GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1997 SESSION

S.L. 1997-173
HOUSE BILL 999

AN ACT TO CLARIFY THE AUTHORITY OF THE SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION COMMISSION TO CONDUCT INSPECTIONS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 143B-294 reads as rewritten:
"§ 143B-294.  Soil and Water Conservation Commission – creation; powers and duties; compliance inspections.
(a)	There is hereby created the Soil and Water Conservation Commission of the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources with the power and duty to adopt rules to be followed in the development and implementation of a soil and water conservation program.
(1)	The Soil and Water Conservation Commission has all of the following powers and duties:
a.	To approve petitions for soil conservation districts.
b.	To approve application for watershed plans.
c.	Such other duties as specified in Chapter 139.
d.	To conduct any inspections in accordance with subsection (b) of this section.
(2)	The Commission shall adopt rules consistent with the provisions of this Chapter.  All rules not inconsistent with the provisions of this Chapter heretofore adopted by the Soil and Water Conservation Committee shall remain in full force and effect unless and until repealed or superseded by action of the Soil and Water Conservation Commission.  All rules adopted by the Commission shall be enforced by the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources.
(b)	An employee or agent of the Soil and Water Conservation Commission or the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources may enter property, with the consent of the owner or person having control over property, at reasonable times for the purposes of investigating compliance with Commission or Department programs when the investigation is reasonably necessary to carry out the duties of the Commission.  If the Commission or Department is unable to obtain the consent of the owner of the property, the Commission or Department may obtain an administrative search warrant pursuant to G.S. 15-27.2.
(c)	Any person who refuses entry or access to property by an employee or agent of the Commission or the Department or who willfully resists, delays, or obstructs an employee or agent of the Commission or the Department while the employee or agent is in the process of carrying out official duties after the employee or agent has obtained the consent of the owner or person having control of the property or, if consent is not obtained, after the employee or agent has obtained an administrative search warrant, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor."
Section 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law, except G.S. 143B-294(c), as enacted by Section 1 of this act, becomes effective 1 December 1997 and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 4th day of June, 1997.
s/	Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate

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

s/	James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor

Approved 3:32 p.m. this 12th day of June, 1997