AN ACT to increase the AMOUNT the DEPARTMENT of TRANSPORTATION will pay as relocation ASSISTANCE for REASONABLE expenses for searching for a replacement business or farm, as required by federal regulation.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 133‑8(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Whenever the acquisition of real property for a program or project undertaken by an agency will result in the displacement of any person, such agency shall make a payment to any displaced person, upon application as approved by the head of the agency for:
(1)	Actual reasonable expenses in moving himself, his family, business, farm operation, or other personal property;
(2)	Actual direct losses of tangible personal property as a result of moving or discontinuing a business or farm operation, but not to exceed an amount equal to the reasonable expenses that would have been required to relocate such property, as determined by the relocation officer; and
(3)	Actual reasonable expenses in searching for a replacement business or farm in accordance with criteria established by the lead agency, but not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500); and
(4)	Actual reasonable expenses necessary to reestablish a displaced farm, nonprofit organization, or small business at its new site, in accordance with criteria to be established by the lead agency, but not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000)."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 16th day of August, 2005.

	_____________________________________
		 Marc Basnight
	 President Pro Tempore of the Senate

	_____________________________________
		 James B. Black
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	_____________________________________
		 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2005