NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1975 SESSION

CHAPTER 865

HOUSE BILL 632

AN ACT RELATING TO ASSIGNMENT OF OFFICIAL LICENSE PLATES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 20-81 is hereby amended by rewriting to read as follows:

"§ 20-81.  Official license plates. — Official license plates issued to State officials shall be subject to the same fees and transfer provisions as provided in G.S. 20-87 and G.S. 20-64 respectively and shall be issued as follows:

1.         Senate and Congressional. Official plates issued to the United States Senators shall bear the words 'U.S. Senate', be numbered 1 and 2, and shall be issued on the basis of seniority. The official plates issued to United States Congressmen shall bear the words 'U. S. House' and be numbered 1 through 11 and shall be issued on the basis of congressional districts.

2.         North Carolina General Assembly. Official plates issued to members of the North Carolina State Senate or House of Representatives shall bear the words 'Senate' or 'House' followed by the Senator's or Representative's assigned seat number.

3.         Judicial. Official plates issued to the Judiciary shall be issued as follows:

(a)        Supreme Court. Official plates shall be issued upon request to the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of North Carolina which shall bear the letter 'J' followed by a numerical designation from 1 through 7. The Chief Justice upon request shall be issued the plate bearing number 1 and the remaining plates shall be issued upon request to the Associate Justices on the basis of seniority. Retired members of the Supreme Court shall receive an official plate upon request similar in every respect to the plates issued to the regular justices bearing the numerical designation of his or her position of seniority at the time of retirement except the numerical designation shall be followed with the letter 'X'. Official plates J-8 and J-9 in this series shall be reserved. Official plate J-10 shall be issued upon request to the Administrative Office of the Courts.

(b)        Court of Appeals. Official plates issued to the Chief Judge and Associate Judges of the North Carolina Court of Appeals shall bear the letter 'J' followed by a numerical designation from 11 through 19. The Chief Judge shall be issued upon request the official plate bearing number 11 and the remaining plates shall be issued upon request to the Associate Judges on the basis of seniority. Retired members of the North Carolina Court of Appeals serving as emergency judges shall receive an official plate upon request similar in every respect to the plates issued to regular judges bearing the numerical designation of his or her position as to seniority at the time of retirement except the numerical designation shall be followed with the letter 'X'. Official plate J-20 shall be reserved.

(c)        Superior Court. Official plates shall be issued to the various senior resident judges of the superior court upon request and shall bear the letter 'J' followed by a numerical designation equal to the sum of the numerical designation of their respective judicial districts plus 20. Where there is more than one resident judge of the superior court within a district, official plates shall upon request be issued to other resident judges serving within the district similar to the official plate to be issued upon request to the senior resident judge of the district except the numerical designation on each subsequent plate shall be followed by a letter of the alphabet beginning with the letter 'A', which shall be indicative of the recipient's position as to seniority.

(d)        Superior Court. Special judges and emergency judges of the superior court shall be issued an official plate bearing the letter 'J' with a numerical designation as designated by the Administrative Office of the Courts with the approval of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Retired judges shall be issued a similar plate except that the numerical designation shall be followed by the letter 'X'.

(e)        U. S. District Court Judges. Official plates shall be issued upon request to the district judges of the United States District Court serving in North Carolina and shall bear the letter 'J' and a numerical designation as designated by the Administrative Office of the Courts with the approval of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. Retired judges shall be issued a similar plate except that the numerical designation shall be followed by the letter 'X'.

(f)         North Carolina District Court Judges. An official plate shall be issued upon request to each chief judge of the district court of North Carolina which shall bear the letter 'J' followed by a numerical designation equal to the sum of the numerical designation of their respective judicial districts plus 100 and all other judges of the district court serving within the same judicial district shall, upon request, be issued an official plate bearing the same letter and numerical designation as appears on the official plate issued to the chief district judge of the judicial district except that on each subsequent official plate issued within a district, the numerical designation shall be followed by a letter of the alphabet beginning with the letter 'A' which shall be indicative of the recipient's position as to seniority. Retired judges shall be issued a similar plate except that the numerical designation shall be followed by the letter 'X'.

(g)        District Attorneys. Official plates shall be issued upon request to the various district attorneys which plate shall beat the letters 'DA' followed by a numerical designation indicative of his solicitorial district.

4.         Elective and Appointive. Official plates issued to elective and appointive members of State government shall bear number designations beginning with number 1 which shall be assigned to the Governor of North Carolina and numbers following thereafter shall be issued in the following order:

                        2. Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

                        3. Speaker of the House of Representatives

                        4. President Pro Tempore of the Senate

                        5. Secretary of State

                        6. State Auditor

                        7. State Treasurer

                        8. Superintendent of Public Instruction

                        9. Attorney General

                       10. Commissioner of Agriculture

                       11. Commissioner of Labor

                       12. Commissioner of Insurance

                       13. (Not to be assigned)

                       14. Speaker Pro Tempore of the House

                       15. Legislative Services Officer

                       16. Secretary of Administration

                       17. Secretary of Natural and Economic Resources

                       18. Secretary of Revenue

                       19. Secretary of Human Resources

                       20. Secretary of Commerce

                       21. Secretary of the Department of Correction

                       22. Secretary of Cultural Resources

                       23. Secretary of Military and Veterans' Affairs

                       24-29. To be reserved for and assigned to members of the Governor's staff at     the direction of the Governor.

                       30-41. To be reserved for and assigned to members of the Advisory Budget       Commission at the direction of the Governor.

                       42. Chairman, State Board of Education

                       43. President, UNC System

                       44. Chairman, ABC Board

                       45. Member, ABC Board

                       46. Member, ABC Board

                       47. Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture

                       48. Assistant Commissioner of Agriculture

                       49. Deputy Secretary of State

                       50. Deputy State Treasurer

                       51. Assistant State Treasurer

                       52. Deputy Commissioner, Department of Labor

                       53. Chief Deputy, Department of Insurance

                       54. Assistant Commissioner of Insurance

                       55-65. Shall be reserved for and assigned to members of the Attorney General's staff, deputies and assistants only. Specific number assignments shall be at the direction of the Attorney General.

                       66-70. Shall be reserved for and assigned, upon request, to members of the Utilities Commission. Number 66 to be upon request assigned to the Chairman of the Utilities Commission with the remaining numbers to be assigned upon request to the remaining members of the Utilities Commission on the basis of seniority.

                       71-76. Shall be reserved for and assigned upon request to members of the Parole Commission. Number 71 to be upon request assigned to the Chairman of the Parole Commission with the remaining numbers to be assigned upon request to the remaining members of the Parole Commission on the basis of seniority.

                       77-85. Shall be reserved for and assigned upon request to the members of the State Ports Authority. Specific number assignments to such members shall be at the direction of the Governor.

                       86-109. Shall be reserved for and assigned upon request to members of the Board of Natural and Economic Resources. Specific number assignments to such members shall be at the direction of the Governor.

5.         Department of Transportation. Official plates shall be issued upon request to various members of divisions of the Department of Transportation which shall bear the letters 'DOT' following by a number designation from 1 through 85. Specific number assignments to members of divisions of the Department of Transportation shall be at the direction of the Governor."

Sec. 2.  This act shall become effective July 1, 1975.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 26th day June, 1975.