A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to provide ACCOMMODATIONS for driver education coursework interrupted by school closures and to ensure sufficient funding for behind‑the‑wheel driving instruction to be provided to all students enrolled in driver education in the spring semester of 2020.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding G.S. 115C‑215(b)(1), (2), (4), and (5) and G.S. 115C‑216, and the requirements of State Board of Education Policy DRIV‑0004, for students enrolled in classroom driver education between January 2020 and March 16, 2020, in a public school or a licensed commercial driver training school, students shall be deemed to have completed all classroom instruction requirements for driver education if the student completed at least 20 hours of classroom instruction prior to March 16, 2020. A student who has not completed at least 20 hours of classroom instruction shall be offered the opportunity to take and pass the proficiency examination developed by the Department of Public Instruction to waive the classroom instruction requirement. All students enrolled in driver education in the spring semester of 2020 shall be required to complete a minimum of six hours of behind‑the‑wheel instruction before being issued a North Carolina Driver Education Completion Certificate.
SECTION 2.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year for the driver education allotment. These funds shall be allotted pro rata to local school administrative units based on the amount of funds that reverted to the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund from each unit's driver education allotment on June 30, 2020.
SECTION 2.(b)  This section becomes effective July 1, 2020.
SECTION 3.  Except as otherwise provided herein, this act is effective when it becomes law.