(a) The Director of the Budget shall include in the "Current Operations Appropriations Act" an enumeration of the purposes or objects of the proposed expenditures for each of the maintenance and improvement programs for that budget period for the State primary, secondary, State parks road systems, and other transportation systems. The State primary system shall include all portions of the State highway system located both inside and outside municipal corporate limits that are designated by N.C., U.S. or Interstate numbers. The State secondary system shall include all of the State highway system located both inside and outside municipal corporate limits that is not a part of the State primary system. The State parks system shall include all State parks roads and parking lots that are not also part of the State highway system. The transportation systems shall also include State-maintained, nonhighway modes of transportation.
(b) All maintenance and improvement programs for which appropriations are requested shall be enumerated separately in the budget. Programs that are entirely State funded shall be listed separately from those programs involving the use of federal-aid funds. Proposed State matching funds for the highway planning and research program shall be included separately along with the anticipated federal-aid funds for that purpose.
(c) Other program categories for which appropriations are requested, such as, but not limited to, maintenance, channelization and traffic control, bridge maintenance, public service and access road construction, transportation projects and systems, and ferry operations shall be enumerated in the budget.
(d) The Department of Transportation shall have all powers necessary to comply fully with provisions of present and future federal-aid acts. For purposes of this section, "federally eligible construction project" means any construction project except secondary road projects developed pursuant to G.S. 136-44.8 eligible for federal funds under any federal-aid act, whether or not federal funds are actually available.
(e) The "Current Operations Appropriations Act" shall also contain the proposed appropriations of State funds for use in each Highway Division for maintenance and improvement of secondary roads, to be allocated in accordance with G.S. 136-44.6. State funds appropriated for secondary roads shall not be transferred nor used except for the construction, maintenance, and improvement of secondary roads in the county for which they are allocated pursuant to G.S. 136-44.6.
(f) If the unreserved credit balance in the Highway Fund on the last day of a fiscal year is greater than the amount estimated for that date in the Current Operations Appropriations Act for the following fiscal year, the excess shall be used in accordance with this subsection. The Director of the Budget shall allocate the excess to a reserve (i) for access and public roads or (ii) for other urgent road construction or road maintenance needs. The use of this reserve shall be subject to the following:
(1) Restrictions on use. - No more than five million dollars ($5,000,000) from this reserve may be spent on a single project. Funds from this reserve being used for an "other urgent road construction or road maintenance need" project cannot be used for nontransportation administrative costs, nontransportation information technology costs, or any economic development purpose.
(2) Approval. - The Department of Transportation shall submit for approval to the Director of the Budget all expenditures from the reserve established under this subsection.
(3) Reporting. - At least five days, not including State holidays or weekend days, prior to submitting an expenditure request to the Director of the Budget under subdivision (2) of this subsection, the Department of Transportation shall submit a report on the expenditure request to the Fiscal Research Division and to the members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and the Senate Appropriations Committee on Department of Transportation. Such report shall be certified by the chief financial officer of the Department of Transportation and shall include (i) a project description, (ii) whether the project is for access and public roads or for other urgent needs, (iii) a justification of the project, (iv) the total project cost, (v) the amount of funding for the project coming from the reserve, and (vi) other funding sources for the project.
(4) Carryforward. - If on the last day of the fiscal year the balance in the reserve established by this subsection is greater than five million dollars ($5,000,000), then the Director of the Budget shall transfer the amount in excess of that sum to the Reserve for General Maintenance in the Highway Fund.
(f1) The credit reserve for the Highway Fund consists of the following:
(1) The unreserved credit balance in the Highway Fund on the last day of the fiscal year to the extent the balances exceed the amount estimated for that date in the Current Operations Appropriations Act for the following fiscal year.
(2) The unallotted and unencumbered balances on the last day of the fiscal year for the following:
a. Funds appropriated from the Highway Fund for the multimodal programs of the Department, consisting of funds for bicycle and pedestrian, railroad, aviation, and public transportation programs, excluding funds deposited in the Freight Rail & Rail Crossing Safety Improvement Fund.
b. Funds appropriated from the Highway Fund for the construction programs of the Department, consisting of funds for secondary construction, access and public service roads, spot safety improvement, small urban construction, and economic development programs.
(3) The unencumbered and unexpended balances on the last day of the fiscal year for the following:
a. Central and program administration.
b. Transfers to other State agencies or departments not used or returned.
(4) The remaining balance for (i) any open project that has been inactive for two or more years after construction of the project has been completed or (ii) any project that is not obligated during the first two fiscal years in which funds are appropriated.
(g) The Department of Transportation may provide for costs incurred or accrued for traffic control measures to be taken by the Department at major events which involve a high degree of traffic concentration on State highways, and which cannot be funded from regular budgeted items. This authorization applies only to events which are expected to generate 30,000 vehicles or more per day. The Department of Transportation shall provide for this funding by allocating and reserving up to one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) before any other allocations from the appropriations for State maintenance for primary and secondary road systems are made, based upon the same proportion as is appropriated to each system. (1973, c. 507, s. 3; 1977, c. 464, s. 7.1; 1981, c. 859, s. 84; 1983, c. 717, ss. 46, 47; 1987, c. 830, s. 113(b); 1989, c. 799, s. 12(a); 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 907, s. 2; c. 1044, s. 35; 1997-443, s. 32.5; 2005-276, s. 28.1; 2005-382, s. 1; 2009-266, s. 19; 2011-145, s. 28.35(b); 2012-142, s. 24.6; 2013-125, s. 1; 2013-183, s. 2.2(a), (b); 2014-100, s. 34.19(a); 2016-94, s. 35.24(d); 2018-97, s. 7.1(a); 2021-180, s. 41.15(c).)
§ 136-44.2A: Repealed by Session Laws 2013-183, s. 2.3(b), effective July 1, 2014.
§ 136-44.2B. Reports to appropriations committees of General Assembly.
In each year that an appropriation bill is considered by the General Assembly, the Department of Transportation shall make a report to the appropriations committee of each House on all services provided by the Department to the public for which a fee is charged. The report shall include an analysis of the cost of each service and the fee charged for that service. (1975, c. 875, s. 8; 1981, c. 690, s. 5.)
§ 136-44.2C: Repealed by Session Laws 2013-183, s. 2.4, effective July 1, 2013.
§ 136-44.2D. Secondary unpaved road paving program.
The Department of Transportation shall expend fifty percent (50%) of the funds allocated to the paving of unpaved secondary roads for the paving of unpaved secondary roads based on a statewide prioritization. The Department shall expend the remainder of the funds equally among the 14 Highway Divisions for the paving of unpaved secondary roads within each Highway Division based on the same statewide prioritization. The Department shall pave the eligible unpaved secondary roads that receive the highest priority ranking within this statewide prioritization. Nothing in this subsection shall be interpreted to require the Department to pave any unpaved secondary roads that do not meet secondary road system addition standards as set forth in G.S. 136-44.10 and G.S. 136-102.6. The Highway Trust Fund shall not be used to fund the paving of unpaved secondary roads. (2013-183, s. 2.5; 2016-94, s. 35.7(a).)
§ 136-44.2E. Transportation Emergency Reserve.
(a) Creation. - The Transportation Emergency Reserve (Emergency Reserve) is established as a special fund in the Department of Transportation.
(b) Funding; Use of Funds. - Subject to subsection (d) of this section, no later than July 30 of each fiscal year, the Department of Transportation shall transfer from the Highway Fund to the Emergency Reserve the sum of one hundred twenty-five million dollars ($125,000,000), and these funds are hereby appropriated for expenses related to an emergency. For purposes of this section, the term "emergency" has the same meaning as in G.S. 166A-19.3.
(c) Access to Funds. - The Department may only use funds in the Emergency Reserve after the President of the United States issues a declaration under the Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 5121 - 5207) that a major disaster exists in the State. The Secretary of Transportation shall ensure all funds in the Emergency Reserve are accessed and used pursuant to this section, and in a manner that ensures to the extent practicable that the funds are eligible for federal reimbursement or cost sharing with the federal funds.
(d) Limitation on Funds. - The total funds in the Emergency Reserve shall not exceed the sum of one hundred twenty-five million dollars ($125,000,000). If a transfer under subsection (b) of this section would cause the Emergency Reserve to exceed this limitation, the amount transferred shall equal the difference between one hundred twenty-five million dollars ($125,000,000) and the amount of funds in the Emergency Reserve on the transfer date set forth in subsection (b) of this section.
(e) Emergency Reserve Report. - No later than February 1, 2025, and annually thereafter for any year expenditures are made from the Emergency Reserve, the Department of Transportation shall submit a report summarizing expenditures from the Emergency Reserve to the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Transportation, the Senate Appropriations Committee on the Department of Transportation, the chairs of the House and Senate Transportation Committees, and the Fiscal Research Division. The report shall include a list of the projects receiving funds during the previous fiscal year from the Emergency Reserve. The list shall include for each project a description of the project, the amount of the funds utilized for the project, the anticipated total cost of the project, project status, any recommendations to adjust the minimum amount of funds needed in the Emergency Reserve, and any additional information deemed relevant.
(f) Notification of Governor; Reimbursement. - The Secretary shall notify the Governor within 24 hours of determining that anticipated emergency expenses by the Department under this section will exceed the funds in the Emergency Reserve. Upon notification, the Governor shall immediately proceed under G.S. 166A-19.20(e). Federal reimbursements for funds expended in relation to a major disaster, declared in accord with subsection (c) of this section, shall be used to reimburse expenditures from the following accounts in order of priority:
(1) Emergency Reserve, subject to the limitation in subsection (d) of this section.
(2) Reserve for General Maintenance in the Highway Fund.
(3) Savings Reserve. (2019-251, s. 1.3(b); 2020-69, s. 5; 2020-91, s. 4.7(a), (b); 2024-15, s. 1.)