AN ACT amending the charter of the Town of wrightsville beach to INCREASE THE PERCENTAGE OF REGISTERED VOTERS OF THE TOWN WHO MUST SIGN A PETITION TO THE TOWN BOARD TO PLACE AN ORDINANCE INITIATIVE ON THE BALLOT.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  Section 6.1 of the Charter of the Town of Wrightsville Beach, being Chapter 611 of the 1989 Session Laws, reads as rewritten:

Sec. 6.1. Initiative ordinances generally; petitions. Any proposed ordinance, which the Board may lawfully adopt, may be submitted to the Board by petition signed by the voters of the Town. If if the petition accompanying the proposed ordinance is signed by voters of the Town equal in number to at least thirty-five percent (35%) forty percent (40%) of the total number of registered voters voting in residing within the Town of Wrightsville Beach at the time of the last preceding regular municipal election and contains a request that such ordinance be submitted to a vote of the people if not passed by the Board, Board. Upon receipt of a petition, the Board shall either: (i) within 20 days after the Town Clerk and the New Hanover County Board of Elections have certified the sufficiency of the accompanying petition, adopt the ordinance without alteration within 20 days after the Town Clerk and the New Hanover County Board of Elections have certified the sufficiency of the accompanying petition; alteration or (ii) within 20 days after the Town Clerk and the New Hanover County Board of Elections have certified the sufficiency of the petition, the Board of Aldermen shall call a special election to be held within six months, unless a general election is fixed within six months thereafter. on a date authorized by G.S. 163‑287(a). At such special or general election the ordinance shall be submitted without alteration to the registered voters of the Town.

SECTION 1.(b)  Section 6.5 of the Charter of the Town of Wrightsville Beach, being Chapter 611 of the 1989 Session Laws, reads as rewritten:

Sec. 6.5. Sufficiency of petition. The petition provided for herein shall only be signed by none but legal registered voters of the Town. Each petition shall contain, in addition to the names of the petitioners, the street and house number at which each petitioner resides, and his or her the age and length of residence in the Town. Town of each petitioner. It shall also be accompanied by the affidavit of one or more legal registered voters of the Town, stating that the signers thereof were, at the time of the signing, legal registered voters of the Town, and stating the number of signers at the time the affidavit was made.

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to petitions submitted on or after that date.