A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT authorizing the city of oxford to adopt ordinances establishing a schedule of fees to recover the costs of responding to motor vehicle accidents and hazardous material incidents.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  General. –  A city may by ordinance establish a schedule of fees, which may be amended from time to time, to recover from the responsible party the reasonable costs of providing services related to motor vehicle accidents, motor vehicle collisions, motor vehicle fires, motor vehicle extrications, and hazardous material spills or discharges that occur within the city's corporate limits and in areas to which the city's fire department is called by mutual aid. The ordinance may also establish other necessary regulations that are consistent with and supplemental to any provision of general law related to a fire department's response to a motor vehicle accident. The ordinance shall require that the fire department keep a detailed record of the costs attributable to an accident or incident covered by this section and that the city submit, directly or though its agent, an invoice to the responsible party or the responsible party's insurance company within 45 days following the accident or incident detailing the costs for which the responsible party is liable. The authority to recover costs under this section shall not include costs incurred for actual fire suppression service which is normally or usually provided within the city's corporate limits by the city's fire department. An ordinance adopted under this section may be enforced by civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction for the collection of any amount due, including administrative collection costs and attorneys' fees.
SECTION 1.(b)  Public Hearing. – Prior to adopting an ordinance authorized by subsection (a) of this section, the city council shall hold a public hearing on the question of the need for cost recovery and the proposed schedule of fees. Notice of the public hearing shall be given by publication once a week for at least two successive weeks prior to the date of the public hearing in a newspaper having general circulation in the city. If, following the public hearing, the city council finds that to promote public safety and welfare, it is necessary to ensure the provision of adequate and continuing fire department response service to motor vehicle accidents and hazardous material incidents, the city council may adopt an ordinance as provided in subsection (a) of this section.
SECTION 1.(c)  Definitions. – Unless otherwise provided, the following definitions shall apply in this section:
(1)	Costs. – All reasonable and necessary expenses that are incurred by a city fire department in connection with its response to: (1) a motor vehicle accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle fire, motor vehicle extrication, and cause and origin investigation; and (2) the mitigation or clean‑up of a hazardous material or the investigation of a hazardous materials incident.
(2)	Hazardous material. – A substance or material that the United States Secretary of Transportation has determined is capable of posing an unreasonable risk to health, safety, and property when transported in commerce, and has designated as hazardous under section 5103 of federal hazardous materials transportation law (49 U.S.C. § 5103). The term includes hazardous substances, hazardous wastes, marine pollutants, elevated temperature materials, materials designated as hazardous in the Hazardous Materials Table (49 C.F.R. § 172.101), and materials that meet the defining criteria for hazard classes and divisions in 49 C.F.R. § 173.
(3)	Responsible party. – Any person whose negligent or willful act is the cause of any motor vehicle accident, motor vehicle collision, or motor vehicle fire; any person who is the owner of or has custody and control over any vehicle involved in a motor vehicle accident, motor vehicle collision, or motor vehicle fire; and any person who is directly or indirectly responsible for the release or discharge of any hazardous material."
SECTION 2.  This act applies to the City of Oxford only.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2010, and applies to motor vehicle accidents, motor vehicle collisions, motor vehicle fires, motor vehicle extrications, and hazardous material spills or discharges that occur on or after that date.