A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to provide that funds in the water resources development program may be awarded to a local government FOR NUISANCE ABATEMENT COSTS THAT THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT CANNOT RECOVER FROM THE OWNER OF THE NUISANCE STRUCTURE and to provide for a study of measures to mitigate the impact of erosion‑threatened structures on the public beach.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 143‑215.71 reads as rewritten:
"§ 143‑215.71.  Purposes for which grants may be requested.
Applications for grants may be made for the nonfederal share of water resources development projects for the following purposes in amounts not to exceed the percentage of the nonfederal costs indicated:
(1)	General navigation projects that are sponsored by local governments – eighty percent (80%);
(2)	Recreational navigation projects – twenty‑five percent (25%);
(3)	Construction costs for water management (flood control and drainage) purposes, including utility and road relocations not funded by the State Department of Transportation – sixty‑six and two‑thirds percent (66 2/3%), but only of that portion of the project specifically allocated for such flood control or drainage purposes;
(4)	Stream restoration – sixty‑six and two‑thirds percent (66 2/3%);
(5)	Protection of privately owned beaches where public access is allowed and provided for – seventy‑five percent (75%);
(6)	Land acquisition and facility development for water‑based recreation sites operated by local governments – fifty percent (50%);
(7)	Aquatic weed control projects sponsored by local governments – fifty percent (50%); or
(8)	Reimbursement of costs incurred by a local government to abate a nuisance caused by a structure that has been damaged or destroyed in the ocean hazard area of environmental concern as designated by the Coastal Resources Commission pursuant to G.S. 113A‑113. – one hundred percent (100%) of the nuisance abatement costs that the local government cannot recover from the owner of the structure."
SECTION 2.(a)  The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in consultation with the North Carolina Department of Insurance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and local government representatives from municipalities and counties with jurisdiction over ocean and inlet shorelines, shall study measures to mitigate the impact of erosion‑threatened structures on the public beach and reduce potential public costs by relocating imminently threatened structures. In conducting the study, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall do all of the following:
(1)	Identify potential sources of funding for relocation of structures, including federal hazard mitigation funds and insurance policies.
(2)	Review programs in other states that address erosion hazards through relocation of imminently threatened structures.
(3)	Describe existing State and local government authority to address erosion‑threatened structures on ocean and inlet shorelines.
(4)	Identify potential obstacles to creation of a hazard mitigation program to relocate imminently threatened structures.
SECTION 2.(b)  The Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall report the results of the study and any recommendations to the Environmental Review Commission no later than September 1, 2010.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2009.