to provide any payments required by the contract."
SECTION 4.  This act applies to the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County only.
SECTION 5.  This act is effective when it becomes law.