A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT creating the legislative study commission on efficient e‑commerce in state Government.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is created the Legislative Study Commission on Efficient E‑Commerce in State Government (Commission). The purpose of the Commission is to study State government policies and practices relating to electronic commerce and automated solutions to streamline and reduce the cost of State government collections and payments. In undertaking this study, the Commission shall:
(1)	Review the current payments and collections made by the State that have the greatest potential to benefit from increased automation.
(2)	Examine best practices in the use of electronic funds transfers and direct depositing for State government financial transactions.
(3)	Identify goals and objectives for a coordinated State program to make State government e‑commerce more effective and cost efficient through paperwork reduction and lower transaction and personnel costs.
(4)	Consider any other matters related to improving State government e‑commerce and lower the cost of financial transactions.
SECTION 2.  The Commission shall consist of fifteen voting members appointed as follows:
(1)	Five members appointed by the Governor, including at least two persons from the general public.
(2)	Four members appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, including three members of the Senate (with at least one being a member of that chamber's minority political party) and one person from the banking industry.
(3)	Four members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, including three members of the House (with at least one being a member of that chamber's minority political party) and one person from the field of information technology.
SECTION 3.  The Secretary of Administration, the State Controller, the State Chief Information Officer, and the Director of the Office of State Budget and Management, or their respective designees, shall serve as ex officio nonvoting members of the Commission.
SECTION 4.  The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall each appoint a cochair for the Task Force. The Task Force may contract for consultant services as provided by G.S. 120‑32.02. Upon approval of the Legislative Services Commission, the Legislative Services Officer shall assign professional and clerical staff to assist in the work of the Task Force. Clerical staff shall be furnished through the offices of the House of Representatives' and the Senate's Directors of Legislative Assistants. The Task Force may meet in the Legislative Building or the Legislative Office Building upon the approval of the Legislative Services Commission. The appointing authority shall fill vacancies. The Task Force, while in the discharge of its official duties, may exercise all the powers provided under the provisions of G.S. 120‑19 through G.S. 120‑19.4, including the power to request all officers, agents, agencies, and departments of the State to provide any information, data, or documents within their possession, ascertainable from their records, or otherwise available to them, and the power to subpoena witnesses.  Members of the Task Force shall receive per diem, subsistence, and travel allowances as follows:
(1)	Members of the General Assembly, at the rate established in G.S. 120‑3.1.
(2)	Members who are officials or employees of the State or of local government agencies, at the rate established in G.S. 138‑6.
(3)	All other members, at the rate established in G.S. 138‑5.
SECTION 5.  The Task Force shall report to the 2011 General Assembly and shall terminate upon filing its final report.
SECTION 6.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the General Assembly the sum of twenty‑five thousand dollars ($25,000) for the 2010‑2011 fiscal year to fund the work of the Commission, with unexpended funds allocated to inactive legislative study commissions being either a primary or an alternate source of the necessary funding.
SECTION 7.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2010.