A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT regarding the delineation of protective riparian buffers for coastal wetlands in the Neuse River and Tar‑pamlico River Basins.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Part 1 of Article 21 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 143‑214.19.  Delineation of protective riparian buffers for coastal wetlands in the Neuse River and Tar‑Pamlico River Basins.
(a)	The following definitions apply in this section:
(1)	Coastal wetlands. – Any salt marsh or other marsh subject to regular or occasional flooding by tides, including wind tides (whether or not the tidewaters reach the marshland areas through natural or artificial watercourses), provided this shall not include hurricane or tropical storm tides. 
(2)	Marshlands. – The term has the same meaning as G.S. 113‑229(n).
(b)	If State law requires a protective riparian buffer for coastal wetlands in either the Neuse River Basin or the Tar‑Pamlico River Basin, the coastal wetlands and marshlands shall not be treated as part of the surface waters but instead shall be included in the measurement of the protective riparian buffer. The protective riparian buffer for any of the coastal wetlands or marshlands in the Neuse River Basin or the Tar‑Pamlico River Basin shall be delineated as follows:
(1)	If the coastal wetlands or marshlands extend less than 50 feet from the high normal water level or normal water level, as appropriate, and therefore would not encompass a 50‑foot area beyond the appropriate water level, then the protective riparian buffer shall include all of the coastal wetlands and marshlands and enough of the upland footage to equal a total of 50 feet from the appropriate normal high water level or the normal water level measured horizontally on a line perpendicular to the surface water.
(2)	If the coastal wetlands or marshlands extend 50 feet or more from the normal high water level or normal water level, as appropriate, then the protective riparian buffer shall be the full width of the marshlands or coastal wetlands up to the landward limit of the marshlands or coastal wetlands but shall not extend beyond the landward limit of the marshlands or coastal wetlands."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2015.