AN ACT for technical changes related to various administrative law provisions of the general statutes, as requested by the office of administrative hearings.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 150B‑21.1A(a) reads as rewritten:

(a)      Adoption. – An agency may adopt an emergency rule without prior notice or hearing or upon any abbreviated notice or hearing the agency finds practical following notice to its mailing list maintained pursuant to G.S. 150B‑21.2(d) when it finds that adherence to the notice and hearing requirements of this Part would be contrary to the public interest and that the immediate adoption of the rule is required by a serious and unforeseen threat to the public health or safety. When an agency adopts an emergency rule, it must simultaneously commence the process for adopting a temporary rule by submitting the rule to the Codifier of Rules for publication on the Internet in accordance with G.S. 150B‑21.1(a3). The Department of Health and Human Services or the appropriate rule‑making agency within the Department may adopt emergency rules in accordance with this section when a recent act of the General Assembly or the United States Congress or a recent change in federal regulations authorizes new or increased services or benefits for children and families and the emergency rule is necessary to implement the change in State or federal law.

SECTION 2.  G.S. 150B‑21.7 reads as rewritten:

§ 150B‑21.7.  Effect of transfer of duties or termination of agency on rules.

(a)        When a law that authorizes an agency to adopt a rule is repealed and another law gives the same or another agency substantially the same authority to adopt a rule, the rule remains in effect until the agency with authority over the rule amends or repeals the rule. When a law that authorizes an agency to adopt a rule is repealed and another law does not give the same or another agency substantially the same authority to adopt a rule, a rule adopted under the repealed law is repealed as of the date the law is repealed. The agency that adopted the rule shall notify the Codifier of Rules that the rule is repealed pursuant to this subsection.subsection within 30 days.

(b)        When an executive order abolishes part or all of an agency and transfers a function of that agency to another agency, a rule concerning the transferred function remains in effect until the agency to which the function is transferred amends or repeals the rule. When an executive order abolishes part or all of an agency and does not transfer a function of that agency to another agency, a rule concerning a function abolished by the executive order is repealed as of the effective date of the executive order. The agency that adopted the rule shall notify the Codifier of Rules that the rule is repealed pursuant to this subsection.subsection within 30 days.

(c)        When notified of a rule repealed under this section, the Codifier of Rules must enter the repeal of the rule in the North Carolina Administrative Code. If the Codifier of Rules does not receive timely notice from the agency under this section, the Codifier shall remove the rule from the North Carolina Administrative Code after notifying the agency.

SECTION 3.  G.S. 150B‑21.19 reads as rewritten:

§ 150B‑21.19.  Requirements for including rule in Code.

To be acceptable for inclusion in the North Carolina Administrative Code, a rule must:

…

(4)        Have been approved by the Commission, if the rule is a temporary or permanent rule.

….

SECTION 4.  G.S. 41A‑7(b) reads as rewritten:

(b)      A complaint under subsection (a) shall be filed within one year after the alleged unlawful discriminatory housing practice occurred. A respondent may file an answer to the complaint against him within 10 days after receiving a copy of the complaint. With the leave of the Commission, which shall be granted whenever it would be reasonable and fair to do so, the complaint and the answer may be amended at any time. Complaints and answers shall be verified. The Commission shall make final administrative disposition of a complaint within one year of the date the complaint is filed, unless it is impracticable to do so. If the Commission is unable to do so, it shall notify the complainant and respondent, in writing, of the reasons for not doing so.

SECTION 5.  G.S. 120‑30.9H reads as rewritten:

§ 120‑30.9H.  Decision letters of U. S. Attorney General published in North Carolina Register.

All letters and other documents received by the authorities required by this Article to submit any changes affecting voting from the Attorney General of the United States in which a final decision is made concerning a submitted change affecting voting shall be filed with the Director of the Office of Administrative Hearings. The Director Codifier of Rules. The Codifier shall publish the letters and other documents in the North Carolina Register.

SECTION 6.  G.S. 163‑278.23 reads as rewritten:

§ 163‑278.23.  Duties of Executive Director of State Board.

The Executive Director of the State Board shall inspect or cause to be inspected each statement filed with the State Board under this Article within 30 days after the date it is filed. The Executive Director shall advise, or cause to be advised, no more than 30 days and at least five days before each report is due, each candidate or treasurer whose organizational report has been filed, of the specific date each report is due. He shall immediately notify any individual, candidate, treasurer, political committee, referendum committee, media, or other entity that may be required to file a statement under this Article if:

(1)        It appears that the individual, candidate, treasurer, political committee, referendum committee, media, or other entity has failed to file a statement as required by law or that a statement filed does not conform to this Article; or

(2)        A written complaint is filed under oath with the State Board by any registered voter of this State alleging that a statement filed with the State Board does not conform to this Article or to the truth or that an individual, candidate, treasurer, political committee, referendum committee, media, or other entity has failed to file a statement required by this Article.

The entity that is the subject of the complaint will be given an opportunity to respond to the complaint before any action is taken requiring compliance.

The Executive Director of the Board of Elections shall issue written opinions to candidates, the communications media, political committees, referendum committees, or other entities upon request, regarding filing procedures and compliance with this Article. Any such opinion so issued shall specifically refer to this paragraph. If the candidate, communications media, political committees, referendum committees, or other entities rely on and comply with the opinion of the Executive Director of the Board of Elections, then prosecution or civil action on account of the procedure followed pursuant thereto and prosecution for failure to comply with the statute inconsistent with the written ruling of the Executive Director of the Board of Elections issued to the candidate or committee involved shall be barred. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to prohibit or delay the regular and timely filing of reports. The Executive Director shall file all opinions issued pursuant to this section with the Codifier of Rules to be published unedited in the North Carolina Register and the North Carolina Administrative Code.State Board of Elections website.

This section applies to Articles and Article 22M of the General Statutes this Chapter to the same extent that it applies to this Article.

SECTION 7.  Sections 1 through 3 of this act are effective when this act becomes law and apply to emergency rules adopted on or after that date. Section 4 of this act is effective when it becomes law and applies to complaints and answers filed on or after that date. Sections 5 and 6 of this act are effective when this act becomes law and apply to filings on or after that date. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.