A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to eliminate the establishment of tolls on ferry routes and to annually appropriate five million dollars from the highway fund to the ferry capital improvement account.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 136‑82 reads as rewritten:
"§ 136‑82.  Department of Transportation to establish and maintain ferries.
(a)	Powers of Department. – The Department of Transportation is vested with authority to provide for the establishment and maintenance of ferries connecting the parts of the State highway system, whenever in its discretion the public good may require.

	
(e)	Powers of Department. – To accomplish the purpose of this section, the Department of Transportation is authorized to acquire, own, lease, charter or otherwise control all necessary vessels, boats, terminals or other facilities required for the proper operation of the ferries or to enter into contracts with persons, firms or corporations for the operation thereof and to pay the reasonable sums that in the opinion of the Department of Transportation represent the fair value of the public service rendered.
(f)	Authority to Generate Certain Receipts. – The Department of Transportation, notwithstanding any other provision of law, may operate or contract for the following receipt‑generating activities and use the proceeds in accordance with subsection (f1) of this section for ferry passenger vessel replacement projects and other ferry system capital needs:
(1)	Operation of, concessions on the ferries and at ferry facilities to provide to passengers on the ferries food, drink, and other refreshments, personal comfort items, Internet access, and souvenirs publicizing the ferry system.
(2)	Sponsorships, including, but not limited to, the sale of naming rights to any ferry vessel, ferry route, or ferry facility.
(3)	Advertising on or within any ferry vessel or at any ferry facility, including, but not limited to, display advertising and advertising delivered to passengers through the use of video monitors, public address systems installed in passenger areas, and other electronic media.
(4)	Any other receipt‑generating activity not otherwise forbidden by applicable law pertaining to public health or safety.
The Department may issue rules to implement this subsection.
(f1)	Ferry Capital Improvement Account. – The following shall be credited to a reserve account in the Highway Fund which shall be designated as the Ferry Capital Improvement Account:
(1)	Net receipts generated under subsection (f) of this section.
(2)	Notwithstanding G.S. 136‑44.2(f1), the unallotted and unencumbered balances on the last day of the fiscal year of funds appropriated from the Highway Fund to the Ferry Division.
(3)	Any other funds available from appropriations by the General Assembly or from contributions and grants from public or private sources.
Funds credited to the account shall be used for prioritized improvements to the vessels and facilities of the North Carolina Ferry System, including ferry passenger vessel replacement projects.
(g)	Confidentiality of Personal Information. – Identifying information obtained by the Department related to operation of the ferry system is not a public record under Chapter 132 of the General Statutes and is subject to the disclosure limitations in 18 U.S.C. § 2721 of the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act. The Department shall maintain the confidentiality of all information required to be kept confidential under 18 U.S.C. § 2721(a), as well as any financial information, transaction history, and information related to the collection of a user fee from a person, including, but not limited to, photographs or other recorded images or automatic vehicle identification or driver account information generated by radio‑frequency identification or other electronic means. The Department may use identifying information only for purposes of collecting and enforcing user fees. Nothing in this section is intended to limit the right of any person to examine that person's own account information, or the right of any party, by authority of a proper court order, to inspect and examine identifying information."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 136‑44.2(f1)(2)a. reads as rewritten:
"a.	Funds appropriated from the Highway Fund for the multimodal programs of the Department, consisting of funds for bicycle and pedestrian, ferry, railroad, aviation, and public transportation programs, excluding funds deposited in (i) the Freight Rail & Rail Crossing Safety Improvement Fund or (ii) the Ferry Capital Improvement Account."
SECTION 3.  The Board of Transportation shall cease collecting ferry tolls on the effective date of this act and shall take action as expeditiously as possible to repeal its regulations implementing ferry tolls. Prepaid tolls or commuter pass payments received by the Department of Transportation for ferry trips on or after the effective date of this act shall be refunded or, in the case of prepaid commuter passes, partially refunded based on the proportion of the time period covered by the commuter pass for which tolls were in effect.
SECTION 4.  Notwithstanding G.S. 143C‑5‑2, there is appropriated from the Highway Fund to the Ferry Capital Improvement Account the sum of five million dollars ($5,000,000) in recurring funds for the 2015‑2016 fiscal year to be used for purposes consistent with G.S. 136‑82(f1), as enacted by Section 1 of this act.
SECTION 5.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2015.