AN ACT to exclude Fire or emergency RESPONSE agency property from election use if the use will inhibit the ability to carry out emergency response.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 163‑129(a) reads as rewritten:

(a)      At the voting place in each precinct established under the provisions of G.S. 163‑128, the county board of elections shall provide or procure by lease or otherwise a suitable structure or part of a structure in which registration and voting may be conducted. To this end, the county board of elections shall be entitled to demand and use any school or other State, county, or municipal building, or a part thereof, or any other building, or a part thereof, which is supported or maintained, in whole or in part by or through tax revenues provided, however, that this section shall not be construed to permit any board of elections to demand and use any tax exempt church property for such purposes without the express consent of the individual church involved, revenues, for the purpose of conducting registration and voting for any primary or election, and it may require that the requisitioned premises, or a part thereof, be vacated for these purposes. This section shall not be construed to permit any board of elections to demand and use any tax‑exempt church property for such purposes without the express consent of the individual church involved. Fire or emergency response agency property shall be exempted for demand and use under this subsection if (i) the fire chief responsible for the property determines such utilization of the property will inhibit the ability to carry out emergency response, (ii) the fire chief makes a timely appeal to the board of county commissioners against the demand and use of the property by the board of elections, and (iii) the board of county commissioners makes a final determination in favor of the fire chief's appeal.

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.