A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to authorize the establishment of a public defender's office in district 5.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 7A‑498.7(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The following counties of the State are organized into the defender districts listed below, and in each of those defender districts an office of public defender is established:

	Defender District	Counties	

1	Camden, Chowan,
	Currituck, Dare, Gates,
	Pasquotank, Perquimans
3A	Pitt
3B	Carteret
5	New Hanover
10	Wake
12	Cumberland
14	Durham
15B	Orange, Chatham
16A	Scotland, Hoke
16B	Robeson
18	Guilford
21	Forsyth
26	Mecklenburg
27A	Gaston
28	Buncombe

After notice to, and consultation with, the affected district bar, senior resident superior court judge, and chief district court judge, the Commission on Indigent Defense Services may recommend to the General Assembly that a district or regional public defender office be established. A legislative act is required in order to establish a new office or to abolish an existing office."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.