A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT CREATING THE north carolina commission for urban cores.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is created the North Carolina Commission for Urban Cores ("Commission"). The Commission shall work with private and public institutions and with individuals to identify the major opportunities and challenges facing the urban cores of this State and to develop practical proposals for meeting these challenges to be submitted to the legislative and executive branches of government. The Commission shall consist of 21 members appointed as follows:
(1)	Seven members appointed by the Governor.
(2)	Seven members appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
(3)	Seven members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
By June 1, 2004, the Commission shall submit an interim report of its findings and recommendations to the 2004 Regular Session of the 2003 General Assembly. The Commission shall make a final report to the 2005 General Assembly and shall terminate upon filing its final report.
SECTION 2.  The President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall each appoint a cochair for the Commission. The Commission may contract for consultant services as provided by G.S. 120‑32.02.  Upon approval of the Legislative Services Commission, the Legislative Services Officer shall assign professional and clerical staff to assist in the work of the Commission.  Clerical staff shall be furnished to the Commission through the offices of the House of Representatives and Senate Supervisors of Clerks.  The Commission may meet in the Legislative Building or the Legislative Office Building upon the approval of the Legislative Services Commission. The Commission, while in discharge of official duties, may exercise all the powers provided under the provisions of G.S. 120‑19 through G.S. 120‑19.4, including the power to request all officers, agents, agencies, and departments of the State to provide any information, data, or documents within their possession, ascertainable from their records, or otherwise available to them, and the power to subpoena witnesses. Members of the Commission shall receive per diem, subsistence, and travel allowances at the rate established in G.S. 120‑3.1. The appointing authority shall fill vacancies on the Commission.
SECTION 3.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the General Assembly the sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for the 2003‑2004 fiscal year and the sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for the 2004‑2005 fiscal year for the costs of the work of the North Carolina Commission for Urban Cores, created in Section 1 of this act.
SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2003.