A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to increase the portion of court costs used for the sheriffs' supplemental pension fund.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 7A‑304(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	In every criminal case in the superior or district court, wherein the defendant is convicted, or enters a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or when costs are assessed against the prosecuting witness, the following costs shall be assessed and collected. No costs may be assessed when a case is dismissed. Only upon entry of a written order, supported by findings of fact and conclusions of law, determining that there is just cause, the court may (i) waive costs assessed under this section or (ii) waive or reduce costs assessed under subdivision (7), (8), (8a), (11), (12), or (13) of this section.
…
(3a)	For the supplemental pension benefits of sheriffs, the sum of two dollars fifty cents ($2.50) to be remitted to the Department of Justice and administered under the provisions of Article 12H of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes.
…."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2015, and applies to court costs imposed or collected on or after that date, except that in misdemeanor cases disposed of on or after that date by written appearance, waiver of trial or hearing, and plea of guilty or admission of responsibility pursuant to G.S. 7A‑180(4) or G.S. 7A‑273(2) in which the citation or other criminal process was issued before that date, the cost shall be the lesser of the cost specified in G.S. 7A‑304(a), as amended by this act, or the cost specified in the notice portion of the defendant's or respondent's copy of the citation or other criminal process, if any costs are specified in that notice.