AN ACT to prevent identity theft of discharged veterans by restricting the release of military service discharge documents.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 47‑113.2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 47‑113.2.  Restricting access to military discharge documents.
(a)	All military discharge documents filed on or after January 1, 2004, shall be considered a public record, but for confidential safekeeping and restricted access to such documents, these documents will be filed with the registers of deeds in this State. These documents are exempt from public inspection and access except as allowed in subsections (b) and (m) of this section.
…
(e)	No copy of a military discharge document or any other information from such document filed after January 1, 2004, shall be made available other than in accordance with subsection (b) or (m) of this section.
…
(l)	The register of deeds shall, to the greatest extent possible, take appropriate protective actions in accordance with any limitations determined necessary by the register of deeds with regard to records that were filed before January 1, 2004.
(m)	Subsection (e) of this section shall not apply to images of military discharge documents that have been on file for over 80 years.
…
(q)	The words "register of deeds" appearing in this section shall be interpreted to mean "register of deeds, assistant register of deeds, or deputy register of deeds.""
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 21st day of March, 2013.

	s/	 Daniel J. Forest
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Paul Stam
	 Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives

	___________________________________________
		 Pat McCrory
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2013