H.B. 718
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Apr 18, 2023
SESSION 2023 HOUSE PRINCIPAL CLERK
H D
HOUSE BILL DRH10331-MCa-88
Short Title: Purvis Farms Bankruptcy Relief. (Public)
Sponsors: Representative Reives.
Referred to:
1 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
2 AN ACT TO PROVIDE RELIEF TO THOSE FINANCIALLY HARMED BY THE
3 BANKRUPTCY FILING OF N. G. PURVIS FARMS, INC.
4 The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
5 SECTION 1. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of
6 Agriculture and Consumer Services (Department) the nonrecurring sum of five million one
7 hundred fifty thousand dollars ($5,150,000) for the 2023-2024 fiscal year for grants to farmers
8 and farming entities who have invoices for sales of crops or livestock or both to N. G. Purvis
9 Farms, Inc., (Purvis) remaining unpaid as a result of Purvis filing for bankruptcy in Case Number
10 21-01068 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina on May
11 7, 2021. Grants under this act by the Department may not exceed the amount of the unpaid invoice
12 minus any other remuneration received to discharge the unpaid invoice, including through
13 bankruptcy proceedings. Within three months of the effective date of this act, the Department
14 shall develop an application process for eligible grantees and criteria for determining appropriate
15 grant amounts consistent with this act. A farmer or farming entity must apply to the Department
16 for a grant on a form prescribed by the Department and must include any supporting
17 documentation required by the Department. The application must be filed with the Department
18 on or before January 1, 2024. The Department may not accept late applications. The Department
19 may use up to three percent (3%) of the funds appropriated in this act for administrative costs.
20 Funds remaining after grants have been awarded for all timely filed applications and for
21 administrative costs shall revert to the General Fund. The Department shall report to the Joint
22 Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources and the
23 Fiscal Research Division by April 1, 2024, on its distribution of the funds appropriated by this
24 act.
25 SECTION 2. This act becomes effective July 1, 2023.
*DRH10331-MCa-88*