GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1997 SESSION

S.L. 1997-87
HOUSE BILL 75

AN ACT CODIFYING THE METHOD OF ELECTING THE PERSON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION AS ORDERED BY THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  The Person County Board of Education shall consist of five members elected in nonpartisan plurality elections for concurrent four-year terms.
Section 2.  Elections for the Board of Education shall be held at the same time as the general election for State and county offices in the year 2000 and every four years thereafter.  Board members shall take office at the time specified by general State law for county officers.
Section 3.  The period for filing notices of candidacy for the Board of Education shall commence at noon on the first Monday in August preceding the election, and shall close at noon on the last Friday of August.  If, however, general State law provides a different filing period for nonpartisan plurality elections held in November of even-numbered years, the filing shall be conducted according to that general State law.
Section 4.  This act is intended to codify the method of election ordered by the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in the Consent Decree entered on 30 November 1995 in Webster, et al., v. Board of Education of Person County, et. al., No. 1:91CV554.  Pursuant to the Consent Decree, the method of election may be evaluated following the 2000 election, if the plaintiffs make such request within the time specified in the decree.
Section 5.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 26th day of May, 1997.
s/	Marc Basnight
President Pro Tempore of the Senate

s/	Harold J. Brubaker
Speaker of the House of Representatives