AN ACT to provide relief to those financially harmed by the bankruptcy filing of N. G. Purvis Farms, Inc.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (Department) the nonrecurring sum of five million one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($5,150,000) for the 2023‑2024 fiscal year for grants to farmers and farming entities who have invoices for sales of crops or livestock or both to N. G. Purvis Farms, Inc., (Purvis) remaining unpaid as a result of Purvis filing for bankruptcy in Case Number 21‑01068 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina on May 7, 2021. Grants under this act by the Department may not exceed the amount of the unpaid invoice minus any other remuneration received to discharge the unpaid invoice, including through bankruptcy proceedings. Within three months of the effective date of this act, the Department shall develop an application process for eligible grantees and criteria for determining appropriate grant amounts consistent with this act. A farmer or farming entity must apply to the Department for a grant on a form prescribed by the Department and must include any supporting documentation required by the Department. The application must be filed with the Department on or before January 1, 2024. The Department may not accept late applications. The Department may use up to three percent (3%) of the funds appropriated in this act for administrative costs. Funds remaining after grants have been awarded for all timely filed applications and for administrative costs shall revert to the General Fund. The Department shall report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources and the Fiscal Research Division by April 1, 2024, on its distribution of the funds appropriated by this act.

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2023.