A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to allow counties to participate in financing improvements to public streets, highways, and bridges; and to allow municipalities that receive an allocation of funds from the highway fund and the highway trust fund with monies for repair, maintenance, construction, reconstruction, widening, or improving streets of the municipality an option to elect to continue to receive allocations or have the allocation reprogrammed to fund any project on the department of transportation's transportation improvement list.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 136‑18(29a) reads as rewritten:
"(29a)	To coordinate with all public and private entities planning schools to provide written recommendations and evaluations of driveway access and traffic operational and safety impacts on the State highway system resulting from the development of the proposed sites. All public and private entities shall, upon acquiring land for a new school or prior to beginning construction of a new school, relocating a school, or expanding an existing school, request from the Department a written evaluation and written recommendations to ensure that all proposed access points comply with the criteria in the current North Carolina Department of Transportation "Policy on Street and Driveway Access". The Department shall provide the written evaluation and recommendations within a reasonable time, which shall not exceed 60 days. This subdivision shall not be construed to require the public or private entities planning schools to meet the recommendations made by the Department, except those highway improvements that are required for safe ingress and egress to the State highway system."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 136‑45 reads as rewritten:
"§ 136‑45.  General purpose of law; control, repair and maintenance of highways.
The general purpose of the laws creating the Department of Transportation is that said Department of Transportation shall take over, establish, construct, and maintain a statewide system of hard‑surfaced and other dependable highways running to all county seats, and to all principal towns, State parks, and principal State institutions, and linking up with state highways of adjoining states and with national highways into national forest reserves by the most practical routes, with special view of development of agriculture, commercial and natural resources of the State, and, except as otherwise provided by law, for the further purpose of permitting the State to assume control of the State highways, repair, construct, and reconstruct and maintain said highways at the expense of the entire State, and to relieve the counties and cities and towns of the State of this burden."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 136‑51 reads as rewritten:
"§ 136‑51.  Maintenance of county public roads vested in Department of Transportation.
From and after July 1, 1931, the exclusive control and management and responsibility for all public roads in the several counties shall be vested in the Department of Transportation as hereinafter provided, and all county, district, and township highway or road commissioners, by whatever name designated, and whether created under public, public‑local, or private acts, shall be abolished:
Provided, that for the purpose of providing for the payment of any  bonded or other indebtedness, and for the interest thereon, that may be outstanding as an obligation of any county, district, or township commission herein abolished, the boards of county commissioners of the respective counties are hereby constituted fiscal agents, and are vested with authority and it shall be their duty to levy such taxes on the taxable property or persons within the respective county, district, or township by or for which said bonds or other indebtedness were issued or incurred and as are now authorized by law to the extent that the same may be necessary to provide for the payment of such obligations; and the respective commissions herein abolished shall on or before July 1, 1931, turn over to said boards of county commissioners any moneys on hand or evidences of indebtedness properly applicable to the discharge of any such indebtedness (except such moneys as are mentioned in paragraph (a) above); and all uncollected special road taxes shall be payable to said boards of county commissioners, and the portion of said taxes applicable to indebtedness shall be applied by said commissioners to said indebtedness, or invested in a sinking fund according to law. All that portion of said taxes or other funds coming into the hands of said county commissioners and properly applicable to the maintenance or improvement of the public roads of the county shall be held by them as a special road fund and disbursed upon proper orders of the Department of Transportation.
Provided, further, that in order to fully carry out the provisions  of this section the respective boards of county commissioners are vested with full authority to prosecute all suitable legal actions.
Nothing in this section shall prevent a county from participating in the cost of rights‑of‑way, construction, reconstruction, improvement, or maintenance of a road on the State highway system under agreement with the Department of Transportation. A county is authorized and empowered to acquire land by dedication and acceptance, purchase, or eminent domain and make improvements to portions of the State highway system lying within or outside the county limits utilizing local funds that have been authorized for that purpose. The provisions of G.S. 153A‑15 apply to any county attempting to acquire property outside its limits. All improvements to the State highway system shall be done in accordance with the specifications and requirements of the Department of Transportation."
SECTION 4.  G.S. 136‑98 reads as rewritten:
"§ 136‑98.  Counties authorized to participate in costs of road construction and maintenance.
	(b)	Nothing in this Article prohibits counties from establishing service districts for road maintenance under Part 1, Article 16 of Chapter 153A of the General Statutes.
(c)	A county is authorized to participate in the cost of rights‑of‑way, construction, reconstruction, improvement, or maintenance of a road on the State highway system under agreement with the Department of Transportation."
SECTION 5.  Chapter 136 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 136‑41.4.  Municipal use of allocated funds; election.
A municipality that qualifies for an allocation of funds pursuant to G.S. 136‑41.1 shall have the option to accept all funds allocated to the municipality, under that section, for the repair, maintenance, construction, reconstruction, widening, or improving of the municipality's streets, or the municipality may elect to have some or all of the allocation reprogrammed for any Transportation Improvement Project currently on the approved project list within the municipality's limits or within the area of any metropolitan planning organization or rural planning organization.
If a municipality chooses to have its allocation reprogrammed, the minimum amount that may be reprogrammed is an amount equal to that amount necessary to complete one full phase of the project selected by the municipality or an amount that, when added to the amount already programmed for the Transportation Improvement Project selected, would permit the completion of at least one full phase of the project."
SECTION 6.  Section 5 of this act becomes effective October 1, 2007.  The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.