A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO CREATE A PERMANENT CITIZENS EFFICIENCY COMMISSION AND TO REQUIRE EACH HOUSE TO VOTE ON ITS RECOMMENDATIONS, SO AS TO PROVIDE A COUNTERVAILING FORCE TO PRESSURES IN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM THAT RESULT IN WASTEFUL SPENDING AND LOOPHOLES.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Article to read:
"Article 79.
"Citizens Efficiency Commission.
"§ 143‑740. Establish Commission.
There is established a Citizens Efficiency Commission, to recommend to the Governor efficiencies in government, with a procedure to ensure expedited consideration by the General Assembly of its proposals.
"§ 143‑741. Commission Membership.
The Commission shall consist of fifteen members appointed by the Governor. Members shall be appointed for two‑year terms commencing July 1, 2007, and biennially thereafter. The Commission shall be an independent and bipartisan body of citizens from the business and civic sector.  A substantial number of the appointees should possess prior governmental experience.
"§ 143‑742. Commission Duties.
Each biennium, the Citizens Efficiency Commission may present separate governmental efficiency proposals to the Governor.  Any person may submit proposals to the Commission. The Commission shall conduct public hearings on the recommendations. The efficiency programs may include, but are not limited to, closing, relocating, or merging State agencies and institutions, eliminating programs or transferring them from one department to another.
"§ 143‑743. Consideration by Governor.
(a)	The Commission shall, by no later than July 1 of each even‑numbered year, transmit to the Governor a report containing the Commission's findings and conclusions together with the Commission's recommendations for efficiency in government.
(b)	The Governor shall, no later than November 30 of each year in which the Commission makes recommendations, transmit to the Commission and to the General Assembly a report containing the Governor's approval or disapproval of the Commission's recommendations.
(c)	If the Governor approves all the recommendations of the Commission, the Governor shall transmit by December 15 of that year a copy of such recommendations to the General Assembly, together with a certification of such approval. The recommendations shall be separately numbered.
(d)	If the Governor disapproves the recommendations of the Commission, in whole or in part, the Governor shall transmit by December 15 to the Commission and the General Assembly the reasons for that disapproval. The Commission shall then transmit to the Governor, by no later than December 31 of the year concerned, a revised list of recommendations for efficiency in government.
(e)	If the Governor approves all of the revised recommendations of the Commission transmitted to the Governor, the Governor shall transmit a copy of such revised recommendations to the General Assembly by January 15, together with a certification of such approval. The recommendations shall be separately numbered.
"§ 143‑744. Legislative disapproval.
(a)	The Governor may not carry out any efficiency program recommended by the Commission in a report transmitted to the General Assembly as provided by this Article if a bill is enacted, disapproving the recommendations of the Commission before the earlier of:
(1)	The end of the 90‑day period beginning on the date on which the Governor transmits such report; or
(2)	The adjournment of General Assembly sine die for the session during which such report is transmitted.
(b)	For purposes of this section, the days on which either house of the General Assembly is not in session because of adjournment of more than three days to a day certain shall be excluded in the computation of a period.
(c)	For purposes of subsection (a) of this section, the term "bill" means only a bill which is introduced within the 10‑day period beginning on the next day the General Assembly is in session after the date on which the Governor transmits the report to the General Assembly under this article; and which:
(1)	Does not have a preamble.
(2)	The matter after the enacting clause of which is as follows: "The General Assembly disapproves the recommendations of the Citizens Efficiency Commission as submitted by the Governor on ", the blank space being filled in with the appropriate date; and the number (s) of the recommendations disapproved.
(3)	The title of which is as follows: "An act disapproving the recommendations of the Citizens Efficiency Commission."
(d)	A bill described in subsection (c) of this section that is introduced shall be referred to the appropriate committee in accordance with the rules of that house.
(e)	If the committee to which a bill described in subsection (c) of this section is
referred has not reported such a bill (or an identical bill) by the end of the 20‑day period beginning on the date the bill is introduced, such committee shall be, at the end of such period, discharged from further consideration of such bill, and such bill shall be placed on the appropriate calendar of the house involved.
(f)	On or after the third legislative day after the date on which the committee
to which such a bill is referred has reported, (or has been discharged under subsection (e) of this section from further consideration of such a bill) it is in order (even though a previous motion to the same effect has been disagreed to) for any member of the respective house to move to proceed to the consideration of the bill. A member may make the motion only on the day after the calendar day on which the member announces to the house concerned the member's intention to make the motion, except that, in the case of the House of Representatives, the motion may be made without such prior announcement if the motion is made by direction of the committee to which the bill was referred. The motion is privileged in the House of Representatives and is privileged in the Senate and is not debatable. The motion is not subject to amendment, or to a motion to postpone, or to a motion to proceed to the consideration of other business. A motion to reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to shall not be in order. If a motion to proceed to the consideration of the bill is agreed to, the respective house shall immediately proceed to consideration of the bill without intervening motion, order, or other business, and the bill shall remain the unfinished
business of the respective house until disposed of.
(g)	Upon passage on third reading, the bill shall be transmitted to the other house by special message. 
(h)	If, before the passage by one house of a bill of that house described in subsection (c) of this section, that house receives from the other house a bill described in subsection (c) of this section, then the following procedures shall apply:
(1)	The bill of the other house shall not be referred to a committee and shall be placed on the calendar for second reading the next legislative day after receipt. If the bill passes third reading, it shall be enrolled and transmitted to the Governor.
(2)	If a bill is received from the other house, no action shall be taken on the bill of the house receiving the bill, the duty being discharged by taking up the bill of the other house.
(i)	This section is enacted by the General Assembly as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, and as such it is deemed a part of the rules of each house, respectively, but applicable only with respect to the procedure to be followed in that house in the case of a bill described in subsection (a), and it supersedes other rules only to the extent that it is inconsistent with such rules; and with full recognition of the constitutional right of either house to change the rules (so far as relating to the procedure of that house) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of that house."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.