Senate committee substitute to the 1st edition amends the description of the property removed from the Town of Andrews’s corporate limits by the act.

Section 1

Amends the provisions of Section 9 of Part III of SL 2001-480, as amended, pertaining to Durham County’s Occupancy Tax, as follows. 

Starting fiscal year 2024-25 and continuing for each fiscal year until April 1, 2034, reallocates the uses of the net occupancy tax proceeds. Starting in fiscal year 2025-26, reduces the percentage of the net occupancy tax proceeds allocated to Durham County and the City of Durham for general use, so that the allocation is phased out by fiscal year 2027. Starting in fiscal year 2025-26, increases the percentage of the net occupancy tax proceeds allocated to the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau (Bureau) so that it reaches 5% of the total net occupancy tax proceeds by fiscal year 2027. Adds to the requirements for the use of the funds allocated for improvements to the Museum of Life and Science. Defines promote travel and tourism; promote travel, tourism, and conventions; and tourism related expenditures. Makes organizational, conforming, and technical changes. Effective July 1, 2024, and applies to the distribution and use of occupancy tax proceeds on or after that date.

Section 2

Effective April 1, 2034, consolidates Parts II and III of SL 2001-480, as amended by specified provisions and by this act, and rewrites those provisions as follows. Authorizes the Durham Board of Commissioners to levy a room occupancy tax of up to 6%. Requires the Bureau to use two‑thirds of the occupancy tax proceeds to promote travel and tourism in the city and the remainder for tourism–related expenditures in the county. Mandates that at least one‑third of the members of the Bureau must be affiliated with businesses that collect the tax in the county and at least one‑half must be currently active in the county’s travel and tourism promotion. Makes conforming changes. Specifies that the provisions of the prior acts consolidated and rewritten by the act that authorize the levy of and provide for the administration of the tax by the Bureau will continue without interruption so that all rights and liabilities that have accrued before the effective date of the act are preserved and may be enforced.

Amends SL 1977-33 (Article VI of the Charter of the Town of Garner), as amended, concerning community facilities impact fees or facility fees (Fees), as follows.  Declares purpose of new section on Fees is to place an equitable share of the cost of providing new community service facilities in the Town of Garner upon all new inhabitants and upon those associated with the development process. Defines capital costs, community service facilities, developer, facility fees, and new construction.   

Prevents a fee from being imposed until the town has prepared a report describing anticipated capital costs, description of the construction giving rise to the additional or expanded community service facilities, and a plan for providing one or more of those facilities. Specifies that the amount of each Fee imposed and collected will be based upon reasonable and uniform considerations of capital costs to be incurred by the town as the result of new construction. Directs that the amount of each Fee will be based upon qualified needs and specific classifications and rates, which will be uniformly applied to all members. Specifies that the classification will be based upon the amount, the cost, and the extent of the additional burden being placed upon the public facilities by particular types and sizes of development. Provides for different zones in establishing the Fees, trust funds for monies collected for each Fee, a process for a person who feels aggrieved by any action to appeal the Fee within 30 days after the person pays the Fee, and a hearing on the appeal subject to judicial review by the Superior Court of Wake County.  Describes powers conferred by the act as supplementary to all other powers and procedures by any other general or local law. Authorizes the town to enact laws and policies necessary and expedient for the effectiveness of the act. Applies to new development initiated on or after the date that the act becomes law. 

Amends the following statutes, applicable only to the City of Hendersonville, as follows.  

Expands Hendersonville’s authority to operate public enterprises under GS 160A-312 to other areas and citizens located outside the corporate limits of the city. Adds the following requirements to the rules adopted by Hendersonville must follow: (1) the rules may not apply differing treatment within and outside the corporate limits of the city; (2) the rules must make access to public enterprise services available to the city and its citizens and other areas and their citizens located outside the corporate limits of the city equally; and (3) the rules may prioritize the continuation of the provision of services based on availability of excess capacity to provide the service. Requires the rules to apply equally to the public enterprise both within and outside the corporate limits of the city (currently, rules just have to apply). Makes technical changes. Provides for separate funds and sequestration of funds for public enterprises. Directs that the above changes do not apply to the operation of public transportation systems or off-street parking facilities and systems as public enterprises. Effective June 30, 2024, and applies to the 2024-2025 fiscal year and to each fiscal year thereafter. Specifies that any assets, liabilities, or equity of a public enterprise operated or held by Hendersonville in the 2023-2024 fiscal year will be transferred to a separate fund in accordance with GS 160A-312, as amended, by the act when the act becomes law.

Amends the requirements for annexation by petition in Hendersonville under GS 160A-31 by requiring that the petition for annexation contain a statement from the owner that the petition for annexation is not based upon any representation by the municipality that a public enterprise service available outside the corporate limits of that municipality would be withheld from the owner's property without the petition for annexation. Makes conforming changes to GS 160A-58.1 (petition for annexation; standards). Applies to petitions for annexation received by Hendersonville on or after June 30, 2024.