GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2023

SESSION LAW 2023-22

SENATE BILL 286

AN ACT to provide for the partisan election of members of the pamlico county board of education.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Chapter 551 of the 1981 Session Laws is repealed.

SECTION 2.  Section 8 of Chapter 939 of the 1987 Session Laws reads as rewritten:

"Sec. 8. The Board of Education of Pamlico County Pamlico County Board of Education shall continue to consist of seven members.members, elected on a partisan basis at the time of the general election in each even‑numbered year. Candidates for election to the Pamlico County Board of Education shall be nominated at the same time and manner as other county officers. Members shall serve staggered four‑year terms. Members shall take office on the first Monday in December following the election, and the terms of their predecessors shall expire at the same time. Members shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified. Except as otherwise provided by this act, elections shall be conducted in accordance with Chapters 115C and 163 of the General Statutes. Vacancies on the Pamlico County Board of Education shall be filled in accordance with G.S. 115C‑37.1."

SECTION 3.(a)  Section 10 of Chapter 939 of the 1987 Session Laws, as amended by S.L. 2005‑305, is repealed.

SECTION 3.(b)  Sections 11 and 13 of Chapter 939 of the 1987 Session Laws are repealed.

SECTION 4.(a)  Beginning in 2024, one member shall be elected from Districts 1, 2, 3, and 5 to serve four‑year terms. Beginning in 2026, one member shall be elected from District 4 and two members shall be elected from the county at large to serve four‑year terms.

SECTION 4.(b)  This act does not affect the terms of office of any person elected in 2020 or 2022 to the Pamlico County Board of Education. Any vacancy on the Pamlico County Board of Education for a member elected in 2020 or 2022 shall be filled by the remaining members of the Pamlico County Board of Education. The members of the Pamlico County Board of Education elected in 2020 or 2022, or any member appointed by the remaining members of the Pamlico County Board of Education to fill a vacancy of a member elected in 2020 or 2022, shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified.

SECTION 5.(a)  G.S. 115C‑37.1(d) reads as rewritten:

"(d)      This section shall apply only in the following counties: Alleghany, Beaufort, Brunswick, Burke, Caldwell, Carteret, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Craven, Dare, Davie, Graham, Guilford, Harnett, Hyde, Iredell, Lee, Lincoln, Madison, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender, Rutherford, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Vance, Washington, and Yancey."

SECTION 5.(b)  This section becomes effective December 1, 2024.

SECTION 6.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law and applies to elections held on or after that date.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 25^th day of May, 2023.

                                                                    s/  Phil Berger

                                                                         President Pro Tempore of the Senate

                                                                    s/  Donna McDowell White

                                                                         Presiding Officer of the House of Representatives