GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1995 SESSION

CHAPTER 53
HOUSE BILL 146

AN ACT TO ALLOW THE CITY OF LUMBERTON TO ENACT ORDINANCES REGULATING THE TOWING OF MOTOR VEHICLES THAT HAVE BEEN ABANDONED AND ARE NOT COVERED BY FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 160A-303.2(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	A municipality may by ordinance regulate, restrain or prohibit the abandonment of junked motor vehicles on public grounds and on private property within the municipality's ordinance-making jurisdiction upon a finding that such regulation, restraint or prohibition is necessary and desirable to promote or enhance community, neighborhood or area appearance, and may enforce any such ordinance by removing or disposing of junked motor vehicles subject to the ordinance according to the procedures prescribed in this section.  The authority granted by this section shall be supplemental to any other authority conferred upon municipalities.  Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize a municipality to require the removal or disposal of a motor vehicle kept or stored at a bona fide 'automobile graveyard' or 'junkyard' as defined in G.S. 136-143.
For purposes of this section, the term 'junked motor vehicle' means a vehicle that does not display a current license plate and that:
(1)	Is partially dismantled or wrecked; or
(2)	Cannot be self-propelled or moved in the manner in which it originally was intended to move; or
(3)	Is more than five years old and appears to be worth less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) , or
(4)	The owner does not possess the financial responsibility for as required by Article 9A of Chapter 20 of the General Statutes."
Sec. 2.  This act applies to the City of Lumberton only.
Sec. 3.  This act is effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 1st day of May, 1995.