AN ACT authorizing THE CITY OF DURHAM to give annual notice to chronic violators of the city's refuse and debris ordinance without FurTHER notice that calendar year.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  A municipality may notify a chronic violator of the municipality's refuse and debris ordinance that, if the violator's property is found to be in violation of the ordinance, the municipality may, without further notice in the calendar year in which the notice is given, take action to remedy the violation, and the expense of the action shall become a lien upon the violator's property and shall be collected as unpaid taxes. The initial annual notice shall be served by registered or certified mail.  Under this section, a chronic violator is a person who owns property whereupon, in the previous calendar year, the municipality took remedial action at least three times under the refuse and debris ordinance.
SECTION 2.  Section 1 of this act applies to the City of Durham only.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 4th day of June, 2003.

	s/	 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Richard T. Morgan
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives