A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to SAVE OUR COURTS BY appropriatING funds to provide emergency assistance to the north carolina court system, by temporarily removing the LIMITS ON ACTIVE emergency judges, and by providing greater discretion to judicial officials setting CONDITIONS OF PRETRIAL release.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS TO THE NORTH CAROLINA COURT SYSTEM IN RESPONSE TO THE COVID‑19 PANDEMIC
SECTION 1.(a)  The State Controller shall transfer the sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) from the Coronavirus Relief Reserve established in Section 2.1 of S.L. 2020‑4 to the Coronavirus Relief Fund established in Section 2.2 of that same act.
SECTION 1.(b)  There is appropriated from the Coronavirus Relief Fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year to be used for technological expenditures, including laptops, laptop accessories, and security software to enable staff to work remotely.
SECTION 1.(c)  There is appropriated from the Coronavirus Relief Fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts the sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year to be used for supply expenditures, including, but not limited to, each of the following:
(1)	Personal protective equipment for courthouse personnel and visitors.
(2)	Temporary rental facilities for court procedures that require more space than is currently available in order to appropriately comply with national, State, and local social distancing rules and recommendations.
SECTION 1.(d)  There is appropriated from the Coronavirus Relief Fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts the sum of seven million five hundred thousand dollars ($7,500,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year to be used for personnel expenditures, including, but not limited to, each of the following:
(1)	Temporary staff for clerks' offices.
(2)	Temporary health worker staffing.
(3)	Overtime pay for courthouse staff.
(4)	Additional emergency judges.
(5)	Existing temporary staff.
SECTION 1.(e)  The requirements set forth in Part I of S.L. 2020‑4 shall apply to the funds appropriated by this section.

ALLOW THE NORTH CAROLINA COURT SYSTEM TO MORE EFFICIENTLY MANAGE CASE BACKLOG CAUSED BY THE COVID‑19 PANDEMIC BY TEMPORARILY REMOVING THE LIMITS FOR ACTIVE EMERGENCY JUDGES
SECTION 2.(a)  Notwithstanding G.S. 7A‑52(a), the active list for emergency superior and special superior court judges and the active list for emergency district court judges shall have no limit. Judges shall be added to, or removed from, either active list based upon the needs of the North Carolina Court System as determined by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
SECTION 2.(b)  This section shall expire after 11:59 P.M. on June 30, 2021.

PERMANENTLY PROVIDE GREATER DISCRETION TO JUDICIAL OFFICIALS SETTING CONDITIONS OF PRETRIAL RELEASE IN ORDER TO AVOID UNNECESSARY OVERCROWDING IN JAILS FOR THE PURPOSE OF AVOIDING THE SPREAD OF CURRENT AND FUTURE COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
SECTION 3.  G.S. 15A‑534 reads as rewritten:
"§ 15A‑534.  Procedure for determining conditions of pretrial release.
(a)	In determining conditions of pretrial release a judicial official must impose at least one of the following conditions:
(1)	Release the defendant on his written promise to appear.
(2)	Release the defendant upon his execution of an unsecured appearance bond in an amount specified by the judicial official.
(3)	Place the defendant in the custody of a designated person or organization agreeing to supervise him.
(4)	Require the execution of an appearance bond in a specified amount secured by a cash deposit of the full amount of the bond, by a mortgage pursuant to G.S. 58‑74‑5, or by at least one solvent surety.
(5)	House arrest with electronic monitoring.
If condition (3) is imposed, the defendant may elect to execute an appearance bond under subdivision (4). If the defendant is required to provide fingerprints pursuant to G.S. 15A‑502(a1), (a2), (a4), or (a6), or a DNA sample pursuant to G.S. 15A‑266.3A or G.S. 15A‑266.4, and (i) the fingerprints or DNA sample have not yet been taken or (ii) the defendant has refused to provide the fingerprints or DNA sample, the judicial official shall make the collection of the fingerprints or DNA sample a condition of pretrial release. The judicial official may also place restrictions on the travel, associations, conduct, or place of abode of the defendant as conditions of pretrial release. The judicial official may include as a condition of pretrial release that the defendant abstain from alcohol consumption, as verified by the use of a continuous alcohol monitoring system, of a type approved by the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice of the Department of Public Safety, and that any violation of this condition be reported by the monitoring provider to the district attorney.
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(d1)	When conditions of pretrial release are being imposed on a defendant who has failed on one or more prior occasions to appear to answer one or more of the charges to which the conditions apply, the judicial official shall at a minimum impose the conditions of pretrial release that are recommended in any order for the arrest of the defendant that was issued for the defendant's most recent failure to appear. If no conditions are recommended in that order for arrest, the judicial official shall impose conditions of pretrial release in accordance with this section. The judicial official shall also impose such restrictions on the travel, associations, conduct, or place of abode of the defendant as will assure that the defendant will not again fail to appear. The judicial official shall indicate on the release order that the defendant was arrested or surrendered after failing to appear as required under a prior release order. If the information available to the judicial official indicates that the defendant has failed on two or more prior occasions to appear to answer the charges, the judicial official shall indicate that fact on the release order.
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SECTION 4.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.