AN ACT to make all counties eligible to PARTICIPATE in the criminal justice fellows program, to exempt from rulemaking the establishment of minimum standards for in‑service training of criminal justice officers, and to appropriate funds.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  G.S. 17C‑20 reads as rewritten:

§ 17C‑20.  Definitions.

As used in this Article, the following definitions apply:

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(5)        Eligible county. – A county with a population of less than 125,000 according to the latest federal decennial census or a county designated as a development tier one area pursuant to G.S. 143B‑437.08, or both.Any county of this State.

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SECTION 1.(b)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Justice six hundred sixty‑three thousand five hundred seventy‑nine dollars ($663,579) in recurring funds for the 2021‑2022 fiscal year to be allocated to the North Carolina Criminal Justice Fellows Program to continue to recruit qualified in‑State high school seniors or unemployed/underemployed graduates and provide them with a forgivable community college loan to pursue.

SECTION 1.(c)  Subsection (b) of this section becomes effective July 1, 2021. The remainder of this section is effective when it becomes law.

SECTION 2.  G.S. 150B‑1(d) reads as rewritten:

(d)      Exemptions from Rule Making. – Article 2A of this Chapter does not apply to the following:

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(6a)      The Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission with respect to establishing minimum standards for in‑service training for criminal justice officers under G.S. 17C‑6(a)(14).

(6b)      The Sheriffs' Education and Training Standards Commission with respect to establishing minimum standards for in‑service training for justice officers under G.S. 17E‑4(a)(11).

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SECTION 3.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.