GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

1997 SESSION

S.L. 1997-427

SENATE BILL 812

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR SPECIAL REGISTRATION PLATES FOR SUPPORTERS OF THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 20-79.4(b)(23a) reads as rewritten:

"(23a)  State Attraction. - Issuable to the registered owner of a motor vehicle in accordance with G.S. 20-81.12. The plate may bear a phrase or an insignia representing a publicly owned or nonprofit State or federal attraction located in North Carolina."

Section 2.  G.S. 20-81.12(b2) reads as rewritten:

"(b2)    State Attraction Plates. - The Division must receive 300 or more applications for a State attraction plate before the plate may be developed. The Division must transfer quarterly the money in the Collegiate and Cultural Attraction Plate Account derived from the sale of State attraction plates to the organizations named below in proportion to the number of State attraction plates sold representing that organization:

(1)       The Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. - The revenue derived from the special plate shall be transferred quarterly to the Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Inc., to be used for educational materials, preservation programs, capital improvements for the portion of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that is located in North Carolina, and operating expenses of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

(2) The North Carolina Arboretum. - The revenue derived from the special plate shall be transferred quarterly to The North Carolina Arboretum Society and used to help the Society obtain grants for the North Carolina Arboretum and for capital improvements to the North Carolina Arboretum.

(2)(3)  The North Carolina Zoological Society. - The revenue derived from the special plate shall be transferred quarterly to The North Carolina Zoological Society, Incorporated, to be used for educational programs and conservation programs at the North Carolina Zoo at Asheboro and for operating expenses of the North Carolina Zoo at Asheboro."

Section 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 14th day of August, 1997.

s/   Dennis A. Wicker

President of the Senate

s/   Harold J. Brubaker

Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/   James B. Hunt, Jr.

Governor

Approved 2:23 p.m. this 22nd day of August, 1997