NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1981 SESSION

CHAPTER 1289

HOUSE BILL 1532

AN ACT TO MAKE AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE DISPUTE SETTLEMENT CENTER.

Whereas, the Dispute Settlement Center, Inc., in Orange County was begun in 1978 as a means of providing an effective forum for mediation of disputes by means of reaching mutual agreement; and

Whereas, dispute settlement has a great potential for reducing the volume of minor civil and potential criminal matters facing our court system; and

Whereas, the winner-take-all system of adjudication is often unjust, and binding arbitration unacceptable; and

Whereas, in the third quarter of 1980 alone, 70 cases were referred to the dispute settlement center, 46 of which were mediated and 40 of those resolved; and

Whereas, a State appropriation will enable this pilot program to be continued as a model for the entire State; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the District Attorney of Prosecutorial District 15-B for fiscal year 1982-83 the sum of twenty-four thousand dollars ($24,000) for operating expenses of the Dispute Settlement Center, Inc.

Sec. 2. This act shall become effective July 1, 1982.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 23rd day of June, 1982.