NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1975 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 956

HOUSE BILL 729

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 7A AND CHAPTER 135 OF THE GENERAL STATUTES RELATING TO THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT AND THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 7A-41 is amended, in the table, with reference to the number of full-time assistant district attorneys (formerly solicitors) authorized for the twenty-seventh judicial district, by deleting the figure "6", and inserting in lieu thereof "4 for Prosecutorial District 27-A and 3 for Prosecutorial District 27-B".

Sec. 2.  G.S. 7A-41 is amended, in the table, by raising the number of authorized assistant district attorneys in the indicated districts as follows:

"Judicial District                                                            Number of Full-Time Assistant District Attorneys

1                                                                                                       3

2                                                                                                       3

3                                                                                                       5

5                                                                                                       5

6                                                                                                       3

7                                                                                                       4

8                                                                                                       4

10                                                                                                     11

11                                                                                                     4

12                                                                                                     8

14                                                                                                     4

15                                                                                                     5

17                                                                                                     4

18                                                                                                     9

19                                                                                                     5

20                                                                                                     5

21                                                                                                     7

25                                                                                                     5

26                                                                                                     14."

Sec. 3.  Article 7 of Chapter 7A is hereby amended by adding a new section G.S. 7A-44.1 to read as follows:

"§ 7A-44.1.  Secretarial and clerical help. — The senior regular superior court judge of each judicial district is authorized to appoint a judicial secretary to serve the secretarial and clerical needs of the superior court judges of the district under the direction of the senior regular resident superior court judge. The appointment may be full or part-time and the compensation and allowances of such secretary shall be fixed by the senior regular resident superior court judge, within limits determined by the administrative office of the courts, and paid by the State."

Sec. 4.  G.S. 7A-60 is rewritten to read as follows:

"§ 7A-60.  District Attorneys and prosecutorial districts. — (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), effective January 1, 1971, the State shall be divided into prosecutorial districts, the numbers and boundaries of which shall be identical with those of the superior and district court judicial districts. In the general election of November, 1970, a district attorney shall be elected for a four-year term for each prosecutorial district. The district attorney shall be a resident of the district for which elected, and shall take office on January 1 following the election. A vacancy in the office of district attorney shall be filled as provided in Article IV, Section 19 of the Constitution.

(b)        Effective July 1, 1975, the twenty -seventh prosecutorial district is divided into two prosecutorial districts, to be known as Prosecutorial Districts 27-A and 27-B. District 27-A shall consist of Gaston County, and District 27-B shall consist of Cleveland and Lincoln Counties. The current district attorney of the twenty-seventh prosecutorial district shall become the district attorney of Prosecutorial District 27-B, and the senior regular resident superior court judge shall appoint a district attorney for Prosecutorial District 27-A. The appointee shall serve until January 1, 1977, and his successor shall be chosen in the general election of November, 1976. The successor shall serve for the remainder of the term expiring December 31, 1978."

Sec. 5.  G.S. 7A-66.1 is amended by deleting subsection "(b)".

Sec. 6.  G.S. Chapter 7A, Article 9 ("District Attorneys and Judicial Districts") is amended by adding a new section to read as follows:

"§ 7A-69.  Investigational assistants. — The district attorney in the tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, eighteenth, twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth judicial districts is entitled to one investigatorial assistant to be appointed by the district attorney and to serve at his pleasure. It shall be the duty of the investigatorial assistant to investigate cases preparatory to trial and to perform such other duties as may be assigned by the district attorney. The investigatorial assistant is entitled to reimbursement for his subsistence and travel expenses to the same extent as State employees generally."

Sec. 7.  G.S. 7A-101 is rewritten to read as follows:

"§ 7A-101.  Compensation. — The clerk of superior court is a full-time employee of the State and shall receive an annual salary, payable in equal monthly installments, based on the population of the county, as determined by the 1970 federal decennial census, according to the following schedule:

Population                                                                                   Salary

Less than 10,000                                                                            $ 9,900.00

10,000 to 19,999                                                                           12,500.00

20,000 to 49,999                                                                           15,000.00

50,000 to 99,999                                                                           17,000.00

100,000 to 199,999                                                                       19,800.00

200,000 and above                                                                        24,000.00

When a county changes from one population group to another as a result of any future decennial census, the salary of the clerk shall be changed to the salary appropriate for the new population group on July 1 of the first full biennium subsequent to the taking of the census (July 1, 1981; July 1, 1991; etc.), except that the salary of an incumbent clerk shall not be decreased by any change in population group during his continuance in office.

The clerk shall receive no fees or commission by virtue of his office. The salary set forth in this section is the clerk's sole official compensation, but if, on June 30, 1975, the salary of a particular clerk, by reason of previous but no longer authorized merit increments, is higher than that set forth in the table, that higher salary shall not be reduced during his continuance in office."

Sec. 8.  Effective the first Monday in December, 1976, G.S. 7A-133 is amended, in the table, so that the number of district court judges for each of the indicated districts will be increased by one, and the total number of judges for each of these districts will read as follows:

"Districts                                                                                            Judges

3                                                                                                    5

9                                                                                                    4

16                                                                                                    4

18                                                                                                    8

30                                                                                                    3."

Sec. 9.  Candidates for the additional judgeships created in Section 8 of this act shall run in the primary and general election of 1976.

Sec. 10.  G.S. 7A-133 is amended, in the table, so that the quotas of magistrates for the indicated counties are increased as follows:

"County                                                                         Magistrates

Min.                                Max.

Carteret                                                            4                                       7

Harnett                                                             7                                     10

Chatham                                                           3                                       6

Orange                                                             4                                       8

Randolph                                                          4                                       7

Moore                                                              5                                       7

Davidson                                                          5                                       8

Iredell                                                               4                                       8

Caldwell                                                           4                                       7

Buncombe                                                        6                                     12

Cherokee                                                         3                                       4

Haywood                                                         5                                       7

Jackson                                                            3                                       4

Macon                                                             3                                       4."

Sec. 11.  G.S. Chapter 7A, Article 16 ("Magistrates") is amended by adding a new section thereto to read as follows:

"§ 7A-177  Within six months of taking the oath of office as a magistrate for the first time, a magistrate is required to attend and satisfactorily complete a course of basic training of at least 40 hours in the civil and criminal duties of a magistrate. The Administrative Office of the Courts is authorized to contract with the Institute of Government or with any other qualified educational organization to conduct this training, and to reimburse magistrates for travel and subsistence expenses incurred in taking such training."

Sec. 12.  G.S. 7A-344 is amended by rewriting subsection (4) thereof, to read as follows:

"(4)      Accept and utilize federal or private funds, as available to improve defense services for the indigent, including indigent juveniles alleged to be delinquent or undisciplined. To facilitate processing of juvenile cases, the administrative officer is further authorized, in any judicial district, with the approval of the chief district court judge, to engage the services of a particular attorney or attorneys to provide specialized representation on a full-time or part-time basis."

Sec. 13.  G.S. 7A-375(b) is amended by rewriting the last sentence to read as follows:

"Members who are not judges are entitled to per diem and all members are entitled to reimbursement for travel and subsistence expenses at the rate applicable to members of State boards and commissions generally, for each day engaged in official business."

Sec. 14.  G.S. 7A-465 is amended by inserting therein between the present second and third paragraphs, the following new paragraph:

"The office of public defender is established, effective July 1, 1975, in the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh judicial districts."

Sec. 15.  G.S. 7A-466 is amended by rewriting the first sentence thereof to read as follows:

"The public defender in the twelfth, eighteenth, twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh judicial districts shall be appointed by the Governor from a list of not less than two and not more than three names nominated by written ballot of the attorneys resident in the district who are licensed to practice law in North Carolina."

Sec. 16.  G.S. 7A-466 is further amended by deleting the last two sentences of paragraph 1, and inserting in lieu thereof:

"The terms of office of the public defenders authorized in G.S. 7A-465 are for four years, beginning on the dates specified in that section for each district, and each fourth year thereafter."

Sec. 17.  G.S. Chapter 135 is amended by the addition of the following Article thereto:

"ARTICLE 4B.

"Uniform Clerks of Superior Court Retirement Act of 1975.

"§ 135-79.  Short title and purpose. — (a) This Article shall be known and may be cited as the 'Uniform Clerks of Superior Court Retirement Act of 1975'.

(b)        The purpose of this Article is to improve the administration of justice by attracting the most highly qualified talent available within the State to the position of clerk of superior court.

"§ 135-80.  Scope. — (a) This Article provides uniform retirement benefits for all clerks of superior court of the General Court of Justice who were so serving on January 1, 1975, or who become such thereafter.

(b)        The Board of Trustees of the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System shall administer the provisions of this Article. Provisions of Article 4 of Chapter 135 of the General Statutes shall apply to clerks of superior court and their spouses to the same extent that they apply to a judge of the district court division of the General Court of Justice including, but not limited to, benefits, entitlements, and amounts of contributions to the retirement system."

Sec. 18.  Article 40 of Chapter 7A of the General Statutes relating to the North Carolina Courts Commission is hereby repealed. All unexpended appropriations heretofore made to the Courts Commission shall revert to the General Fund.

Sec. 19.  There is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts the sum of one million eight hundred seventeen thousand one hundred twenty-two dollars ($1,817,122) for fiscal year 1975-76, and the sum of one million eight hundred nineteen thousand three hundred seventy-six dollars ($1,819,376) for the fiscal year 1976-77 for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act.

Sec. 20.  This act shall become effective July 1, 1975.

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