AN ACT to provide further funding and other enhancements to the State Fire Protection Grant Fund.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 58‑85A‑1 reads as rewritten:

§ 58‑85A‑1.  Creation of Fund; allocation to local fire districts and political subdivisions of the State.

(a)        There is created in the Department of Insurance the State Fire Protection Grant Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to compensate local fire districts and political subdivisions of the State for providing local fire protection to State‑owned buildings and their contents.

(b)        The Department of Insurance shall develop and implement an equitable and uniform statewide method for distributing any funds to the State's local fire districts and political subdivisions.

(c)        It is the intent of the General Assembly to appropriate annually to the State Fire Protection Grant Fund up to four million one hundred eighty thousand dollars ($4,180,000) fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) from the General Fund, one hundred fifty‑eight thousand dollars ($158,000) from the Highway Fund, and one million three hundred forty‑five thousand dollars ($1,345,000) two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) from University of North Carolina receipts. These funds are allocated as follows:

(1)        Funds received from the General Fund shall be allocated only for providing local fire protection for State‑owned property supported by the General Fund; funds Fund. The Department of Insurance may reserve up to ten percent (10%) of these funds to compensate local fire districts and political subdivisions of the State for providing local fire protection to State‑owned property that is under construction or first occupied during the fiscal year of the General Fund appropriation.

(2)        Funds received from the Highway Fund shall be allocated only for providing local fire protection for State‑owned property supported by the Highway Fund; and funds Fund.

(3)        Funds received from University of North Carolina receipts shall be allocated only for providing local fire protection for State‑owned property supported by University of North Carolina receipts.receipts and for property owned by nonprofit corporations or foundations associated with a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina as set forth in subsection (g) of this section.

(d)       In any fiscal year in which the annual appropriation from the General Fund to the State Fire Protection Grant Fund is less than fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000), then the amount of University of North Carolina receipts appropriated to the State Fire Protection Grant Fund is equal to two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the appropriation from the General Fund to the State Fire Protection Grant Fund for that fiscal year and the denominator of which is fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000).

(e)        Up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) of the funds appropriated annually from the General Fund to the State Fire Protection Grant Fund shall be allocated by the Department to provide reimbursement to local fire districts and political subdivisions of the State for State lands emergency response. The Department of Insurance shall adopt rules establishing procedures for reimbursement requests and distributions for the funds allocated by this subsection.

For purposes of this subsection, State lands emergency response means services such as search and rescue, wildfire suppression or management, and other natural disaster response activities provided on State‑owned property other than the provision of fire protection to State‑owned buildings and their contents.

(f)        The Department of Insurance may reserve up to ten percent (10%) of funds appropriated from the General Fund in each fiscal year to compensate local fire districts and political subdivisions of the State for providing local fire protection to State‑owned buildings and their contents.

(g)        Up to one million one hundred fifty‑five thousand dollars ($1,155,000) of appropriated receipts from The University of North Carolina is allocated to the State Fire Protection Grant Fund to provide reimbursement to local fire districts and political subdivisions of the State for providing local fire protection to buildings owned by nonprofit corporations or foundations sited on State property through a ground lease with a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina.

SECTION 2.  The sum of eleven million two hundred twenty‑two thousand four hundred eighty‑seven dollars ($11,222,487) in recurring funds for the 2023‑2024 fiscal year is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Insurance for the State Fire Protection Grant Fund. The amount of University of North Carolina receipts appropriated and allocated to the State Fire Protection Grant Fund is increased by one million one hundred fifty‑five thousand dollars ($1,155,000) in recurring funds.

SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2023.