North Carolina 2025-2026 Regular Session

North Carolina House Bill H665 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1	1		GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
2	2		SESSION 2025
3		-	H 1
4		-	HOUSE BILL 665
	3	+	H D
	4	+	HOUSE BILL DRH10303-NHa-162
	5	+
5	6
6	7
7	8		Short Title: DPI Disaster Preparedness Fund. (Public)
8		-	Sponsors: Representatives Greenfield, Ager, G. Brown, and Butler (Primary Sponsors).
9		-	For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
10		-	Referred to: Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
11		-	April 3, 2025
12		-	H665 -v-1
	9	+	Sponsors: Representative Greenfield.
	10	+	Referred to:
	11	+
	12	+	DRH10303 -NHa-162
13	13		A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
14	14		AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISASTER PREPAREDNESS FUND. 2
15	15		The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 3
16	16		SECTION 1. Chapter 115C of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new 4
17	17		Article to read: 5
18	18		"Article 38D. 6
19	19		"Public School Disaster Preparedness. 7
20	20		"§ 115C-546.50. Fund created; administration. 8
21	21		(a) There is created the Public School Disaster Preparedness Fund. The Fund shall be 9
22	22		administered by the Department of Public Instruction and shall be used to provide funds to 10
23	23		schools in areas at high risk of experiencing natural disasters to improve or replace existing 11
24	24		school structures in an effort to mitigate the damage to those structures from future weather 12
25	25		events. 13
26	26		(b) This Fund shall be a nonreverting special revenue fund consisting of any monies 14
27	27		appropriated to it by the General Assembly. 15
28	28		"§ 115C-546.51. Fund disbursements; allowable uses. 16
29	29		(a) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules to determine the disbursement of the 17
30	30		Public School Disaster Preparedness Fund. At a minimum, the rules shall include: 18
31	31		(1) The system that will be relied upon to determine the level of risk in an area. 19
32	32		(2) A template for local school administrative units to use to develop disaster 20
33	33		preparedness plans. As used in this section, a "disaster preparedness plan" is 21
34	34		the plan in which a local school administrative unit identifies the structures 22
35	35		that will be improved or replaced, the risk posed to those structures, and the 23
36	36		plan to improve or replace the structure. 24
37	37		(3) The standard of increased preparedness schools are intended to achieve with 25
38	38		disaster preparedness funds. 26
39	39		(4) The system by which the State Board of Education will evaluate a school's 27
40	40		disaster preparedness plan. 28
41	41		(b) The Department of Public Instruction shall develop and publish an application 29
42	42		through which local school administrative units may apply to receive a distribution from the 30
43	43		Public School Disaster Preparedness Fund. At a minimum, the application shall require local 31
44	44		school administrative units to provide a copy of the disaster preparedness plan and an estimate 32
45	45		of the cost of the plan. 33
46	46		(c) The Department shall accept applications on a rolling basis. Once received, the 34
47		-	application shall be evaluated by the School Planning Section and the School Planning Section 35 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
48		-	Page 2 House Bill 665-First Edition
49		-	shall present the application with a recommendation on whether the application meets the goals 1
50		-	set by the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education shall then vote to approve or 2
51		-	reject the application at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the State Board of Education. If 3
52		-	the application is approved by unanimous vote of the State Board of Education, then the 4
53		-	Department shall disburse the amount of funding approved by the State Board of Education to 5
54		-	the approved local school administrative unit. 6
55		-	"§ 115C-546.52. Reporting requirements. 7
56		-	(a) No later than December 15 of each year that a local school administrative unit is in 8
57		-	receipt of a disbursement from the Public School Disaster Preparedness Fund, the local school 9
58		-	administrative unit shall provide the Department of Public Instruction a report on any funds that 10
59		-	have been expended or committed, the remaining balance of funds available, and a detailed report 11
60		-	of the progress made toward completing the disaster preparedness plan. 12
61		-	(b) No later than February 15 of each year, the Department of Public Instruction shall 13
62		-	report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on any disbursements made from 14
63		-	the Fund, including the local school administrative unit that received the funds and the amount 15
64		-	received, a copy of any disaster preparedness plans currently being funded, a progress report on 16
65		-	any disaster preparedness plans being carried out, and an overview of completed disaster 17
66		-	preparedness plans." 18
67		-	SECTION 2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of 19
68		-	Public Instruction the sum of twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) in nonrecurring funds for 20
69		-	the 2025-2026 fiscal year to establish and administer the Public School Disaster Preparedness 21
70		-	Fund under Article 38D of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes, as enacted by this act. 22
71		-	SECTION 3. This act becomes effective July 1, 2025. 23
	47	+	application shall be evaluated by the School Planning Section and the School Planning Section 35
	48	+	shall present the application with a recommendation on whether the application meets the goals 36
	49	+	H.B. 665
	50	+	Apr 1, 2025
	51	+	HOUSE PRINCIPAL CLERK General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
	52	+	Page 2 DRH10303-NHa-162
	53	+	set by the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education shall then vote to approve or 1
	54	+	reject the application at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the State Board of Education. If 2
	55	+	the application is approved by unanimous vote of the State Board of Education, then the 3
	56	+	Department shall disburse the amount of funding approved by the State Board of Education to 4
	57	+	the approved local school administrative unit. 5
	58	+	"§ 115C-546.52. Reporting requirements. 6
	59	+	(a) No later than December 15 of each year that a local school administrative unit is in 7
	60	+	receipt of a disbursement from the Public School Disaster Preparedness Fund, the local school 8
	61	+	administrative unit shall provide the Department of Public Instruction a report on any funds that 9
	62	+	have been expended or committed, the remaining balance of funds available, and a detailed report 10
	63	+	of the progress made toward completing the disaster preparedness plan. 11
	64	+	(b) No later than February 15 of each year, the Department of Public Instruction shall 12
	65	+	report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on any disbursements made from 13
	66	+	the Fund, including the local school administrative unit that received the funds and the amount 14
	67	+	received, a copy of any disaster preparedness plans currently being funded, a progress report on 15
	68	+	any disaster preparedness plans being carried out, and an overview of completed disaster 16
	69	+	preparedness plans." 17
	70	+	SECTION 2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of 18
	71	+	Public Instruction the sum of twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) in nonrecurring funds for 19
	72	+	the 2025-2026 fiscal year to establish and administer the Public School Disaster Preparedness 20
	73	+	Fund under Article 38D of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes, as enacted by this act. 21
	74	+	SECTION 3. This act becomes effective July 1, 2025. 22