North Carolina § 139-60 - Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program.

§ 139-60. Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program.

Program Established. - The Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program is established. The purpose of the Program shall be to assist farmers and landowners in doing any one or more of the following: Identify opportunities to increase water use efficiency, availability, and storage. Implement best management practices to conserve and protect water resources. Increase water use efficiency. Increase water storage and availability for agricultural purposes. Program Administration. - The Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program shall be implemented by the Soil and Water Conservation Commission through the soil and water conservation districts in the same manner as the Agriculture Cost Share Program for Nonpoint Source Pollution Control under Article 72 of Chapter 106 of the General Statutes. The Soil and Water Conservation Commission shall supervise and administer this Program as provided in this section and as provided in Article 72 of Chapter 106 of the General Statutes for the Agriculture Cost Share Program for Nonpoint Source Pollution Control. At least once each calendar year, the Director of the Division of Soil and Water Conservation of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Commissioner of Agriculture shall meet with stakeholders for the purpose of advising the Soil and Water Conservation Commission on the development and administration of the Program, including the development of annual goals for the Program. Program Functions. - Under the Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program, the Soil and Water Conservation Commission shall do the following: Within funds available for this Program, provide cost-share funds subject to all of the following limitations and requirements: Except as provided in G.S. 106-850(b)(9), State funding shall be limited to: Seventy-five percent (75%) of the average cost for each project, with the assisted person providing twenty-five percent (25%) of the project cost, which may include in-kind support of the project. A maximum of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) per year to each applicant. Applicants shall be limited to farmers who have an adjusted gross income in each of the previous two years that is at or below two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), unless at least seventy-five percent (75%) of this adjusted gross income is derived directly from farming, ranching, or forestry operations. The requirements and limitations under subdivisions (1), (2), (5), (7), and (8) of subsection (b) of G.S. 106-850 do not apply. All other limitations and requirements set out in Article 72 of Chapter 106 of the General Statutes, as modified by this section, apply. Approve best management practices eligible for cost-share funds under this Program. Establish criteria to allocate funds to local soil and water conservation districts. The criteria shall include the development of agricultural wells. Develop a process for soliciting and reviewing applications and for selecting farmers to participate in the Program. Investigate and pursue other funding sources to supplement State funds, including federal, local, and private funding sources. Provide technical assistance to participating persons to assist with the projects that are eligible for cost-share funds under subsection (a) of this section and to facilitate the timely transfer of technology among participating persons. Adopt temporary and permanent rules as necessary to implement this Program. To be eligible for assistance under this program, each applicant must establish that the applicant meets the definition of a bona fide farm as described by G.S. 153A-340(b)(2). In extraordinary circumstances, the Commission may permit an applicant to establish that he or she is engaged in farming with an alternate form of documentation if the farm has a conservation plan that meets the statutory purposes of the program. Report. - No later than January 31 of each year, the Division of Soil and Water Conservation of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services shall prepare a comprehensive report on the implementation of subsections (a) through (c) of this section. The report shall be submitted to the Environmental Review Commission and the Fiscal Research Division as a part of the report required by G.S. 106-850(e). History (2011-145, ss. 13.23(a), 13.23A(b); 2011-391, s. 32; 2012-142, s. 11.2A(b); 2014-100, s. 13.3(a); 2015-263, s. 37(b); 2017-10, s. 4.18(c).) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2011-145, s. 13.22A(a), transferred the Division of Soil and Water Conservation, referred to in subsections (b) and (d), from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The references to the Division of Soil and Water Conservation of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have been updated at the direction of the Revisor of Statutes. Session Laws 2011-145, s. 13.22A(t), recodified G.S. 143-215.74, referred to in subdivisions (c)(1)a. and (c)(1)c. and subsection (d), as G.S. 106-850 and Part 9 of Article 21 of Chapter 143 , referred to in subsection (b) and subdivision (c)(1)c. as Article 72 of Chapter 106 . The references have been updated at the direction of the Revisor of Statutes. Session Laws 2011-145, s. 13.22A(dd), provides: "The Revisor of Statutes shall make the conforming statutory changes necessary to reflect the transfers under subsections (a) and (b) of this section. The Revisor of Statutes may correct any reference in the General Statutes to the statutes that are recodified by this section and any other conforming changes necessitated by this section." Session Laws 2011-145, s. 13.23(f)-(g), provides: "(f) The stakeholders that the Director of the Division of Soil and Water Conservation of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources [now Division of Soil and Water Conservation of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services] and the Commissioner of Agriculture shall meet with, as required under G.S. 139-60, as enacted by subsection (a) of this section, shall be the stakeholders involved in identifying and developing best management practices for water conservation and water efficiency by agricultural water users pursuant to S.L. 2010-149. "(g) The first report required by G.S. 139-60, as enacted by subsection (a) of this section, shall be submitted to the Environmental Review Commission no later than January 31, 2013." Session Laws 2011-145, s. 13.23(h), as amended by Session Laws 2011-391, s. 31, provides: "Of the funds available to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for Water Resource Projects, the sum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) shall be transferred to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Soil and Water Conservation, for the 2011-2012 fiscal year to implement the Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program established in Article 5 of Chapter 139 of the General Statutes, as enacted by subsection (a) of this section. The Soil and Water Conservation Commission may use up to fifteen percent (15%) of these funds for the costs of the Division of Soil and Water Conservation and the costs of the Soil and Water Conservation Districts to provide engineering assistance, to provide technical assistance, and to administer the Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program. Any of these funds that are not expended or encumbered as of June 30, 2012, shall not revert and shall remain available for purposes set forth in this subsection until expended." Session Laws 2011-145, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as the 'Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2011.'" Session Laws 2011-145, s. 32.2, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium, the textual provisions of this act apply only to funds appropriated for, and activities occurring during, the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium." Session Laws 2011-145, s. 32.5, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2014-100, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as 'The Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2014.'" Session Laws 2014-100, s. 38.7, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2015-263, s. 37(c), made the amendment of subsection (c1) applicable to applications submitted or pending on or after September 30, 2015. Session Laws 2015-263, s. 38(a), is a severability clause. Session Laws 2017-10, s. 4.18(d), provides that the first combined report required by Session Laws 2017-10, s. 4.18(c), which added the requirement to subsection (d) of this section, shall be submitted to the Environmental Review Commission and the Fiscal Research Division no later than January 31, 2018. Session Laws 2017-10, s. 5.1, is a severability clause. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2011-145, s. 13.23A(b), as amended by Session Laws 2011-391, s. 32, effective July 1, 2011, added subsection (c1). Session Laws 2012-142, s. 11.2A(b), effective July 1, 2012, in subsection (c1), deleted "a copy of the applicant's federal tax Schedule F (Form 1040) for the most recent tax year showing the applicant's profit or loss from farming" at the end; added subdivisions (c1)(1) through (c1)(3); and added subsection (c2). Session Laws 2014-100, s. 13.3(a), effective July 1, 2014, added the last sentence in subdivision (c)(3). Session Laws 2015-263, s. 37(b), effective September 30, 2015, and applicable to applications submitted or pending on or after that date, rewrote subsection (c1). Session Laws 2017-10, s. 4.18(c), effective May 4, 2017, inserted "and the Fiscal Research Division" near the end of the second sentence in subsection (d).