A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to implement the funding recommendation of the office of state budget and management concerning improvement of the state's geographical information system and to appropriate funds to the Geographical information coordinating council for that purpose.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  Study Directive. – As directed by Section 6.13 of S.L. 2007‑323, the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) completed a study of the State's geographical information system (GIS).
SECTION 1.(b)  Governance Recommendations. – The Office of State Budget and Management made the following governance recommendations:
(1)	That the existing Management & Operations (M&O) Committee of the Geographic Information Coordinating Council (GICC) be tasked with the responsibility of setting and managing the Statewide GIS Strategy.
(2)	That the Center for Geographic Information and Anaylsis (CGIA) be tasked with the responsibility of coordinating the execution of the statewide GIS strategy and GICC policies and standards.
(3)	That the GICC, M&O, and the CGIA be provided with the authority to do the following:
a.	Create, update, and enforce GIS-related standards for State agencies and collaborate with counties and local municipalities.
b.	Establish statewide GIS roles and responsibilities for all agencies that develop and maintain GIS data and give GICC the authority to hold agencies accountable for updating framework plus other key data layers relating to GIS in State agencies.
c.	Establish data stewards of framework and other key data layers within State agencies.
(4)	Establishment of a GIS Reserve account, by which OSBM would have oversight to manage annual General Assembly appropriated funding for framework data plus other key data layers; funding would be allocated by the M&O Committee to agencies' data stewards. The GICC, the CGIA, the OSBM, and the State agencies would identify both the existing and required recurring funds for framework data layer maintenance to establish the GIS Reserve account. The amounts would be netted out for any anticipated cost share from federal or local governments.
SECTION 1.(c)  Organizational Recommendations. – The Office of State Budget and Management made the following organizational, staffing, and fund model recommendations:
(1)	To move the CGIA and all of its responsibilities (currently under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources) to the State Chief Information Officer (CIO).
(2)	Align the current CGIA Director to report directly to the State CIO.
(3)	Leave agency GIS personnel in agencies.
(4)	Subject to inclusion in the Governor's Recommended Budget for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year, appropriate funding for additional CGIA positions.
(5)	Leave 15 positions as fee based to support the development of multistate agency enterprise GIS product offerings.
(6)	 Subject to inclusion in the Governor's Recommended Budget for 2008‑2009 fiscal year, appropriate funding for an additional OSBM position for GIS Reserve oversight.
SECTION 1.(d)  Infrastructure Recommendations. – The Office of State Budget and Management made the following recommendations regarding infrastructure and leveraging local and federal support:
(1)	Subject to inclusion in the Governor's Recommended Budget for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year, appropriate funding for a system architecture plan and follow up with funding for implementation of that plan to complete the NC OneMap vision.
(2)	GICC and CGIA should coordinate a statewide flyover for orthophotography both logistically and via funding across the different levels of government.
(3)	GICC and CGIA should implement an aggregate cost-share model that has counties contributing fifty percent (50%), the State contributing twenty-five percent (25%), and the federal government contributing twenty-five percent (25%) for a leaf-off product based on the GICC adopted orthophotography standard.
(4)	Consideration should be given regarding the fifty percent (50%) county participation to ensure counties with very high growth which require more frequent orthophotography pay more of a share versus counties with little to no growth who should pay a smaller share to no share of the cost.
(5)	Subject to inclusion in the Governor's Recommended Budget for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year, either appropriate the sum of six hundred thirty five thousand six hundred twenty‑five dollars ($635,625), which amounts to the twenty-five percent (25%) share, to the GICC for the State's participation or request the 911 Board to review the language pertaining to the 911 Fund to consider specifically allocating monies for the State flyover, or do both.
(6)	GICC via the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety (CCPS) should seek Homeland Security Grants to augment flyover dollars.
(7)	State agencies, the GICC, and the CGIA should continue to aggressively seek federal funding grants to fund GIS projects in addition to orthophotography flyovers.
SECTION 1.(e)  The Office of State Budget and Management made the following recommendations regarding the consolidation of State GIS initiatives:
(1)	Information Technology Projects using GIS should be reviewed by CGIA to ensure no cross State government agency duplication and to ensure that the business case has been made for the requested investment. If multiple projects are solving the same problem, then an enterprise offering should be considered and built by the CGIA.
(2)	State agencies should evaluate consolidation opportunities to reduce the number of servers if and where appropriate.
SECTION 2.  Appropriation. – There is appropriated from the General Fund  to the Geographic Information Coordinating Council (GICC) the sum of six hundred thirty-five thousand six hundred twenty‑five dollars ($635,625) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to fund improvements in the State's geographical information system consistent with the report of the Office of State Budget and Management, dated February 2008, made in accordance with Section 6.13 of S.L. 2007‑323.
SECTION 3.  Effective Date. – This act becomes effective July 1, 2008.