AN ACT to authorize all municipalities and counties to give a single notice to chronic violators of their public nuisance ordinances.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Article 8 of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 160A‑200.1.  Annual notice to chronic violators of public nuisance ordinance.
A city may notify a chronic violator of the city's public nuisance ordinance that, if the violator's property is found to be in violation of the ordinance, the city shall, without further notice in the calendar year in which notice is given, take action to remedy the violation, and the expense of the action shall become a lien upon the property and shall be collected as unpaid taxes. The notice shall be sent by certified mail. A chronic violator is a person who owns property whereupon, in the previous calendar year, the city gave notice of violation at least three times under any provision of the public nuisance ordinance."
SECTION 2.  Article 6 of Chapter 153A of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 153A‑140.2.  Annual notice to chronic violators of public nuisance ordinance.
A county may notify a chronic violator of the county's public nuisance ordinance that, if the violator's property is found to be in violation of the ordinance, the county shall, without further notice in the calendar year in which notice is given, take action to remedy the violation, and the expense of the action shall become a lien upon the property and shall be collected as unpaid taxes. The notice shall be sent by certified mail. A chronic violator is a person who owns property whereupon, in the previous calendar year, the county gave notice of violation at least three times under any provision of the public nuisance ordinance."
SECTION 3.  S.L. 2005‑44, S.L. 2007‑3, S.L. 2007‑254, and S.L. 2008‑23 are repealed.

SECTION 4.  Section 3 of this act becomes effective October 1, 2009. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law. A municipality or county may adopt an ordinance under G.S. 160A‑200.1 or G.S. 153A‑140.2 when this act becomes law, but the ordinances may not become effective prior to October 1, 2009. The repeal in this act of any local act does not affect the rights or liabilities of a municipality or county that arose during the time the act was in effect, or under an ordinance adopted under such an act. If any municipality or county adopted an ordinance under any act repealed by this act, and the ordinance would be permitted under G.S. 160A‑200.1 or G.S. 153A‑140.2, as enacted by this act, that ordinance shall remain in effect until amended or repealed by that municipality or county.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 2nd day of July, 2009.

	s/	 Walter H. Dalton
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Beverly E. Perdue
	 Governor

Approved 11:27 a.m. this 10th day of July, 2009