GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1997 SESSION
SESSION LAW 1997-503
SENATE BILL 853
AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE TO APPOINT EMPLOYEES OF THE DEPARTMENT AS REVENUE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTS TO ENFORCE THE EXCISE TAXES ON UNAUTHORIZED SUBSTANCES AND THE CRIMINAL PROVISIONS OF THE REVENUE LAWS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. Article 9 of Chapter 105 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 105-236.1. Enforcement of revenue laws by revenue law enforcement agents.
(a) General. -- The Secretary may appoint employees of the Criminal Investigations Division to serve as revenue law enforcement officers having the responsibility and subject-matter jurisdiction to enforce the felony tax violations in G.S. 105-236 and to enforce any of the following criminal offenses when they involve a tax imposed under Chapter 105 of the General Statutes: G.S. 14-91 (Embezzlement of State Property), G.S. 14-92 (Embezzlement of Funds), G.S. 14-100 (Obtaining Property By False Pretenses), G.S. 14-119 (Forgery), and G.S. 14-120 (Uttering Forged Paper).
The Secretary may appoint employees of the Unauthorized Substances Tax Division to serve as revenue law enforcement officers having the responsibility and subject-matter jurisdiction to enforce the excise tax on unauthorized substances imposed by Article 2D of this Chapter. To serve as a revenue law enforcement officer, an employee must be certified as a criminal justice officer under Chapter 17C of the General Statutes.
(b) Authority. -- A revenue law enforcement officer is a State officer with jurisdiction throughout the State within the officer's subject-matter jurisdiction. A revenue law enforcement officer may serve and execute notices, orders, warrants, or demands issued by the Secretary or the General Court of Justice in connection with the enforcement of the officer's subject-matter jurisdiction. A revenue law enforcement officer has the full powers of arrest as provided by G.S. 15A-401 while executing the notices, orders, warrants, or demands."
Section 2. G.S. 17C-2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 17C-2. Definitions.
Unless the context clearly otherwise requires, the following definitions apply in this Chapter:
(a) "Commission"means
the (1) Commission. - The North
Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission; Commission.
(b) "Criminal
justice agencies"means the(2)
Criminal justice agencies. - The State and local law-enforcement
agencies, the State correctional agencies, other correctional agencies
maintained by local governments, and the juvenile justice agencies, but shall
not include deputy sheriffs, special deputy sheriffs, sheriffs' jailers, or
other sheriffs' department personnel governed by the provisions of Chapter 17E
of these General Statutes; Statutes.
(c) "Criminal
justice officer(s)"means and incorporates the(3) Criminal
justice officers. - The administrative and subordinate personnel of all the
departments, agencies, units or entities comprising the "criminal
justice agencies,"as defined in subsection (b), criminal
justice agencies who are sworn law-enforcement officers, both State and
local, with the power of arrest; revenue law enforcement officers;State
correctional officers; State probation/parole officers; officers, supervisory
and administrative personnel of local confinement facilities; State youth
services officers; State probation/parole intake officers; State
probation/parole officers-surveillance; State probation/parole intensive
officers; and State parole case analysts.
(d) "Entry
level"means the(4)
Entry level. - The initial appointment or employment of any person by a
criminal justice agency, or any appointment or employment of a person
previously employed by a criminal justice agency who has not been employed by a
criminal justice agency for the 12-month period preceding this appointment or
employment, or any appointment or employment of a previously certified criminal
justice officer to a position which requires a different type of
certification."
Section 3. G.S. 143-166.13(a) is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(18) Sworn State Law-Enforcement Officers with the power of arrest, Department of Revenue."
Section 4. Of the funds appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Revenue for operating expenses, the sum of sixty-seven thousand five hundred three dollars ($67,503) shall be used in the 1997-98 fiscal year to implement Sections 1 through 3 of this act.
Section 5. This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 28th day of August, 1997.
s/ Marc Basnight
President Pro Tempore of the Senate
s/ Harold J. Brubaker
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor
Approved 4:35 p.m. this 11th day of September, 1997