NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1979 SESSION

CHAPTER 326

SENATE BILL 268

AN ACT TO PERMIT THE CITY OF CLINTON TO INCREASE ITS PARKING PENALTY.

Whereas, the City of Clinton has been notified by its city attorney that the North Carolina Attorney General's Office has advised that the provision in Section 30(b) of Chapter 15 of the Clinton City Code, which provision creates a presumption that the registered owner of a motor vehicle, which was in violation of the limited parking time specified in the ordinance, is presumed to have been the violator of the ordinance and is thus subject to a penalty of five dollars ($5.00), is preempted by the provisions of G.S. 20-162.1, which provides that a city parking ordinance may rely on such a presumption but may provide for a penalty of only one dollar ($1.00); and

Whereas, G.S. 20-162.1 was enacted in the year 1953, when a dollar was worth more in actual spending power than a quarter; and

Whereas, a penalty of one dollar ($1.00) has not proved to be a sufficient deterrent to stop overtime parking in the downtown business area of Clinton or in many other municipalities in North Carolina; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1. The last sentence of G.S. 20-162.1 is rewritten to read as follows:

"Any person convicted pursuant to this section shall be subject to a penalty of one dollar ($1.00) except for persons convicted in the City of Clinton. These persons shall be subject to a penalty of five dollars ($5.00)."

Sec. 2. This act is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 10th day of April, 1979.