A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT authorizing the department of cultural resources to take additional steps in preserving abandoned cemeteries by UNDERTAKING THE NORTH CAROLINA CEMETERY SURVEY AND ABANDONED CEMETERY STEWARDARDSHIP PROGRAM and appropriating funds to implement this act, as recommended by the house study committee on abandoned cemeteries.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The Department of Cultural Resources shall carry out the following duties as funds and staffing permit:
(a)	North Carolina Cemetery Survey and Abandoned Cemetery Stewardship Program.
(1)	Establish a North Carolina Cemetery Survey and Abandoned Cemetery Stewardship Program, to include an Adopt‑A‑Cemetery program.
(2)	Identify public and private grants that may be used to supplement a statewide county survey and an Adopt‑A‑Cemetery program for abandoned cemeteries.
(3)	Work with individuals, nonprofit organizations, and local governments to develop a statewide program of county cemetery survey teams with county coordinators.
(4)	Create a unified system of research, evaluation, and recording procedures to assist individuals, nonprofit organizations, and local governments in the compilation of cemetery data.
(5)	Assist individuals, nonprofit organizations, and local governments through training, technical assistance, and development of material with their efforts to survey cemeteries and to maintain abandoned cemeteries, and where staff and funding permit, assist individuals, nonprofit organizations, and local governments in their efforts to maintain historic cemeteries.
(6)	Develop an educational program designed to stimulate and maintain public interest in preserving abandoned cemeteries, including the development of uniform signs.
(7)	Maintain a statewide centralized database, and in coordination with the Center for Geographical Information Analysis (CGIA) record Geographical Information System (GIS) data on the State's cemeteries to include a category for abandoned cemeteries.
(8)	Distribute appropriate information regarding abandoned cemeteries to associations and agencies that may discover abandoned cemeteries while in the performance of their duties.
SECTION 2.  The Department of Cultural Resources shall, in addition to any other recommendations, prepare studies and plans, and submit a biennial report of its progress to the General Assembly.
SECTION 3.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Cultural Resources, Office of Archives and History, the sum of one hundred ninety‑nine thousand nine hundred eighty dollars ($199,980) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year and the sum of one hundred sixty‑eight thousand eighty dollars ($168,080) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to carry out the provisions of this act.
SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.