A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to establish the North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force, an interagency collaboration between the Departments of administration, Commerce, Environment and Natural Resources, transportation, health and human services, and the North carolina Housing finance agency focused on developing and sustaining Healthy, safe, and walkable communities Accessible to all north carolinians, as recommended by the Legislative Study Commission on Urban growth and infrastructure issues.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Article 10 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Part to read:
"Part 22. North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force.
"§ 143B‑472.130.  North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force – findings.
(a)	The General Assembly finds that the rapid growth of the urban and suburban areas of North Carolina and the economic challenges facing many of the State's urban cores, rural areas, and smaller communities create a significant need for the strategic use of resources to plan and accommodate healthy and equitable development without compromising natural systems and the needs of future generations of North Carolinians.
(b)	The General Assembly finds that the following principles describe sustainable development for North Carolina's communities:
(1)	Better transportation choices. – Offering safe, reliable, and economical motorized and nonmotorized transportation options to decrease household transportation costs, reduce dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and promote public health.
(2)	Equitable, affordable housing. – Encouraging the provision to North Carolina citizens of all ages, incomes, races, and ethnicities expanded location‑, water‑ and energy‑efficient housing choices that increase mobility, decrease the impact on existing water and energy infrastructure, and lower the combined cost of housing and transportation.
(3)	Enhanced economic competitiveness. – Expanding business access to markets and improving North Carolina's economic competitiveness through reliable and timely access to employment centers, educational opportunities, services, and other basic needs by workers.
(4)	Support of existing communities. – Targeting public funds toward existing communities that are using strategies such as transit‑oriented, mixed‑use development and land recycling to increase community revitalization, enhance the efficiency and cost effectiveness of public works investments, and protect rural landscapes.
(5)	Coordination and leverage of State policies and investment. – Aligning State and local government policies and funding to remove barriers to collaboration, leverage funding, and increase the accountability and effectiveness of government in planning for future growth.
(6)	Recognize and support communities and neighborhoods. – Preserving and enhancing the unique characteristics of rural, urban, and suburban communities by investing in healthy, safe, and walkable neighborhoods.
"§ 143B‑472.131.  North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force – creation; purpose; duties.
There is created within the Department of Commerce the North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force to lead and support the State's sustainable communities initiatives. The duties of the Task Force shall be as follows:
(1)	To apply for and receive, on behalf of the State, funding from federal, public or private initiatives, grant programs, or donors that will foster sustainable development in North Carolina.
(2)	To promote regional partnerships and to assist local governments and regional or interlocal organizations in North Carolina in seeking and managing funding from federal, public or private initiatives, grant programs, or donors related to the planning, development, or redevelopment of the State's communities in a sustainable manner.
(3)	To identify federal funding opportunities related to sustainable development.
(4)	To provide technical assistance to eligible State agencies, local governments, nonprofits or regional collaborations and partnerships in applying for federal and other funding opportunities. This technical assistance shall include the development of scenario planning tools, progress measurement metrics, and public participation strategies for use by all applicants.
(5)	To recommend policies for the support, promotion, and encouragement of  sustainable communities to the Secretaries of the Departments of Commerce, Environment and Natural Resources, and Transportation, the General Assembly, and the Governor.
(6)	To recommend annually to the Governor appropriations for sustainable development programs.
(7)	To develop a common local government sustainable practices scoring system incorporating the principles set forth in G.S. 143B‑472.130(b). 
(8)	To pursue opportunities to combine the efforts of State agencies related to development and infrastructure; to study how existing regional and interlocal organizations could improve their organization and reduce unnecessary overlap and duplication of services; and to better integrate State efforts and investments with regional and local efforts. The Task Force shall include in its recommendations under subdivisions (5) and (6) of this section any recommendations for legislation necessary to implement any potential improvements identified under this subdivision."§ 143B‑472.132.  North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force – membership; staffing; sunset.
(a)	Membership and Advice. – The Task Force shall consist of 11 members who reflect the diversity of the State. The Secretaries of Commerce, Environment and Natural Resources, and Transportation and the Director of the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency shall each designate a representative to the Task Force from their agencies. The Secretary of Administration shall designate a representative from that Department who is familiar with the management and development of State‑owned lands and buildings. The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall designate a representative from the Division of Public Health of the Department of Health and Human Services who is familiar with the impact of the built environment on human health. The Governor shall appoint the remaining five members under a specified subdivision of this subsection as follows:
(1)	One member who is a representative of a nonprofit organization involved in the planning, advocacy, or creation of sustainable development.
(2)	One member who is a representative of a county government.
(3)	One member who is a representative of city government.
(4)	One member who is a representative of a Council of Government or other regional collaborative organization.
(5)	One member with professional training in planning who is a representative of the North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association.
The Secretaries of Administration, Commerce, Environment and Natural Resources, Health and Human Services and Transportation, or their designees, shall advise the Task Force on sustainable development activities within the responsibility of their respective departments and shall cooperate with the Task Force in jointly seeking funds from federal, public, or private initiatives, grant programs, or donors.
(b)	Terms, Vacancies. – The members of the Task Force appointed by the Governor shall have a term of office of four years and shall serve until their successors are appointed and qualified. An appointment to fill a vacancy shall be for the unexpired balance of the term. The remaining members of the Task Force shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority. 
(c)	Staff. – The Departments of Administration, Commerce, Environment and Natural Resources, Health and Human Services and Transportation shall provide clerical and professional staff support to the Task Force.
(d)	Compensation. – The public members of the Task Force shall receive per diem and necessary travel and subsistence expenses payable to members of State boards and agencies as set forth by G.S. 138‑5 and G.S. 138‑6, respectively.
(e)	Sunset. – This Part  expires June 30, 2021.
"§ 143B‑472.133.  North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force – reports.
(a)	Beginning in 2011, the Task Force shall report to the Governor, the House and Senate Commerce Committees, and the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations no later than October 1 each year. The report shall include the following elements:
(1)	Policy recommendations and suggested legislation.
(2)	Funding applied for and received in the prior fiscal year.
(3)	Population, employment, building permit, and related socioeconomic data for each metro region of the State, including 25‑year projections of population and employment and any other demographic trends the Task Force finds relevant, with commentary on any changing trends in the data that might affect planning for sustainable development and infrastructure. Where possible, the Task Force shall use data already collected by the State Demographer, the United States Census Bureau, and any other state or federal agency.
(4)	An inventory of State policies and programs that influence positively or negatively the ability to develop sustainable communities.
(5)	An overview of all State funding initiatives (including State‑allocated federal funding initiatives) used to support housing, infrastructure, water quality, and land preservation, including, at a minimum, the following:
a.	The Clean Water Management Trust Fund.
b.	The Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.
c.	The Agriculture Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund.
d.	The Natural Heritage Trust Fund.
e.	The Highway Fund and the Highway Trust Fund.
f.	The Congestion Relief and Intermodal Transportation 21st Century Fund.
g.	The Ecosystem Enhancement Program.
h.	The North Carolina Main Street Program and the Main Street Solutions Fund.
i.	The Housing Trust Fund and the low‑income housing tax credit funds administered by the Housing Finance Agency.
j.	Funds  from the Public School Building Capital Fund used by counties for the purchase of land for public school buildings.
k.	The tax credits for renewable energy property, historic rehabilitation, and mill rehabilitation set forth in Chapter 105 of the General Statutes.
The overview should include the current funding level, changes in funding over the previous fiscal year, and how the funding initiative has contributed to sustainable development, or, in the case of a tax credit, the number and geographical distribution of taxpayers taking the credit, the amount of credits claimed, and how the credit has contributed to sustainable development.
(b)	For purposes of this section "metro region of the State" includes the following Statistical Areas defined by the United States Census Bureau:
(1)	The Research Triangle region (made up of the Durham‑Chapel Hill and the Raleigh‑Cary Metropolitan Statistical Areas).
(2)	The North Carolina portion of the Charlotte‑Gastonia‑Concord Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(3)	The Greensboro‑Winston‑Salem‑High Point Combined Statistical Area.
(4)	The Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(5)	The Hickory‑Lenoir‑Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(6)	The Fayetteville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(7)	The Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(8)	The Greenville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(9)	The Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(10)	The Rocky Mount Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(11)	The Goldsboro Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(12)	Any other Metropolitan Statistical Area that includes counties of the State and that has a population of 100,000 or more within the State."
SECTION 2.(a)  Supplemental Funding for Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. – The Departments of Commerce, Transportation, and Environment and Natural Resources shall ensure that any programs they administer providing pass‑through funding or grants for regional bodies, counties, or municipalities will, to the extent possible under rules or guidelines imposed by the source of the funding, provide supplemental funds to regional bodies and to cities and counties within regions that comply with the following requirements:
(1)	The regional body, city, or county is a part of a regional sustainable development partnership covering any of the metro regions identified in G.S. 143B‑472.133(b), as enacted by Section 1 of this act. This partnership must include any Metropolitan Planning Organizations, Regional Planning Organizations, and regional transit agencies in existence in the region, along with representatives of the Departments of Commerce, Transportation, and Environment and Natural Resources.
(2)	The partnership has submitted a workplan to the North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force showing the activities to be funded and the public information process through which activities are selected and prioritized.
(3)	All members of the partnership have adopted a jointly developed memorandum of agreement describing how coordinated planning activities will be undertaken.
(4)	The partnership provides matching funds for the supplemental funds provided by the Departments of Commerce, Transportation, and Environment and Natural Resources.
In awarding any supplemental funding, the Departments of Commerce, Transportation, and Environment and Natural Resources shall utilize the common local government sustainable practices scoring system set forth in G.S. 143B‑472.131, as enacted by Section 1 of this act.
SECTION 2.(b)  Reports. – The Departments of Commerce, Transportation, and Environment and Natural Resources shall report their progress in implementing this section to the House and Senate Commerce Committees and the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations.
SECTION 3.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force, as created by Section 1 of this act, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for the 2010‑2011 fiscal year to be used to support the operation of the North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force.
SECTION 3.(b)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force, as created by Section 1 of this act, the sum of one hundred twenty‑five thousand dollars ($125,000) for the 2010‑2011 fiscal year to provide up to fifty percent (50%) of any required local matching funds for recipients of Federal Sustainable Communities Planning Grants and any other federal grants related to sustainable development and requiring local matching funds.
SECTION 3.(c)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Commerce State Aid the sum of four hundred twenty‑five thousand dollars ($425,000) in recurring funds to support the operations of regional Councils of Governments.  The Division of Community Assistance shall give priority in funding to Councils of Governments that demonstrate involvement in the activities of the regional partnerships set forth in Section 2(a) of this act.
SECTION 4.  G.S. 120‑123 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(79)	The North Carolina Sustainable Communities Task Force, as established in Article 9 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes."
SECTION 5.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2010, and expires June 30, 2021.