A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to increase the percentage of biodiesel fuel of a minimum blend of b‑20 that local boards of education must purchase statewide for use in school bus diesel engine motor vehicles and to require local boards of education to report these purchases to the state board of education.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑249(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	To the extent that the funds shall be made available to it for such purpose, a local board of education is authorized to purchase from time to time such additional school buses and service vehicles or replacements for school buses and service vehicles, as may be deemed by such board to be necessary for the safe and efficient transportation of pupils enrolled in the schools within such local school administrative unit. Any school bus so purchased shall be constructed and equipped as prescribed by the provisions of this Article and by the regulations of the State Board of Education issued pursuant thereto. Any school bus so purchased that is capable of operating on diesel fuel shall be capable of operating on diesel fuel with a minimum biodiesel concentration of B‑20, as defined in G.S. 143‑58.4. At least five percent (5%) of the total volume of fuel purchased annually by local school districts statewide for use in school bus diesel engine motor vehicles shall be biodiesel fuel of a minimum blend of B‑20, to the extent that biodiesel blend is available and compatible with the technology of the vehicles or equipment used. In order to monitor the level of use of biodiesel fuel of a minimum blend of B‑20, a local board of education that purchases such biodiesel fuel shall, no later than August 1 each year, report the volume of such fuel purchased during the previous fiscal year to the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education shall compile these reports and submit a report to the Fiscal Research Division and to the State Energy Office of the Department of Administration of the total volume of fuel purchased annually by local school districts statewide for use in school bus diesel engine motor vehicles and, of that total, the total volume of biodiesel fuel of a minimum blend of B‑20.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2009, and applies to fuel purchased on or after that date.