AN ACT to make statewide the authority previously granted to nash county so as to allow counties to provide grants to promote high‑speed internet access service in unserved areas for economic development and to make other clarifying changes.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Section 1 of S.L. 2011‑163 reads as rewritten:
"SECTION 1. A county may provide grants to unaffiliated qualified private providers of high­speed Internet access service, as that term is defined in G.S. 160A‑340(4),  for the purpose of expanding service in unserved areas for economic development in the county. The grants shall be awarded on a technology neutral basis, shall be open to qualified applicants, and may require matching funds by the private provider. A county shall seek and consider request for proposals from qualified private providers within the county prior to awarding a broadband grant and shall use reasonable means to ensure that potential applicants are made aware of the grant, including, at a minimum, compliance with the notice procedures set forth in G.S. 160A‑340.6(c). The county shall use only unrestricted general fund revenue for the grants. For the purposes of this section, a qualified private provider is a private provider of high‑speed Internet access service in the State prior to the issuance of the grant proposal."
SECTION 2.  Section 3 of S.L. 2011‑163 is repealed.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.  Section 1 of this act shall not apply to any broadband grant process initiated by Nash County prior to June 1, 2012.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 26th day of June, 2012.

	s/	 Walter H. Dalton
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Thom Tillis
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	_____________________________________
		 Beverly E. Perdue
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2012