A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to provide funding to the State highway patrol for the purchase of helicopters for the implementation of air support in law enforcement and search and rescue operations.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated the sum of twelve million dollars ($12,000,000) from the Highway Fund to the State Highway Patrol for the purchase of four new helicopters to replace the current helicopters in operation throughout the State.
SECTION 2.  G.S. 20-196.2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20‑196.2.  Use of aircraft to discover certain motor vehicle violations, assist in search and rescue operations, and other law enforcement activities; declaration of policy.
The State Highway Patrol is hereby permitted the use of aircraft to discover violations of Part 10 of Article 3 of Chapter 20 of the General Statutes relating to operation of motor vehicles and rules of the road. The State Highway Patrol shall also conduct aircraft search and rescue operations when so ordered by the Governor, the Secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety, or when requested by the head of a local law enforcement agency that has no aircraft available for use in search and rescue operations. Search and rescue operations shall include the search for an escapee from any federal, State, or local confinement facility. It is hereby declared the public policy of North Carolina that the aircraft should be used primarily for accident prevention, the preservation of life, and should also be used incident to the issuance of warning citations in accordance with the provisions of G.S. 20‑183."SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2006.