AN ACT to provide that vacancies on the Onslow county board of commissioners are filled in accordance with G.S. 153A-27.1; AND TO change the manner of election of the Stokes County board of education from nonpartisan to partisan and to make the terms of all members four years.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  G.S. 153A‑27.1(h) reads as rewritten:
"(h)	This section shall apply only in the following counties: Alamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Avery, Beaufort, Brunswick, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Carteret, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Cumberland, Dare, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Graham, Guilford, Harnett, Haywood, Henderson, Hyde, Jackson, Lee, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mecklenburg, Moore, Onslow, Pender, Polk, Randolph, Rockingham, Rutherford, Sampson, Stanly, Stokes, Transylvania, and Yancey."
SECTION 1.(b)  This section applies to Onslow County only.
SECTION 1.(c)  This section is effective when it becomes law and applies to vacancies filled on or after that date.
SECTION 2.(a)  Section 1 of Chapter 66 of the 1995 Session Laws reads as rewritten:
"Section 1.  Beginning in 2020, the members of the Stokes County Board of Education shall be elected on a partisan basis at the time for the general election in each even‑numbered year as terms expire. The primary and election shall be held and conducted in accordance with the general laws governing primaries and elections for county officers, except as otherwise provided herein. Members elected to the Stokes County Board of Education shall take office the first Monday of December immediately following their election, and the terms of their predecessors shall expire at the same time. Members shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified."
SECTION 2.(b)  Section 2 of Chapter 66 of the 1995 Session Laws reads as rewritten:
"Sec. 2. In 2020, and quadrennially thereafter, three members shall be elected to the Stokes County Board of Education for four‑year terms. In 2022, and quadrennially thereafter, two members shall be elected to the Stokes County Board of Education for four‑year terms.
Beginning in 2020, vacancies on the Stokes County Board of Education for seats elected on a partisan basis shall be filled in accordance with G.S. 115C‑37.1. Appointments to fill vacancies on the Stokes County Board of Education for seats elected on a nonpartisan basis in 2016 or 2018 shall be filled in accordance with G.S. 115C‑37(f)."
SECTION 2.(c)  This section does not affect the terms of office of any person elected in 2016 or 2018 to the Stokes County Board of Education. Each member of the Stokes County Board of Education elected in 2016 and 2018, or any member appointed to fill a vacancy for a member elected in 2016 or 2018, shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified.
SECTION 2.(d)  Effective on the first Monday in December of 2020, G.S. 115C‑37.1(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	This section shall apply only in the following counties: Alleghany, Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Dare, Davie, Graham, Guilford, Harnett, Hyde, Iredell, Lee, Madison, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Rutherford, Stanly, Stokes, Vance, Washington, and Yancey."
SECTION 2.(e)  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of this section are hereby repealed.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 10th day of July, 2019.

	s/	 Ralph E. Hise
	 Presiding Officer of the Senate

	s/	 Tim Moore
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives