GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2011

SESSION LAW 2011-81

HOUSE BILL 471

AN ACT to expand the board of commissioners of buncombe county from five to seven members and to provide for the election of all but the chair by districts.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Section 1 of Chapter 936, Session Laws of 1963, as amended by referendum under G.S. 153A-58 to increase the size to four members plus the separately elected chairman, as amended by Chapter 129 of the 1983 Session Laws to provide for a board of five members which elects its own chairman, and as amended again by referendum in 1984 under G.S. 153A-58 to provide for four members plus the separately elected chairman, is rewritten to read:

"Section 1.(a) The Board of Commissioners of Buncombe County shall consist of six members plus the chairman.

(b)        In 2012 and quadrennially thereafter, the chairman shall be elected separately by all the qualified voters of Buncombe County.

(c)        In 2012, two commissioners shall be elected from each of the three House of Representatives Districts in Buncombe County. In each district the person receiving the highest number of votes is elected to a four-year term, and the person receiving the second highest number of votes is elected to a two-year term. In 2014 and biennially thereafter, one commissioner shall be elected from each district for a four-year term. Each member shall reside in and represent one of the districts, and only the qualified voters of that district are eligible to vote for that district seat. The districts shall be numbered 1, 2, and 3 and shall correspond to the numerical order of the three house districts.

(d)        If after the 2020 or subsequent censuses Buncombe County is not entitled to exactly three House of Representatives districts, the Board of Commissioners of Buncombe County may redistrict the three county commissioner districts in accordance with G.S. 153A-22, but in doing so shall only deviate from the boundaries of the three House of Representatives districts to the extent necessary to account as appropriate either for (i) areas of Buncombe County not in one of those three house districts or (ii) areas in another county or counties located in one or more of the three house districts."

SECTION 2.  Section 1 of this act becomes effective on the first Monday in December of 2012, and the 2012 election shall be conducted as provided therein. This act is effective when it becomes law.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 19^th day of May, 2011.

                                                                    s/  Walter H. Dalton

                                                                         President of the Senate

                                                                    s/  Thom Tillis

                                                                         Speaker of the House of Representatives