A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to enhance the infrastructure that supports oyster restoration activities, to protect and restore water quality and habitat in prime oyster growing areas, to appropriate funds to help support projects to rehabilitate oyster habitats and sanctuaries, to appropriate funds to plan for the development of oyster hatcheries at each of the three North Carolina aquariums, and to develop public education programs regarding those oyster hatcheries.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources the sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) for the 2005‑2006 fiscal year and the sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) for the 2006‑2007 fiscal year to be allocated to the Division of Marine Fisheries for the Shellfish Rehabilitation Program.  The funds appropriated under this section shall be used to plant an additional 160,000 bushels of cultch material annually, i.e., oyster shell, clamshell, or marl.
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources the sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) for the 2005‑2006 fiscal year and the sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) for the 2006‑2007 fiscal year to be allocated to the Division of Marine Fisheries to create two oyster sanctuaries per year.
SECTION 3.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources the sum of eighty thousand dollars ($80,000) for the 2005‑2006 fiscal year and the sum of eighty thousand dollars ($80,000) for the 2006‑2007 fiscal year to be allocated as follows:
(1)	Of the funds appropriated by this section, the sum of forty‑five thousand dollars ($45,000) shall be used each fiscal year to support a position for an oyster shell recycling coordinator.
(2)	Of the funds appropriated by this section, the sum of thirty‑five thousand dollars ($35,000) shall be used each fiscal year to provide recycling infrastructure.
SECTION 4.  Article 21 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 143‑214.2C.  Prohibited discharges to prime shellfish waters.(a)	Definitions. – The following definitions apply in this section:
(1)	"Stormwater outfall" means any conduit including, but not limited to, pipes, ditches, swales, drains, canals, gutters, impoundments, curbs, or impervious surfaces that directly or indirectly discharge to State waters.
(2)	"Prime shellfish growing area" includes any saltwater shellfish growing area in which all or part of the shellfish growing area is classified as Outstanding Resource Waters by the Environmental Management Commission. The term also includes, but is not limited to, shellfish growing areas A‑2, A‑3, B‑1, B‑7, B‑9, C‑1, C‑2, C‑3, D‑3, E‑4, E‑6, F‑1, F‑2, F‑5, F‑7, G‑3, G‑4, and G‑7 as delineated by the North Carolina Division of Environmental Health. Additional growing areas may be determined to be prime shellfish growing areas through a proclamation by the Director of the Division of Marine Fisheries.
(b)	Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no new or expanded discharge of stormwater shall be permitted through any stormwater outfall that drains to a prime shellfish growing area or unnamed freshwater tributaries to a prime shellfish growing area, except in the case of a storm exceeding the 10‑year/24‑hour storm."
SECTION 5.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources the sum of two hundred thirty‑seven thousand dollars ($237,000) for the 2005‑2006 fiscal year and the sum of two hundred thirty‑seven thousand dollars ($237,000) for the 2006‑2007 fiscal year to be allocated to the Division of Environmental Health as follows:
(1)	Of the funds appropriated by this section, the sum of sixty‑nine thousand dollars ($69,000) shall be used each fiscal year to support a position for a GIS staff person.
(2)	Of the funds appropriated by this section, the sum of one hundred sixty‑eight thousand dollars ($168,000) shall be used each fiscal year to support three positions for shoreline surveyors to expand the pilot program that examines the sources of pollution that affect shellfish growing areas to all shellfish growing areas in the coastal region.
SECTION 6.(a)  The General Assembly finds that under the State Revolving Fund (SRF), Congress provides the states with grant funds to establish revolving loan programs to assist in the funding of wastewater treatment facilities and projects associated with estuary and nonpoint source programs and that in order to receive funding from the SRF, projects must be included on a priority funding list.
SECTION 6.(b)  The installation of stormwater retrofits that improve water quality shall be an equal priority with water and sewer projects under the State Revolving Fund (SRF) and any other grants or loans established under State bond authority through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, or any other entity.  Stormwater retrofits that remove outfalls from waters that have been classified as Class SA waters by the Environmental Management Commission shall be given the highest priority in the SRF rating system, subject to approval by the United States Environmental Protection Agency if required.  As an incentive, SRF loans that are made to eligible entities to install stormwater retrofits that remove outfalls that discharge into Class SA waters shall be free of interest.
SECTION 7.(a)  The Division of North Carolina Aquariums of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall plan for the development of an oyster hatchery and public education program regarding the hatcheries at each of the three North Carolina aquariums.  The Division shall be the lead agency in planning the development of the hatcheries and public education programs but shall consult with all of the following in carrying out this project:  Division of Marine Fisheries of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Sea Grant College Program at The University of North Carolina, The University of North Carolina Coastal Studies Institute, Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and any other appropriate institutions of higher education.
SECTION 7.(b)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources the sum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) for the 2005‑2006 fiscal year to be allocated to the Division of North Carolina Aquariums to implement this section.
SECTION 8.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2005.