The FY09-10 budget passed by the North Carolina General Assembly incorporated the “Geographic Information Consolidation” plan. The Consolidation Implementation Plan was initially presented to the NC Legislature on December 1, 2008, as directed by Session Law 2008-0107, Section 6.13.
The FY 09-10 budget bill implements the Plan in three work streams:
(1) The Center for Geographic Information and Analysis is transferred to the Office of the State Chief Information Officer and appropriated funding is established for staff activities supporting the Geographic Information Coordinating Council, statewide standards, and the coordination of data acquisition.
(2) Reestablishes CGIA’s professional services component and refocuses that effort toward current needs of the community while reducing those overhead costs; and
(3) Revitalizes the NC OneMap project by leveraging new technology in the market to reduce costs while increasing utility of the service.
This culminates a two-year process that began in 2007 when the North Carolina legislature (House Bill 1473) requested the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) to “conduct a study to identify the development and use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in North Carolina by State agencies. The study shall identify the purpose of each system; any duplication of effort across agencies, including local governments and federal agencies; the completeness, timeliness, and accessibility of the data developed and used by the systems; the cost and actual staffing for each system; the organizational location of each system; and the hardware and software inventories associated with each system. The study shall also assess the current and potential benefits that GIS investments provide to the State and identify opportunities for the State to leverage federal and local support for North Carolina GIS systems.”
The OSBM completed the study and reported to the legislature in February 2008. The report included 20 recommendations in the areas of Governance, Organization, Staffing/Funding, Infrastructure, Local/Federal Support, and Consolidation of State GIS Initiatives. The study report led to the introduction of House Bill 2240/S1801 and it was referred to the Appropriations Committee. The Legislative Session concluded without action on House Bill 2240. However, Section 6.13 in the budget bill (House Bill 2436) requested a detailed implementation plan to be delivered by December 1, 2008 to the Chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and Fiscal Research Division, which has occurred.