North Carolina § 159G-34 - Loans and grants available from Drinking Water Reserve.

§ 159G-34. Loans and grants available from Drinking Water Reserve.

Types. - The Department is authorized to make the types of loans and grants listed in this section from the Drinking Water Reserve. Each type of loan or grant must be administered through a separate account within the Drinking Water Reserve. Loan. - A loan is available for a project for a public water system. Project grant. - A project grant is available for a portion of the construction costs of a public water system project as defined in G.S. 159G-32(c). Merger/regionalization feasibility grant. - A merger/regionalization grant is available to determine the feasibility of consolidating the management of multiple utilities into a single utility operation or to provide regional water supply and the best way of carrying out the consolidation or regionalization. The Department shall not make a loan or grant under this subdivision for a merger or regionalization proposal that would result in a new surface water transfer regulated under G.S. 143-215.22L. Asset inventory and assessment grant. - An asset inventory and assessment grant is available to inventory the existing water and/or sewer system and document the condition of the inventoried infrastructure. Emergency loan. - An emergency loan is available to an applicant in the event the Secretary certifies that either a serious public health hazard or a drought emergency related to the water supply system is present or imminent in a community. Repealed by Session Laws 2019-241, s. 11(a), effective November 6, 2019. Interaccount Transfer. - The Secretary may use revenue in any account in the Drinking Water Reserve to provide funds for an emergency loan. History (2005-454, s. 3; 2015-241, s. 14.13(f), (g); 2019-226, s. 3; 2019-241, s. 11(a).) Editor's Note. - At the direction of the Revisor of Statutes, subdivision (a)(4), as added by Session Laws 2015-241, s. 14.13(g), was redesignated as subdivision (a)(3a). Session Laws 2015-241, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as 'The Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2015.'" Session Laws 2017-57, s. 13.22, as amended by Session Laws 2017-197, s. 4.2, and as amended by Session Laws 2017-212, s. 4.2, provides: "(a) The following allocations are made from funds appropriated by this act to the Division of Water Infrastructure of the Department of Environmental Quality for water and sewer infrastructure grants: "(1) The sum of three million dollars ($3,000,000) for the 2017-2018 fiscal year and the sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000) for the 2018-2019 fiscal year to the Johnston County Research and Training Zone Association, Inc. for a regional wastewater project. "(2) The sum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) for the 2017-2018 fiscal year for grants to grantees located in development tier one or tier two areas, as defined in G.S. 143B-437.08, for any of the following: "a. Construction, protection, or expansion of water intake structures located in surface water impoundments. For purposes of this subdivision, protection of water intake structures may include the stabilization or restoration of natural stream functions upstream and downstream of the water intake. "b. Repair or replacement of sewer lines, when the repair project is necessary to protect or enhance (i) natural habitats or (ii) water quality. "(3) The following sums to the indicated local governments for the 2017-2018 fiscal year for various water infrastructure projects: "a. Eight hundred thirty thousand dollars ($830,000) to the Town of Wallace. "b. One hundred twenty-five thousand dollars ($125,000) to the Town of Taylorsville. "c. Eighty thousand dollars ($80,000) to the Town of Benson. "d. Forty thousand dollars ($40,000) to the Town of Four Oaks. "(4) The sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for the 2017-2018 fiscal year to Davidson County to be allocated as follows: "a. Fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for a sewer project. "b. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section or Chapter 159G of the General Statutes to the contrary, fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for preservation and restoration work on the Wil-Cox bridge. "Notwithstanding G.S. 159G-33 and G.S. 159G-34, no non-State match will be required for grants allocated by this section. "(b) The Johnston County Research and Training Zone Association, Inc. shall submit a report detailing its use of State funds appropriated by this act. The report shall be submitted to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources, the chairs of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources, the chairs of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Natural, and Economic Resources, and the Fiscal Research Division by September 1, 2017, by September 1 of each subsequent year State funds are received, and more frequently as requested. The report shall include the information required by this subsection for the most recently ended fiscal year." Session Laws 2017-57, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as the 'Current Operations Appropriations Act of 2017.'" Session Laws 2017-57, s. 39.4, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2017-2019 fiscal biennium, the textual provisions of this act apply only to funds appropriated for, and activities occurring during, the 2017-2019 fiscal biennium." Session Laws 2017-57, s. 39.6, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2019-241, s. 11(b), (c), provides: "(b) Notwithstanding G.S. 159G-33(a) and G.S. 159B-34(a), during the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the Department may use funds in the Wastewater Reserve or the Drinking Water Reserve to provide grants to the Local Government Commission to cover operating deficits in an enterprise fund accounting for a public water or wastewater system. For purposes of this section, 'operating deficit' is defined as a shortfall in an enterprise fund accounting for a public water or wastewater system between revenues plus available reserves and operating expenditures, including capital expenditures, necessary to maintain operations. "Funding provided by this section is available only under either of the following circumstances: "(1) The Local Government Commission has exercised its powers under G.S. 159-181 to assume full or partial control over the affairs of the public water or wastewater system or of the unit of local government or public authority that owns or operates the public water or wastewater system. "(2) The charter of the unit of local government or public authority that owns or operates the public water or wastewater system has been suspended or revoked by local act. "(c) Funds for the purposes described in subsection (b) of this section may not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000) in each fiscal year. An application for a grant under this section for an emergency grant for operating deficits must be filed by the Local Government Commission on behalf of the local government unit. Applications for emergency grants for operating deficits are not subject to G.S. 159G-37(b)." Session Laws 2019-241, s. 11(i), provides that this 2019-241, s. 11(b), (c), expires on the earlier of (i) the date that House Bill 966, 2019 Regular Session, becomes law or (ii) June 30, 2020. House Bill 966 did not become law, and subsections (b) and (c) of Session Laws 2019-241 expired on June 30, 2020. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2015-241, s. 14.13(f), (g), effective July 1, 2015, substituted "Loan. - A loan is" for "General. - A loan or grant is" in subdivision (a)(1); rewrote subdivisions (a)(2) and (a)(3); inserted subdivision (a)(4) (now (a)(3a)), pertaining to Asset inventory and assessment grant; and redesignated former subdivision (a)(4) as (a)(5) (now (a)(4)). Session Laws 2019-2265, s. 3, effective October 1, 2019, added subdivision (a)(5). Session Laws 2019-241, s. 11(a), effective November 6, 2019, repealed subdivision (a)(5). §§ 159G-34.1 through 159G-34.4: Reserved for future codification purposes.