AN ACT TO increase the security and privacy surrounding north carolina legislators and to appropriate funds.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  Chapter 120 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Article to read:

Article 17A.

Legislative Privacy Act.

§ 120‑138.1.  Title.

This Article shall be known and may be cited as the North Carolina Legislative Privacy Act.

§ 120‑138.2.  Purpose.

The purpose of this Article is to improve the security and privacy of legislators of the North Carolina General Assembly to ensure those legislators are able to legislate without fear of personal reprisal from individuals affected by the decisions those legislators make in the course of carrying out the public function of each legislator's duties.

This Article is not intended to restrain a legislator from independently making public the legislator's own personal information. Additionally, no government agency, person, business, or association has any obligation under this Article to protect the privacy of a legislator's personal information until the legislator makes a written request pursuant to this Article that the legislator's personal information not be publicly posted.

Nothing in this Article shall be construed to impair free access to legislative voting records or bills and other legislative instruments filed by legislators in the course of carrying out each legislator's functions.

§ 120‑138.3.  Definitions.

The following definitions apply in this Article:

(1)        Government agency. – All agencies, authorities, boards, commissions, departments, institutions, offices, and any other bodies politic and corporate of the State created by the Constitution or statute, whether in the executive, judicial, or legislative branch; all units and corporate outgrowths created by executive order of the Governor or any constitutional officer, by the Supreme Court, or by resolution of the General Assembly; or agencies, authorities, boards, commissions, departments, institutions, offices, and any other bodies politic and corporate of a unit of local government or school district.

(2)        Home address. – A legislator's permanent residence and any secondary residences affirmatively identified by the legislator, not including a legislator's work address.

(3)        Immediate family. – A legislator's spouse, child, parent, or any blood relative of the legislator or the legislator's spouse who lives in the same residence as the legislator.

(4)        Legislator. – An active member of the North Carolina House of Representatives or the North Carolina Senate.

(5)        Personal information. – A home address, home telephone number, mobile telephone number, pager number, personal email address, social security number, federal tax identification number, checking and savings account numbers, credit card numbers, and identity of children under the age of 18.

(6)        Publicly available content. – Any written, printed, or electronic document or record that provides information or that serves as a document or record maintained, controlled, or in the possession of a government agency that may be obtained by any person or entity from the internet, from the government agency upon request either free of charge or for a fee, or in response to a request under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

(7)        Publicly post or publicly display. – To publicly communicate to another or otherwise make available to the general public.

(8)        Written request. – Written notice signed by a legislator or a representative of the legislator requesting a government agency, person, business, or association refrain from posting or displaying publicly available content that includes the legislator's personal information.

§ 120‑138.4.  Publicly posting or displaying a legislator's personal information by government agencies.

(a)        Government agencies shall not publicly post or display publicly available content that includes a legislator's personal information, provided that the government agency has received a written request in accordance with G.S. 120‑138.6 that it refrain from disclosing the legislator's personal information. After a government agency has received a written request, that agency shall remove the legislator's personal information from publicly available content within five business days. After the government agency has removed the legislator's personal information from publicly available content, the agency shall not publicly post or display publicly the information and the legislator's personal information shall be exempt from public records requests made pursuant to Chapter 132 of the General Statutes unless the government agency has received consent from the legislator to make the personal information available to the public.

(b)        If a government agency fails to comply with a written request to refrain from disclosing personal information made pursuant to this Article, the legislator may bring an action seeking injunctive or declaratory relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.

§ 120‑138.5.  Publicly posting or displaying a legislator's personal information on the internet by persons, businesses, and associations.

(a)        Prohibited Conduct. –

(1)        All persons, businesses, and associations shall refrain from publicly posting or displaying on the internet publicly available content that includes a legislator's personal information, provided that the legislator has made a written request to the person, business, or association that it refrain from disclosing the personal information.

(2)        No person, business, or association shall solicit, sell, or trade on the internet a legislator's personal information with the intent to pose an imminent and serious threat to the health and safety of the legislator or the legislator's immediate family.

This subsection includes, but is not limited to, internet phone directories, internet search engines, internet data aggregators, and internet service providers.

(b)        Required Conduct. –

(1)        After a person, business, or association has received a written request from a legislator to protect the privacy of the legislator's personal information, that person, business, or association shall have 72 hours to remove the personal information from the internet.

(2)        After a person, business, or association has received a written request from a legislator, that person, business, or association shall ensure that the legislator's personal information is not made available on any website or subsidiary website controlled by that person, business, or association.

(3)        After receiving a legislator's written request, no person, business, or association shall transfer the legislator's personal information to any other person, business, or association through any medium.

(c)        Redress. – A legislator whose information is made public as a result of a violation of this Article may bring an action seeking injunctive or declaratory relief in any court of competent jurisdiction. If the court grants injunctive or declaratory relief, the person, business, or association responsible for the violation shall be required to pay the legislator's costs and reasonable attorney's fees incurred due to the action.

§ 120‑138.6.  Procedure for completing a written request.

(a)        Requirement that a Legislator Make a Written Request. – No government agency, person, business, or association shall be found to have violated any provision of this Article if the legislator fails to submit a written request calling for the protection of the legislator's personal information.

(b)        Written Request Procedure. – A written request shall be valid if either of the following occurs:

(1)        The legislator sends a written request directly to a governmental agency, person, business, or association.

(2)        If the Legislative Services Officer has a policy and procedure for a legislator to file the written request with the Legislative Services Officer to notify government agencies, the legislator may send the written request to the Legislative Services Officer. In each quarter of a calendar year, the Legislative Services Officer shall provide a list of all legislators that have submitted a written request to the appropriate officer with ultimate supervisory authority for a government agency. The officer shall promptly provide a copy of the list to any and all government agencies under the officer's supervision. Receipt of the written request list compiled by the Legislative Services Officer by a government agency shall constitute a written request to that government agency for the purposes of this Article.

(c)        A representative of the legislator may submit a written request on the legislator's behalf, provided that the legislator gives written consent to the representative and provided that the representative agrees to furnish a copy of that consent when a written request is made. The representative shall submit the written request as provided in subsection (b) of this section.

(d)       Information to be Included in the Written Request. – A legislator's written request shall specify what personal information shall be maintained private pursuant to this Article.

If a legislator wishes to identify a secondary residence as a home address as that term is defined in this Article, the designation shall be made in the written request.

(e)        Duration of the Written Request. – A legislator's written request is valid until the legislator provides the government agency, person, business, or association with written permission to release the private information. A legislator's written request expires on the death of the legislator.

§ 120‑138.7.  Unlawful publication of personal information.

It is unlawful for any person to knowingly and publicly post on the internet the personal information of a legislator or member of the legislator's immediate family if (i) the person knows or reasonably should know that publicly posting the personal information poses an imminent and serious threat to the health and safety of the legislator or member of the legislator's immediate family and (ii) the violation of this Article is a proximate cause of bodily injury or death of the legislator or a member of the legislator's immediate family.

A person that violates this section is guilty of a Class C felony.

§ 120‑138.8.  Exceptions for employees of government agencies.

Provided that an employee of a government agency has complied with the conditions set forth in this Article, it is not a violation of G.S. 120‑138.7 if an employee of a government agency publishes, in good faith, personal information prohibited from being published under this Article on the website of the government agency in the ordinary course of carrying out public functions.

§ 120‑138.9.  Construction of Article.

This Article and any rules adopted to implement this Article shall be construed broadly to favor the protection of the personal information of legislators and members of the legislator's immediate family.

SECTION 1.(b)  If any part of this section or its application to any person or circumstance is adjudged invalid, such adjudication or application shall not affect the validity of this section as a whole or of any other part.

SECTION 1.(c)  This section becomes effective December 1, 2023, and applies to personal information that is made public or continues to remain public on or after that date.

SECTION 2.(a)  G.S. 143B‑911 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:

(d1)    Legislative Security Assessments. – Upon the request of a member of the North Carolina General Assembly, the General Assembly Special Police shall conduct a security assessment of the member's primary residence, district office, or both.

This subsection shall not be construed to modify in any way the territorial jurisdiction of police officers of the General Assembly Special Police as that jurisdiction relates to the power of arrest and as it is described in subsection (d) of this section.

SECTION 2.(b)  This section is effective when it becomes law.

SECTION 3.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the General Assembly the sum of three million three hundred thousand dollars ($3,300,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2023‑2024 fiscal year to be allocated to the General Assembly Special Police and used as follows:

(1)        At the request of a member of the North Carolina General Assembly, to make security improvements to the member's primary residence, district office, or both.

(2)        In an amount not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) per member of the North Carolina General Assembly.

SECTION 3.(b)  This section becomes effective July 1, 2023.

SECTION 4.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.