GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2007

H                                                                                                                                                    1

HOUSE BILL 1706

Short Title:     ABC Laws Study Commission.		(Public)
Sponsors:	Representatives Love; and Starnes.
Referred to:	Alcoholic Beverage Control, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House.

April 19, 2007

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to create an alcoholic beverage control laws study commission.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  The Alcoholic Beverage Control Laws Study Commission is hereby created. It shall consist of 10 members, five Representatives to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and five Senators to be appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint cochairs of the Commission from their respective appointees. A vacancy in membership shall be filled by the appointing authority who made the initial appointment.

SECTION 2.  It shall be the duty of the Commission to study and review the current Alcoholic Beverage Control Laws in Chapter 18B of the General Statutes and the Rules of the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission to identify those statutes and rules that may be obsolete or unconstitutional and to recommend proposed legislation and rules to streamline the Alcoholic Beverage Control Laws and Rules of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.

SECTION 3.  The Commission may contract for consultant services as provided by G.S. 120‑32.02. Upon approval of the Legislative Services Commission, the Legislative Services Officer shall assign professional and clerical staff to assist in the work of the Commission. Clerical staff shall be furnished to the Commission through the offices of the House of Representatives' and the Senate's Directors of Legislative Assistants. The Commission may meet in the Legislative Building or the Legislative Office Building upon the approval of the Legislative Services Commission. Members of the Commission shall receive per diem, subsistence, and travel allowances at the rate established in accordance with G.S. 120‑3.1, 138‑5, and 138‑6, as appropriate. The Commission, while in the discharge of its official duties, may exercise all the powers provided under the provisions of G.S. 120‑19 and G.S. 120‑19.1 through G.S. 120‑19.4, including the power to request all officers, agents, agencies, and departments of the State to provide any information, data, or documents within their possession, ascertainable from their records, or otherwise available to them, and the power to subpoena witnesses.

SECTION 4.  The Alcoholic Beverage Control Laws Study Commission shall report its findings and recommendations, including all legislative proposals, to the 2008 Regular Session of the 2007 General Assembly by April 1, 2008.

SECTION 5.  This act is effective when it becomes law.