S55 - School Bus Cameras/Civil Penalties. (SL 2017-188)

Overview: S.L. 2017-188 authorizes counties to impose a civil penalty on the owner of a vehicle that is recorded unlawfully passing a stopped school bus by a school bus safety camera, as long as the driver is not criminally prosecuted and no injury or death occurred. Failure to pay the civil penalty will prevent the owner from registering the vehicle with the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Counties enacting the ordinance must maintain records of all violations resulting in imposition of a civil penalty and provide them upon request to the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force and the General Assembly. Local school boards may contract with private vendors to install and operate the school bus safety cameras. The act's vehicle registration provision becomes effective July 25, 2018, and applies to payment delinquencies reported to the DMV on or after that date. The remainder of the act became effective July 25, 2017.