AN ACT to appropriate funds for the eastern North CArolina food Commercialization Center.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  One million dollars ($1,000,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2021‑2022 fiscal year and one million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2022‑2023 fiscal year are appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for local food processing initiatives. These funds shall be used to provide a grant to the Eastern North Carolina Food Commercialization Center to provide matching funds for a federal construction grant and to provide working capital and equipment for the Center.

SECTION 1.(b)  The Center shall submit an annual report on the use of the funds allocated by this section to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources and the Fiscal Research Division no later than April 1 of each year until the funds are spent or have reverted.

SECTION 1.(c)  Funds appropriated by this section that are not spent or encumbered by June 30, 2023, shall revert to the General Fund.

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2021.