AN ACT to clarify domestic violence laws reGarding when a law enforcement officer shall arrest a person who has knowingly violated a valid protective order despite the 2006 holding by the north carolina court of appeals in cockerham‑ellerbee v. the town of jonesville.

Whereas, in a 2006 opinion in Cockerham‑Ellerbee v. The Town of Jonesville, the North Carolina Court of Appeals interpreted G.S. 50B‑4.1(b) to be a discretionary provision rather than a mandatory one; and
Whereas, the intent of the North Carolina General Assembly in enacting G.S. 50B‑4.1(b) was to create a mandatory provision; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding the holding by the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Cockerham‑Ellerbee v. The Town of Jonesville, 176 N.C. App. 372, 626 S.E.2d 685 (2006), G.S. 50B‑4.1(b) creates a mandatory provision requiring a law enforcement officer to arrest and take a person into custody without a warrant or other process if the requirements set forth in the subsection are met.
SECTION 2.  G.S. 50B‑4.1(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	A law enforcement officer shall arrest and take a person into custody, with or without a warrant or other process, if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person knowingly has violated a valid protective order excluding the person from the residence or household occupied by a victim of domestic violence or directing the person to refrain from doing any or all of the acts specified in G.S. 50B‑3(a)(9)."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 23rd day of July, 2009.

	s/	 Walter H. Dalton
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 William L. Wainwright
	 Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Beverly E. Perdue
	 Governor

Approved 12:25 p.m. this 31st day of July, 2009