A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT amending the laws related to the compensation of clerks of superior court and appropriating funds for the salary increases associated with those changes.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 7A‑101(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The clerk of superior court is a full‑time employee of the State and shall receive an annual salary, payable in equal monthly installments, based on the population of the county as determined in subsection (a1) of this section, according to the following schedule:
Population	Annual Salary
Less than50,000		$71,659
50,000 to 149,999		80,413
150,000 to 249,999		89,169
250,000 and above		97,925.
The salary schedule in this subsection is intended to represent the following approximate percentage of the salary of a chief district court judge:
Population	Annual Salary
Less than 100,000	73%
100,000 to 149,999	82%
150,000 to 249,999	91%
250,000 and above	100%.
When a county changes from one population group to another, the salary of the clerk shall be changed, on July 1 of the fiscal year for which the change is reported, to the salary appropriate for the new population group, except that the salary of an incumbent clerk shall not be decreased by any change in population group during his continuance in office. 
In addition to the salary rate provided by this subsection, the clerk of superior court shall receive legislative pay increases as may be awarded by the General Assembly."
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Judicial Department the sum of two hundred ninety‑two thousand dollars ($292,000) for the 2005‑2006 fiscal year and the sum of two hundred ninety‑two thousand dollars ($292,000) for the 2006‑2007 fiscal year to fund the salary increases authorized by this act.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2005.