NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1979 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 559

HOUSE BILL 1087

 

 

AN ACT TO REQUIRE SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORITY FOR AGENCIES TO ESTABLISH FEES OR CHARGES FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC BY RULE.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  A new section is added to Chapter 12 of the General Statutes to read:

"§ 12-3.1.  Fees and charges by agencies. — (a) In the construction of a statute, unless that construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the General Assembly or repugnant to the context of the statute, the legislative grant of authority to an agency to make and promulgate rules shall not be construed as a grant of authority to the agency to establish by rule a fee or a charge for the rendering of any service or fulfilling of any duty to the public, unless the statute expressly provides for the grant of authority to establish a fee or charge for that specific service.

(b)        For purposes of this section:

      'Agency' means every agency, institution, board, commission, bureau, department, division, council, member of the Council of State, or officer of the legislative, executive or judicial branches of State government. 'Agency' does not include counties, cities, towns, villages, other municipal corporations or political subdivisions of the State or any agencies of such subdivisions, The University of North Carolina, community colleges, technical institutes, industrial education centers, hospitals, county or city boards of education, other local public districts, units, or bodies of any kind, or private corporations created by act of the General Assembly.

      'Rule' means every rule, regulation, ordinance, standard, and amendment thereto adopted by any agency and includes rules and regulations regarding substantive matters, standards for products, procedural rules for complying with statutory or regulatory authority or requirements and executive orders of the Governor.

(c)        This section does not apply to rules establishing fees or charges to State, federal or local governmental units, nor to any reasonable fee or charge for copying, transcripts of public hearings, or State publications."

Sec. 2.  This act shall become effective May 1, 1981, and shall apply to all rules then in existence or adopted thereafter.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 14th day of May, 1979.