North Carolina § 136-211 - Department authorized to establish Rural Transportation Planning Organizations.

§ 136-211. Department authorized to establish Rural Transportation Planning Organizations.

Authorization. - The Department of Transportation is authorized to form Rural Transportation Planning Organizations. Area Represented. - Rural Transportation Planning Organizations shall include representatives from contiguous areas in three to fifteen counties, or a total population of the entire area represented of at least 50,000 persons according to the latest population estimate of the Office of State Budget and Management. Noncontiguous counties adjacent to the same Metropolitan Planning Organization may form a Rural Transportation Planning Organization. Areas already included in a Metropolitan Planning Organization shall not be included in the area represented by a Rural Transportation Planning Organization. Membership. - The Rural Transportation Planning Organization shall consist of local elected officials or their designees and representatives of local transportation systems in the area as agreed to by all parties in a memorandum of understanding. Formation; Memorandum of Understanding. - The Department shall notify local elected officials and representatives of local transportation systems around the State of the opportunity to form Rural Transportation Planning Organizations. The Department shall work cooperatively with interested local elected officials, their designees, and representatives of local transportation systems to develop a proposed area, membership, functions, and responsibilities of a Rural Transportation Planning Organization. The agreement of all parties shall be included in a memorandum of understanding approved by the membership of a proposed Rural Transportation Planning Organization and the Secretary of the Department of Transportation. Repealed by Session Laws 2013-156, s. 2(a), effective June 19, 2013. Ethics Provisions. - All individuals with voting authority serving on a rural transportation planning organization who are not members of the Board of Transportation shall do all of the following: Except as permitted under this subdivision, no rural transportation planning organization member acting in that capacity shall participate in an action of the rural transportation planning organization if the rural transportation planning organization member knows the rural transportation planning organization member, the rural transportation planning organization member's extended family, or any business with which the rural transportation planning organization member is associated may incur a reasonably foreseeable financial benefit from the matter under consideration, which financial benefit would impair the rural transportation planning organization member's independence of judgment or from which it could reasonably be inferred that the financial benefit would influence the rural transportation planning organization member's participation in the action of the rural transportation planning organization. [A member may participate in an action of the rural transportation planning organization under any of the following circumstances:] When action is ministerial only and does not require the exercise of discretion. When the committee records in its minutes that it cannot obtain a quorum in order to take the action because the rural transportation planning organization member is disqualified from acting, the rural transportation planning organization member may be counted for purposes of a quorum but shall otherwise abstain from taking any further action. A rural transportation planning organization member shall have an affirmative duty to promptly disclose in writing to the rural transportation planning organization any conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest under subdivision (1) of this subsection. All written disclosures shall be a public record under Chapter 132 of the General Statutes and attached to the minutes of the meeting in which any discussion or vote was taken by the rural transportation planning organization related to that disclosure. File a statement of economic interest with the State Ethics Commission in accordance with Article 3 of Chapter 138A of the General Statutes for which the State Ethics Commission shall prepare a written evaluation relative to conflicts of interest and potential conflicts of interest and provide a copy of that evaluation to the rural transportation planning organization member. All statements of economic interest and all written evaluations by the Commission of those statements are public records as provided in G.S. 138A-23. The penalties for failure to file shall be as set forth in G.S. 138A-25(a) and (b). File, with and in the same manner as the statement of economic interest filed under subdivision (3) of this subsection, an additional disclosure of a list of all real estate owned wholly or in part by the rural transportation planning organization member, the rural transportation planning organization member's extended family, or a business with which the rural transportation planning organization member is associated within the jurisdiction of the rural transportation planning organization on which the rural transportation planning organization member is serving. All additional disclosures of real estate filed by members are public records under Chapter 132 of the General Statutes. The penalties for failure to file shall be as set forth in G.S. 138A-25(d). Confidential Information. - A rural transportation planning organization member shall not use or disclose any nonpublic information gained in the course of or by reason of serving as a member of the rural transportation planning organization in a way that would affect a personal financial interest of the rural transportation planning organization member, the rural transportation planning organization member's extended family, or a business with which the rural transportation planning organization member is associated. Reserved. Definitions. - For purposes of this section, "extended family" shall have the same meaning as in G.S. 138A-3(25), "business with which associated" shall have the same meaning as in G.S. 138A-3(7), and "financial benefit" shall mean a direct pecuniary gain or loss or a direct pecuniary loss to a business competitor. Violations. - A violation of subdivision (1) of subsection (f) of this section shall be a Class 1 misdemeanor. A rural transportation planning organization member who knowingly conceals or knowingly fails to disclose information that is required to be disclosed on a required filing under subdivisions (3) or (4) of subsection (f) of this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. A rural transportation planning organization member who provides false information on a required filing under subdivisions (3) or (4) of subsection (f) of this section knowing that the information is false is guilty of a Class H felony. If the State Ethics Commission receives written allegations of violations of this section, the Commission shall report such violations to the Director of the State Bureau of Investigation for investigation and referral to the District Attorney for possible prosecution. All written allegations or related documents are confidential and are not matters of public record. All individuals with voting authority serving on a rural transportation planning organization who are members of the Board of Transportation shall comply with Chapter 138A of the General Statutes and G.S. 143B-350 while serving on the rural transportation planning organization. History (2000-123, s. 2; 2002-170, s. 2; 2012-44, s. 1; 2012-142, s. 24.16(b); 2013-156, s. 2(a), (b); 2014-58, s. 12(b); 2014-115, s. 56.6A(b); 2015-264, s. 72(b); 2017-6, s. 3; 2018-146, ss. 3.1(a), (b), 6.1.) Re-recodification; Technical and Conforming Changes. - Session Laws 2017-6, s. 3, provides, in part: "The Revisor of Statutes shall recodify Chapter 138A of the General Statutes, Chapter 120C of the General Statutes, as well as Chapter 163 of the General Statutes, as amended by this act, into a new Chapter 163A of the General Statutes to be entitled 'Elections and Ethics Enforcement Act,' as enacted by Section 4 of this act. The Revisor may also recodify into the new Chapter 163A of the General Statutes other existing statutory laws relating to elections and ethics enforcement that are located elsewhere in the General Statutes as the Revisor deems appropriate." The Revisor was further authorized to make additional technical and conforming changes to catchlines, internal citations, and other references throughout the General Statutes to effectuate this recodification. Pursuant to this authority, the Revisor of Statutes substituted "Bipartisan State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement" for "State Ethics Commission", and substituted "State Board" for "Commission" in subdivision (f)(3) and subsection (j); in subdivision (f)(3), substituted "Article 6 of Chapter 163 A" for "Article 3 of Chapter 138A ", substituted "163A-188" for "138A-23", and substituted "163A-190" for "138A-25"; substituted "163A-190" for "138A-25" in subdivision (f)(4); in subsection (i), substituted "163A-152(25)" for "138A-13(13)" and substituted "163A-152(7)" for "138A-3(3)"; and substituted "Articles 5, 6, 7, and 9 of Chapter 163A" for "Chapter 138A" in subsection (k). Session Laws 2018-146, ss. 3.1(a), (b) and 6.1, repealed Session Laws 2017-6, s. 3, and authorized the Revisor of Statutes to re-recodify Chapter 163A into Chapters 163, 138A, and 120C and to revert the changes made by the Revisor pursuant to Session Laws 2017-6, s. 3. Pursuant to this authority, the Revisor of Statutes reverted the changes to the references in this section. Editor's Note. - The bracketed sentence "[A member may participate in an action of the rural transportation planning organization under any of the following circumstances:]" at the end of the introductory paragraph in subdivision (f)(1) was added at the direction of the Revisor of Statutes. Session Laws 2012-142, s. 24.16(c), provides: "Members of Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Rural Transportation Planning Organizations shall file an initial Statement of Economic Interest with the State Ethics Commission no later than April 15, 2013. All information provided in the Statement of Economic Interest shall be current as of December 31, 2012. The initial Statement of Economic Interest shall be filed electronically." Session Laws 2012-142, s. 1.2, provides: "This act shall be known as 'The Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2012.'" Session Laws 2012-142, s. 27.4, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2012-2013 fiscal year, the textual provisions of this act apply only to funds appropriated for, and activities occurring during, the 2012-2013 fiscal year." Session Laws 2012-142, s. 27.7 is a severability clause. Session Laws 2013-156, s. 3, provides: "This act is effective when it becomes law [June 19, 2013]. The State Ethics Commission may not require any individual serving on a metropolitan planning organization or rural transportation planning organization, who are not also members of the Board of Transportation, who has not yet complied with G.S. 138A-13 to complete ethics education as required by that statute, and may not apply Article 5 of Chapter 138A of the General Statutes to any of those individuals. The State Ethics Commission is authorized to destroy the statement of economic interest forms that were filed by individuals pursuant to G.S. 136-202(e) and G.S. 136-211(e) and any associated written evaluation of those forms if the filer does not have authority to give final approval for actions of the metropolitan planning organization or rural transportation planning organization on which the filer serves and is not otherwise a covered person required to file a statement of economic interest." Session Laws 2013-156, s. 2(b), enacted subsections (f)-(k), but without enacting a subsection (h). Subsection (h) has been set out above as "Reserved." at the direction of the Revisor of Statutes. Session Laws 2014-58, s. 14, made the amendment to this section by Session Laws 2014-58, s. 12(b), applicable to obligations to file additional disclosures arising on or after October 1, 2014. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2012-44, s. 1, effective June 20, 2012, in the first sentence of subsection (b), substituted "or" for "with" and "Office of State Budget and Management" for "Office of State Planning." Session Laws 2012-142, s. 24.16(b), effective January 1, 2013, added subsection (e). Session Laws 2013-156, s. 2(a), effective June 19, 2013, repealed subsection (e). Session Laws 2013-156, s. 2(b), effective June 19, 2013, added subsections (f) through (k). Session Laws 2014-58, s. 12(b), effective October 1, 2014, added the last sentence in subdivision (f)(4); and added the last two sentences in subsection (j). See Editor's note for applicability. Session Laws 2014-115, s. 56.6A(b), effective October 1, 2014, substituted "Director of the State Bureau of Investigation" for "Attorney General" in the fourth sentence of subsection (j). Session Laws 2015-264, s. 72(b), effective October 1, 2015, substituted "G.S. 143B-350" for "G.S. 143A-350" in subsection (k).