NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1977 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 932

SENATE BILL 91

 

 

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A LAND RECORDS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  A new G.S. 143-345.6 is enacted to read as follows:

"§ 143-345.6.  Land records management program. — (a) The Secretary of Administration shall establish a land records management program for the purposes (1) of advising registers of deeds, local tax officials, and local planning officials about sound management practices, and (2) of establishing greater uniformity in local land records systems. The management program shall consist of the activities provided for in subsections (b), (c), (d), and (e) below, and other related activities essential to the effective conduct of the management program.

(b)        The secretary shall, in cooperation with the Secretary of Cultural Resources, develop recommended standards and specifications for the reproduction of records by photography, microphotography, and by other means, and for the security of recorded documents. The recommended standards and specifications developed shall take into account the needs of the general public, space requirements of local offices, the costs of various filming and recording technologies, personnel available to staff local records offices, and the need for permanency of records affecting title to land. The recommended standards and specifications shall not be binding upon the offices of local governments to which they apply.

(c)        Mapping programs.

(1)        The secretary shall, in cooperation with the Secretary of the Department of Natural and Economic Resources, conduct a program for the preparation of county base maps pursuant to standards prepared by the Department of Natural and Economic Resources.

(2)        The secretary shall, in cooperation with the Secretary of Revenue, conduct a program for the preparation of county property-line maps under the direction of qualified surveyors pursuant to standards prepared by the Departments of Revenue and Natural and Economic Resources.

(d)        Upon the joint request of any board of county commissioners and the register of deeds and subject to available resources of personnel and funds, the secretary shall make a management study of the office of register of deeds, using assistance from the Office of State Personnel. At the conclusion of the study, the secretary shall make non-binding recommendations to the board, the register of deeds, and to the General Assembly.

(e)        The secretary, in cooperation with the Secretary of Cultural Resources and in accordance with G.S. 121-5(c) and G.S. 132-8.1, shall undertake research and provide advice and technical assistance to local governments on the following aspects of land records management:

(1)        uniform indexing of land records;

(2)        uniform recording and indexing procedures for maps, plats, and condominiums;

(3)        centralized recording systems;

(4)        filming, filing, and recording techniques and equipment; and

(5)        computerized land records systems.

(f)         An advisory committee on land records is created to assist the secretary in administering the land records management program. The Governor shall appoint 12 members to the committee; one member shall be appointed from each of the organizations listed below from persons nominated by the organization:

(1)        the North Carolina Association of Assessing Officers;

(2)        the North Carolina Section of the American Society of Photogrammetry;

(3)        the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Planners;

(4)        the North Carolina Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers;

(5)        the North Carolina Tax Collectors' Association;

(6)        the North Carolina Association of Registers of Deeds;

(7)        the North Carolina Bar Association;

(8)        the North Carolina Society of Land Surveyors; and

(9)        the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.

In addition, three members from the public at large shall be appointed. The members of the committee shall be appointed for four-year terms, except that the initial terms for members listed in positions (1) through (4) above and for two of the members-at-large shall be two years; thereafter all appointments shall be for four years. The Governor shall appoint the chairman, and the committee shall meet at the call of the chairman. The Governor in making the appointments shall try to achieve geographical and population balance on the advisory committee; one third of the appointments shall be persons from the most populous counties in the State containing approximately one third of the State's population, one third from the least populous counties containing approximately one third of the State's population, and one third shall be from the remaining moderately populous counties containing approximately one third of the State's population. Each organization shall nominate one nominee each from the more populous, moderately populous, and less populous counties of the State. The members of the committee shall receive per diem and subsistence and travel allowances as provided in G.S. 138-5."

Sec. 2.  In addition to all other funds appropriated, there shall be appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Administration for the purpose of implementing this act, thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars ($37,500) for each fiscal year of the 1977-79 biennium.

Sec. 3.  This act shall become effective upon ratification and shall expire on July 1, 1981, unless further extended prior to that time.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 1st day of July, 1977.