GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1991 SESSION

CHAPTER 379
HOUSE BILL 720

AN ACT TO EXTEND THE CITY OF DURHAM'S FAIR HOUSING ORDINANCE TO COVER DISCRIMINATION BASED ON FAMILIAL STATUS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  Section 121 of the Charter of the City of Durham, being Chapter 671 of the 1975 Session Laws, as amended, reads as rewritten:
"Sec. 121.  Equal Housing.  The City Council may adopt ordinances prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, familial status, or handicap in real estate transactions.  Such ordinances may regulate or prohibit any act, practice, activity or procedure related, directly or indirectly to the sale or rental of public or private housing, which affects or may tend to affect the availability or desirability of housing on an equal basis to all persons; may provide that violations constitute a misdemeanor, and shall be punishable under G.S. 14-4; may subject the offender to civil penalties; and may provide that the City may enforce the ordinances by application to the General Court of Justice, Superior Court Division, for appropriate legal and equitable remedies, including but not limited to, mandatory and prohibitory injunctions and orders of abatement, attorney's fees and not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) punitive damages, and the court shall have jurisdiction to grant such remedies."
Sec. 2.  Section 122(4) of the Charter of the City of Durham, being Chapter 671 of the 1975 Session Laws, as amended, reads as rewritten:
"(4)	With respect to discrimination based upon religion, to housing accommodations owned and operated for other than a commercial purpose by a religious organization, association, or society, or any nonprofit institution or organization operated, supervised, or controlled by or in conjunction with a religious organization, association, or society, the sale, rental or occupancy of such housing accommodation being limited or preference being given to persons of the same religion, unless membership in such religion is restricted because of race, color, national origin, sex, handicap, familial status, or age;"
Sec. 3.  This act is effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 24th day of June, 1991.

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James C. Gardner
President of the Senate

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Daniel Blue, Jr.
Speaker of the House of Representatives