GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1997 SESSION

S.L. 1997-1
SENATE BILL 27

AN ACT TO MAKE PROCEDURAL CHANGES IN THE CONFORMING LEGISLATION CONCERNING GUBERNATORIAL VETO.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 120-33(d2) reads as rewritten:
"(d2)	No bill required to be presented to the Governor under Article II, Section 22 of the Constitution of North Carolina shall be so presented until the next business day after the bill was ratified, unless expressly ordered by that house where such bill was ordered enrolled. For the purpose of this section, a business day is a weekday other than one on which there is both a State employee holiday and neither house is in session. No bill required to be presented to the Governor under Article II, Section 22 of the North Carolina Constitution shall be recalled from the Enrolling Clerk or Governor after it has been ratified but before it has been acted upon by the Governor except by joint resolution."
Section 2.  G.S. 120-6.1(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	As provided by Section 22(7) of Article II of the Constitution of North Carolina, if within 30 days after adjournment, a bill is returned by the Governor with objections and veto message to that house in which it shall have originated, the Governor shall reconvene that session as provided by Section 5(11) of Article III of the Constitution for reconsideration of the bill, unless the Governor prior to reconvening the session receives written requests dated no earlier than 30 days after such adjournment, signed by a majority of the members of each house that a reconvened session to reconsider vetoed legislation is unnecessary. If sufficient requests are received such that the session will not be reconvened, the Governor shall immediately issue a proclamation to that effect and so notify the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the principal clerks and presiding officers of both houses."
Section 3.  G.S. 120-29.1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 120-29.1.  Approval of bills.
(a)	If the Governor approves a bill, the Governor shall write upon the same, below the signatures of the presiding officers of the two houses, the fact, date, and time of approval, as follows: 'Approved ____.m. this _____ day of _____,___' and shall sign the same as follows: '________ Governor'.  The Governor shall then return the approved bill to the enrolling clerk.
(b)	If any bill becomes law because of the failure of the Governor to take any action, it shall be the duty of the Governor to return the measure to the enrolling clerk, who shall sign the following certificate on the measure and deposit it with the Secretary of State: 'This bill having been presented to the Governor for his signature on the ____day of _________, ______ and the Governor having failed to approve it within the time prescribed by law, the same is hereby declared to have become a law.
This ______ day of _____, ________, ________ Enrolling Clerk'.
(c)	If the Governor returns any bill to the house of origin with his objections, the Governor shall write such objections on the measure or cause the objections to be attached to the measure.  When any such bill becomes law after reconsideration of the two houses, the principal clerk of the second house to act shall, below the objections of the Governor, sign the following certificate: 'Became law notwithstanding the objections of the Governor, __.m. this _______ day of ____, ____'. The principal clerk of the second house to act shall fill in the time.  The enrolling clerk shall deposit the measure with the Secretary of State.
(d)	In calculating the period under Section 22(7) of Article II of the North Carolina Constitution, the day on which the bill is presented to the Governor shall be excluded and the entire last day of the period is included."
Section 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 20th day of February, 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 10:42 a.m. this 27th day of February, 1997