S105 - 2021 Appropriations Act. (SL 2021-180)

Overview: Section 8.10 of S.L. 2021-180 directs the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory (Collaboratory) to continue to identify faculty expertise and technology located within the State's institutions of higher education to conduct Statewide water, air, and toxicology sampling of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS); to develop and deploy technologies to mitigate exposure to PFAS; and to continue the North Carolina PFAS Testing Network (Network). The Collaboratory must continue to report the results of this sampling to various State and federal governmental entities, in addition to the public through the Network's website.

Of the $12.75 million in nonrecurring funds allocated to the Collaboratory for the 2021-2022 fiscal year to manage and implement the PFAS-related research and development objectives of this section, a minimum of $10 million must be used for the development within The University of North Carolina of technologies that utilize water filtration to mitigate the presence of PFAS from water supplies where it is present. Funds allocated under this subsection will not revert and will remain available for nonrecurring expenditures.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill must apportion all gross revenue associated with any intellectual property related to ionic fluorogel water filtration or other chemical or physical technologies developed utilizing research funds provided by the Collaboratory pursuant to the allocation formula set out in this section.

This section also requires the Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) to assist the Collaboratory to develop an online reporting portal for State, local, and public airport fire departments to report inventory, storage, and deployment of Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF) and educate those fire departments that are under the OSFM's regulatory authority on the reporting requirements established by this section. This online portal must be operational no later than January 1, 2023.

This section became effective July 1, 2021.