§ 77-36.  Filing and distribution of certified single ordinance text; effective date of ordinance and admissibility of evidence.

(a) A copy of the joint ordinance creating the Commission and of any joint ordinance amending or repealing the joint ordinance creating the Commission must be filed with the Executive Director of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the Executive Director of the South Carolina Department of Wildlife and Marine Resources.  When the Executive Directors receive ordinances that are in substance identical from all three counties concerned, they, in accordance with procedures agreed upon, shall, within 10 days, certify this fact and distribute a certified single ordinance text to the following:

(1) The Secretary of State of North Carolina and the Secretary of State of South Carolina;

(2) The clerk to the governing board of each of the three counties;

(3) The clerk of superior court of Mecklenburg and Gaston Counties and the clerk of court of York County.  Upon request, the Executive Directors also shall send a certified single copy of any and all applicable joint ordinances to the chairman of the Commission;

(4) A newspaper of general circulation in the three counties.

(b) Unless a joint ordinance specifies a later date, it shall take effect when the Executive Directors' certified text has been submitted to the Secretaries of State for filing.  Certifications of the Executive Directors under the seal of the Commission as to the text or amended text of any joint ordinance and of the date or dates of submission to the Secretaries of State is admissible in evidence in any court.  Certifications by any clerk of superior court or county clerk of court of the text of any certified ordinance filed with him by the Executive Directors is admissible in evidence and the Executive Directors' submission of the ordinance for filing to the clerk shall constitute prima facie evidence that the ordinance was on the date of submission also submitted for filing with the Secretary of State.  Except for the certificate of a clerk as to receipt and date of submission, no evidence may be admitted in court concerning the submission of the certified text of any ordinance by the Executive Directors to any person other than the Secretary of State.  (1987, c. 683, s. 7; 1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 897, s. 7.)