GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1997

S	1 

SENATE BILL 120

Short Title:  Agriculture Cost Share Funding Limits. 	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senators Kerr, Warren, Webster, Foxx, McDaniel; Carpenter and Carrington.

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Referred to:  Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources.

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February 17, 1997

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROHIBIT THE SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION COMMISSION FROM SETTING LOWER FUNDING CAPS FOR APPLICANTS UNDER THE AGRICULTURE COST SHARE PROGRAM BASED UPON THE TYPE OF AGRICULTURAL OPERATION.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 143-215.74(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	The program shall be subject to the following requirements and limitations:
(1)	The purpose of the program shall be to reduce the input of agricultural nonpoint source pollution into the water courses of the State.
(2)	The program shall initially include the present 16 nutrient sensitive watershed counties and 17 additional counties.
(3)	Subject to subdivision (7) of this subsection, priority designations for inclusions in the program shall be under the authority of the Soil and Water Conservation Commission and the Commission. The Soil and Water Conservation Commission shall retain the authority to allocate the cost share funds.
(4)	Areas shall be included in the program as the funds are appropriated and the technical assistance becomes available from the local Soil and Water Conservation District.
(5)	Funding may be provided to assist practices including conservation tillage, diversions, filter strips, field borders, critical area plantings, sediment control structures, sod-based rotations, grassed waterways, strip-cropping, terraces, cropland conversion to permanent vegetation, grade control structures, water control structures, closure of lagoons, emergency spillways, riparian buffers or equivalent controls, odor control best management practices, insect control best management practices, and animal waste management systems and application. Funding for animal waste management shall be allocated for practices in river basins such that the funds will have the greatest impact in improving water quality.
(6)	State funding shall be limited to seventy-five percent (75%) of the average cost for each practice with the assisted farmer providing twenty-five percent (25%) of the cost (which may include in-kind support) with a maximum of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) per year to each applicant. The Commission shall not set a lower maximum limit for funding any application based upon the type of agricultural operation.
(7)	Priority designation for inclusion in the program for State funding shall be given to projects that improve water quality. To be eligible for cost share funds under this subdivision, a project shall be evaluated before funding is awarded and after the project is completed to determine the impact on water quality."
Section 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.