AN ACT to change the definition on an area that can be REPRESENTED by a rural planning ORganizATION, as recommended by the joint LEGISLATIVE TRANSPORTATION oversight committee.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 136‑211 reads as rewritten:
"§ 136‑211.  Department authorized to establish Rural Transportation Planning Organizations.
(a)	Authorization. – The Department of Transportation is authorized to form Rural Transportation Planning Organizations.
(b)	Area Represented. – Rural Transportation Planning Organizations shall include representatives from contiguous areas in three to fifteen counties, or a total population of the entire area represented of at least 50,000 persons according to the latest population estimate of the Office of State Budget and Management. Noncontiguous counties adjacent to the same Metropolitan Planning Organization may form a Rural Transportation Planning Organization. Areas already included in a Metropolitan Planning Organization shall not be included in the area represented by a Rural Transportation Planning Organization.
(c)	Membership. – The Rural Transportation Planning Organization shall consist of local elected officials or their designees and representatives of local transportation systems in the area as agreed to by all parties in a memorandum of understanding.
(d)	Formation; Memorandum of Understanding. – The Department shall notify local elected officials and representatives of local transportation systems around the State of the opportunity to form Rural Transportation Planning Organizations. The Department shall work cooperatively with interested local elected officials, their designees, and representatives of local transportation systems to develop a proposed area, membership, functions, and responsibilities of a Rural Transportation Planning Organization. The agreement of all parties shall be included in a memorandum of understanding approved by the membership of a proposed Rural Transportation Planning Organization and the Secretary of the Department of Transportation."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 14th 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