North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 128 Offices and Public Officers

Article 1 - General Provisions.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-1. No person shall hold more than one office; exception
No person who shall hold any office or place of trust or profit under the United States, or any department thereof or under this...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-1.1. Dual-office holding allowed
(a) Any person who holds an appointive office, place of trust or profit in State or local government is hereby authorized by the General...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-1.2. Ex officio service by county and city representatives and officials
Except when the resolution of appointment provides otherwise, whenever the governing body of a county or city appoints one of its own members or...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-2. Holding office contrary to the Constitution; penalty
If any person presumes to hold any office, or place of trust or profit, or is elected to a seat in either house of...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-3. Bargains for office void
All bargains, bonds and assurances made or given for the purchase or sale of any office whatsoever, the sale of which is contrary to...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-4. Receiving compensation of subordinates for appointment or retention; removal
Any official or employee of this State or any political subdivision thereof, in whose office or under whose supervision are employed one or more...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-5. Oath required before acting; penalty
Every officer and other person required to take an oath of office, or an oath for the faithful discharge of any duty imposed on...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-6. Persons admitted to office deemed to hold lawfully
Any person who shall, by the proper authority, be admitted and sworn into any office, shall be held, deemed, and taken, by force of...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-7. Officer to hold until successor qualified
All officers shall continue in their respective offices until their successors are elected or appointed, and duly qualified. (1848, c. 64, s. 2; R.C.,...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-7.1. Failure to qualify creates vacancy
If any person who has been elected to public office (i) dies or becomes disqualified for the office before qualifying for the office, or...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-7.2. Qualifications for appointment to fill vacancy in elective office
No person is eligible for appointment to fill a vacancy in any elective office, whether State or local, unless that person would have been...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-8. Repealed by Session Laws 1981, c. 884, s. 13
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-10. Citizen to recover funds of county or town retained by delinquent official
When an official of a county, city or town is liable upon his bond for unlawfully and wrongfully retaining by virtue of his office...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-11. Trust funds to be kept separate
Any sheriff, treasurer or other officer of any county, city, town or other political subdivision of the State, receiving, by virtue of his office,...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-12. Violations to be reported; misdemeanors
It shall be the duty of the director of the Local Government Commission to report to the district attorney of the district any violation...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-13. Officers compensated from fees in certain counties to render statement; penalty; proceeds to school fund
Every clerk of the superior court, register of deeds, sheriff, coroner, surveyor, or other county officer, whose compensation or services performed shall be derived...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-14. Identification cards for field agents or deputies of State departments
Every field agent or deputy of the various State departments who is authorized to collect money, audit books, inspect premises of individual or business...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-15. Employment preference for veterans and their spouses or surviving spouses
(a) It shall be the policy of the State of North Carolina that, in appreciation for their service to this State and this country...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-15.1. Repealed by 1987 (Reg. Sess., 1988), c. 1064, s. 4
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-15.2. Appointment of acting heads of certain agencies
In every case where a State board or commission is authorized by statute to appoint the executive head of a State agency or institution,...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-15.3. Discrimination against handicapped prohibited in hiring; recruitment, etc., of handicapped persons
There shall be no discrimination in the hiring policies of the State Personnel System [State Human Resources System] against any applicant for employment based...

Article 2 - Removal of Unfit Officers.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-16. Officers subject to removal; for what offenses
Any sheriff or police officer shall be removed from office by the judge of the superior court, resident in or holding the courts of...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-17. Petition for removal; county attorney to prosecute
The complaint or petition shall be entitled in the name of the State of North Carolina, and may be filed upon the relation of...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-18. Petition filed with clerk; what it shall contain; answer
The accused shall be named as defendant, and the petition shall be signed by some elector, or by such officer. The petition shall state...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-19. Suspension pending hearing; how vacancy filled
Upon the filing of the petition in the office of the clerk of the superior court, and the presentation of the same to the...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-20. Precedence on calendar; costs
In the trial of the cause in the superior court the cause shall be advanced and take precedence over all other causes upon the...

Article 3 - Retirement System for Counties, Cities and Towns.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-21. Definitions
The following words and phrases as used in this Article, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, shall have the following...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-22. Name and date of establishment
A Retirement System is hereby established and placed under the management of the Board of Trustees for the purpose of providing retirement allowances and...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-23. Acceptance by cities, towns and counties
(a) Pursuant to the favorable vote of a majority of the employees of any incorporated city or town, the governing body may, by resolution...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-24. Membership
The membership of this Retirement System shall be composed as follows: (1) All employees entering or reentering the service of a participating employer after...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-25. Membership in System
Should sixty per centum (60%) of the members of any retirement, pension or annuity fund or system of any county, city or town of...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-26. Allowance for service
(a) Each person who becomes a member during the first year of his or her employer's participation, and who was an employee of the...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-26A. Reciprocity of creditable service with other State-administered retirement systems
(a) Only for the purpose of determining eligibility for benefits accruing under this Article, creditable service standing to the credit of a member of...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-27. Benefits
(a) Service Retirement Benefits. - (1) Any member may retire upon electronic submission or written application to the Board of Trustees setting forth at...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-28. Administration and responsibility for operation of System
(a) Vested in Board of Trustees. - The general administration and responsibility for the proper operation of the Retirement System and for making effective...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-29. Management of funds
(a) Vested in Board of Trustees. - The Board of Trustees shall be the trustee of the several funds created by this Article as...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-29.1. Authority to invest in certain common and preferred stocks
In addition to all other powers of investment, the Board of Trustees, within the limitations set forth in this section, is also authorized to...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-30. Method of financing
(a) Funds to Which Assets of Retirement System Credited. - All of the assets of the Retirement System shall be credited according to the...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-31. Exemptions from execution
Except for the applications of the provisions of G.S. 110-136, and G.S. 110-136.3 et seq., and in connection with a court-ordered equitable distribution under...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-32. Protection against fraud
Any person who shall knowingly make any false statement or shall falsify or permit to be falsified any record or records of this Retirement...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-32.1. Failure to respond
If a member fails to respond within 120 days after preliminary option figures and the Form 6-E or Form 7-E are mailed, or if...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-33. Certain laws not applicable to members
Subject to the provisions of Article 2 of Chapter 135 of Volume 3B of the General Statutes, as amended, no other provision of law...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-34. Transfer of members
(a) Any member of the North Carolina Governmental Employees' Retirement System who leaves the service of his employer and enters the service of another...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-35. Obligations of pension accumulation fund
The maintenance of annuity reserves and pension reserves as provided for, and regular interest creditable to the various funds as provided in G.S. 128-30,...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-36. Local laws unaffected; when benefits begin to accrue
Nothing in this Article shall have the effect of repealing any public-local or private act creating or authorizing the creation of any officers' or...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-36.1. Repealed by Session Laws 1977, c. 318
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-37. Membership of employees of district health departments or public health authorities
Under such rules and regulations as the Board of Trustees shall establish and promulgate, the boards of county commissioners of any group of counties...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-37.1. Membership of employees of county social services department
Under such rules and regulations as the Board of Trustees shall establish and promulgate, the board of county commissioners of any county may elect...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38. Reservation of power to change
The General Assembly reserves the right at any time and from time to time, and if deemed necessary or appropriate by said General Assembly...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38.1. Termination or partial termination; discontinuance of contributions
In the event of the termination or partial termination of the Retirement System or in the event of complete discontinuance of contributions under the...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38.2. Internal Revenue Code compliance
(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, compensation for any calendar year after 1988 in which employee or employer contributions are...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38.3. Deduction for payments allowed
(a) Any beneficiary who is a member of a domiciled employees' or retirees' association that has at least 2,000 members, the majority of whom...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38.4. Forfeiture of retirement benefits for certain felonies committed while serving as elected government official
(a) Except as provided in G.S. 128-26(w), the Board of Trustees shall not pay any retirement benefits or allowances, except for a return of...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38.4A. Forfeiture of retirement benefits for certain felonies related to employment or holding office
(a) Except as provided in G.S. 128-26(x), the Board of Trustees shall not pay any retirement benefits or allowances, except for a return of...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38.5. Improper receipt of decedent's retirement allowance
A person is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor if the person, with the intent to defraud, receives money as a result of cashing,...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38.6. Employee protection and remedies against unlawful retaliation for furnishing information to the Retirement Systems Division
(a) In the absence of fraud or malice, no person who furnishes information to the staff of the Retirement Systems Division relating to the...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38.7. Reserved for future codification purposes
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38.8. Reserved for future codification purposes
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38.9. Reserved for future codification purposes
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-38.10. Qualified Excess Benefit Arrangement
(a) The following words and phrases as used in this section, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, have the following...

Article 4 - Leaves of Absence.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-39. Leaves of absence for State officials for protracted illness or other reason
Any elective or appointive State official may obtain leave of absence from the official's duties for protracted illness or other reason satisfactory to the...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-39.1. Leaves of absence for State officials for military or naval service
(a) Any elective or appointive State official may obtain leave of absence from the official's duties when the official enters active duty in the...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-40. Leaves of absence for county officials for protracted illness or other reason
Any elective or appointive county official may obtain leave of absence from the official's duties for protracted illness or other reason satisfactory to the...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-41. Leaves of absence for municipal officials for protracted illness or other reason
Any elective or appointive municipal official may obtain leave of absence from the official's duties for protracted illness or other reason satisfactory to the...
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 128-42. Leaves of absence for county or municipal officials for military or naval service
(a) Any elective or appointive county or municipal official may obtain leave of absence from the official's duties when the official enters active duty...

Last modified: March 23, 2014