§ 143-250.  Wildlife Resources Fund.

All moneys in the game and fish fund or any similar State fund when this Article becomes effective shall be credited forthwith to a special fund in the office of the State Treasurer, and the State Treasurer shall deposit all such moneys in said special fund, which shall be known as the Wildlife Resources Fund.

All unexpended appropriations made to the Department of Conservation and Development, the Board of Conservation and Development, the Division of Game and Inland Fisheries or to any other State agency for any purpose pertaining to wildlife and wildlife resources shall also be transferred to the Wildlife Resources Fund.

Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, all moneys derived from hunting, fishing, trapping, and related license fees, exclusive of commercial fishing license fees, including the income received and accruing from the investment of license revenues, and all funds thereafter received from whatever sources shall be deposited to the credit of the Wildlife Resources Fund and made available to the Commission until expended subject to the provisions of this Article. License revenues include the proceeds from the sale of hunting, fishing, trapping, and related licenses, from the sale, lease, rental, or other granting of rights to real or personal property acquired or produced with license revenues, and from federal aid project reimbursements to the extent that license revenues originally funded the project for which the reimbursement is being made. For purposes of this section, real property includes lands, buildings, minerals, energy resources, timber, grazing rights, and animal products. Personal property includes equipment, vehicles, machines, tools, and annual crops. The Wildlife Resources Fund herein created shall be subject to the provisions of the State Budget Act, Chapter 143C of the General Statutes of North Carolina as amended, and the provisions of the General Statutes of North Carolina as amended, and the provisions of the Personnel Act, Chapter 143, Article 2 of the General Statutes of North Carolina as amended.

All moneys credited to the Wildlife Resources Fund shall be made available to carry out the intent and purposes of this Article in accordance with plans approved by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, and all of these funds are appropriated, reserved, set aside, and made available until expended, for the enforcement and administration of this Article, Article 1 of Chapter 75A of the General Statutes, and Subchapter IV of Chapter 113 of the General Statutes. No later than October 1 of each year, the Wildlife Resources Commission shall report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources on the expenditures from the Wildlife Resources Fund during the fiscal year that ended the previous July 1 of that year and on the planned expenditures for the current fiscal year.

In the event any uncertainty should arise as to the funds to be turned over to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission the Governor shall have full power and authority to determine the matter and his recommendation shall be final and binding to all parties concerned. (1947, c. 263, s. 14; 1965, c. 957, s. 16; 1981, c. 482, s. 2; 1982 (Reg. Sess., 1982), c. 1182, s. 1; 1987, c. 816; 1991, c. 689, s. 167(a); 2006-203, s. 92; 2011-145, s. 13.28(a); 2020-78, s. 9.2.)