A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to change the ELECTION method of the union county board of education from nonpartisan to partisan.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding Section 5(a) of the Plan for Merging the Monroe City School System and the Union County School System adopted by the State Board of Education on January 8, 1992, and validated under Chapter 767 of the 1991 Session Laws (the Merger Plan), beginning in 2018, the Union County Board of Education shall consist of nine members who shall be elected on a partisan basis at the time of the general election in each even‑numbered year as terms expire. Except as otherwise provided by this act, elections shall be conducted in accordance with Chapters 115C and 163 of the General Statutes. Candidates for election to the Union County Board of Education shall be nominated at the same time and manner as other county officers. As the terms of the present members expire, beginning with the primary and election to be held in 2018, and every two years thereafter, members of the Union County Board of Education shall be elected for terms of four years.
SECTION 2.  Notwithstanding Section 5(f) and Section 5(h) of the Merger Plan, beginning in 2018, vacancies on the Union County Board of Education for positions elected on a partisan basis shall be filled by appointment in accordance with G.S. 115C‑37.1 until the next election for members of the Board, at which time the remaining unexpired term shall be filled by election. Vacancies on the Union County Board of Education for positions elected on a nonpartisan basis in 2014 or 2016 shall be filled in accordance with G.S. 115C‑37(f).
SECTION 3.  This act does not affect the terms of office of any person elected in 2014 or 2016 to the Union County Board of Education. The members of the Union County Board of Education elected in 2014 or 2016, or any member appointed by the remaining members of the Board to fill a vacancy of a member elected in 2014 or 2016, shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified.
SECTION 4.  Chapter 359 of the 1975 Session Laws and Chapter 136 of the 1989 Session Laws are repealed.
SECTION 5.  Effective on the first Monday in December of 2018, G.S. 115C‑37.1(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	This section shall apply only in the following counties: Alleghany, Brunswick, Cherokee, Clay, Davie, Graham, Guilford, Harnett, Iredell, Lee, New Hanover, Rutherford, Stanly, Union, Vance, and Washington."
SECTION 6.  This act is effective when it becomes law.