NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1969 SESSION
CHAPTER 1064
SENATE BILL 691
AN ACT REDEFINING THE JURISDICTION OF COUNTY BUILDING INSPECTORS AND RECODIFYING THE PROVISIONS CONCERNING COUNTY ELECTRICAL INSPECTORS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 1. Section 160-122 of the General Statutes is repealed and the following new Subsection 153-9(47a) is enacted in substitution therefor:
"G.S. 153-9(47a). County Electrical Inspectors. The county commissioners of each county may, in their discretion, designate and appoint one or more electrical inspectors, who shall qualify as hereinafter prescribed, whose duty it shall be to enforce all State and local laws governing electrical installations and materials and to make inspections of all new electrical installations and such re-inspections as may be prescribed by the county commissioners, in buildings located in all unincorporated areas of the county, and to issue a certificate of approval where such installations fully meet the requirements set forth in State and local laws. In lieu of appointing a separate electrical inspector, the county commissioners may designate as county electrical inspectors:
a. An electrical inspector of any other county or counties, with the approval of the board of county commissioners of such other county or counties;
b. A municipal electrical inspector of any municipality or municipalities within the county, with the approval of the municipal governing body;
c. The county fire marshal; or
d. A county building inspector appointed under the provisions of G.S. 153-9(52).
The county commissioners shall fix the fees to be charged by such county electrical inspector, which fees shall be paid by the owner of the property inspected. The county commissioners may pay the electrical inspector a fixed salary or may in lieu thereof reimburse him for his services by paying over any inspection fees which he collects or parts of such fees. The board of county commissioners may make necessary appropriations for the special purpose of paying the salary or salaries of county electrical inspectors and any expenses pertaining to electrical inspection.
It shall be unlawful for the county electrical inspector or any of his authorized agents to engage in the business of installing electrical wiring, devices, appliances, or equipment, and he shall have no financial interest in any concern engaged in such business in the county, at any time while he fills this position.
Before confirmation of his appointment, the electrical inspector shall take and pass a qualifying examination based on the electrical regulations included in the latest edition of the State Building Code, as filed with the Secretary of State. This examination shall be in writing and shall be conducted according to the rules and regulations prescribed by and under the supervision of the Chief State Electrical Inspector or Engineer of the State Department of Insurance and the Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors. The prescribed rules and regulations may provide for the appointment of class I, class II, and class III inspectors in accordance with the qualifications revealed by the examination. Examinations shall be given quarterly in Raleigh, or in such other places as may be designated by the Chief State Electrical Inspector or Engineer, at his discretion. Examinations shall be based on the type and character of electrical installations being made in the territory in which the applicant wishes to serve as electrical inspector. An electrical inspector having qualified for a class I appointment shall be eligible without further examination to serve as electrical inspector anywhere in the State, but an inspector having qualified for a class II or class III appointment shall be limited to the territory for which he has qualified.
Upon passing the required examination, the applicant shall be issued a certificate by the N. C. Commissioner of Insurance approving him as inspector for a designated territory. Such certificate shall be renewed annually between January 1 and January 31 and shall be subject to cancellation at any time if the inspector is removed from office for cause by the board of county commissioners, which removal is hereby authorized. The fee for examination shall be five dollars ($5.00). The annual renewal fee for a certificate of appointment shall be one dollar ($1.00).
If the person appointed as electrical inspector by the county commissioners fails to take the examination or to make the necessary passing grade, the county commissioners shall continue to make appointments until one or more applicants has passed the examination. In the interim, a temporary inspector may act with the approval of the Commissioner of Insurance.
The inspector appointed shall give a bond approved by the county commissioners for the faithful performance of his duties."
Sec. 2. Subsection 153-9(39a) is amended by striking out the words "G.S. 160-122" and substituting therefor the words "subsection (47a) hereof in line 16 of said subsection.
Sec. 3. Subsection 153-9(39b), as the same appears in the 1967 Cumulative Supplement to Volume 3C, is amended by striking out the words "G.S. 160-122" and substituting therefor the words "subsection (47a) hereof in line 25 of said subsection.
Said subsection is further amended by striking out the words "outside the corporate limits of any incorporated city or town in the county" in lines 7 and 8 and substituting therefor the words "in all unincorporated areas of the county."
Sec. 4. Subsection 153-9(47), as the same appears in the 1967 Cumulative Supplement to Volume 3C, is amended by inserting the word "all" before the word "unincorporated" in line 4.
Sec. 5. Subsection 153-9(52), as the same appears in the 1967 Cumulative Supplement to Volume 3C, is amended by inserting the following sentence at the end of the first paragraph of said subsection: "The territorial jurisdiction of such inspectors shall be all unincorporated areas of the county." Said subsection is further amended by striking out the words "G.S. 160-122" and substituting therefor the words "subsection (47a) hereof in line 25. Said subsection is further amended by adding the words "part or all of between the word "over" and the word "any" in line 31.
Sec. 6. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict herewith are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict.
Sec. 7. This Act shall become effective upon its ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 27th day of June, 1969.