NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1975 SESSION

CHAPTER 696

HOUSE BILL 707

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 132 OF THE GENERAL STATUTES OF NORTH CAROLINA TO INCREASE THE PENALTIES FOR RETAINING ILLEGAL POSSESSION OF PUBLIC RECORDS AND TO ADD A SECTION TO CHAPTER 14 ESTABLISHING A PENALTY FOR THE LARCENY, MUTILATION, OR DEFACEMENT OF RECORDS AND PAPERS IN THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE ARCHIVES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 132-4 as the same appears in 1974 Replacement Volume 3B of the General Statutes is hereby amended by deleting all of the words following the word "conviction" in the last line of the paragraph and substituting therefor the words "imprisoned for a term not exceeding two years or fined not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or both."

Sec. 2.  G.S. 132-5 as the same appears in 1974 Replacement Volume 3B of the General Statutes is hereby amended by deleting all of the words following the word "conviction" in the next to the last line of the paragraph and substituting therefor the words "imprisoned for a term not exceeding two years or fined not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or both."

Sec. 3.  Chapter 14 as the same appears in 1969 Replacement Volume and 1974 Cumulative Supplement to Volume 1B of the General Statutes is amended by adding thereto G.S. 14-76.1 as follows:

"§ 14-76.1.  Mutilation or defacement of records and papers in the North Carolina State Archives. — If any person shall wilfully or maliciously obliterate, injure, deface, or alter any record or paper in the custody of the North Carolina State Archives as defined by G.S. 121‑2(7) and G.S. 121-2(8), he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction imprisoned for a term not exceeding two years or fined not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or both. The provisions of this paragraph do not apply to employees of the Department of Cultural Resources who may destroy any accessioned records or papers that are approved for destruction by the North Carolina Historical Commission pursuant to the authority contained in G.S. 121-4(12)."

Sec. 4.  Chapter 14 as the same appears in 1969 Replacement Volume and 1974 Cumulative Supplement to Volume 1B of the General Statutes is amended by adding to G.S. 14-72(b) a new subsection as follows:

"(5)      Of any record or paper in the custody of the North Carolina State Archives as defined by G.S. 121-2(7) and G.S. 121-2(8)."

Sec. 5.  This act shall become effective on July 1, 1975.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 23rd day of June, 1975.