(a)        The Board shall have the following powers and duties:

(1)        To establish and operate the Network as an integrated system of State and local government components for effectively and efficiently storing, communicating, and using criminal justice information at the State and local levels throughout North Carolina’s law enforcement, judicial, juvenile justice, and corrections agencies, with the components of the Network to include electronic devices, programs, data, and governance and to set the Network’s policies and procedures.

(2)        To develop and adopt uniform standards and cost-effective information technology, after thorough evaluation of the capacity of information technology to meet the present and future needs of the State and, in consultation with the Department of Information Technology, to develop and adopt standards for entering, storing, and transmitting information in criminal justice databases and for achieving maximum compatibility among user technologies.

(3)        To identify the funds needed to establish and maintain the Network, identify public and private sources of funding, and secure funding to:

a.         Create the Network and facilitate the sharing of information among users of the Network; and

b.         Make grants to local government users to enable them to acquire or improve elements of the Network that lie within the responsibility of their agencies or State agencies; provided that the elements developed with the funds must be available for use by the State or by local governments without cost and the applicable State agencies join in the request for funding.

(4)        To provide assistance to local governments for the financial and systems planning for Network-related automation and to coordinate and assist the Network users of this State in soliciting bids for information technology hardware, software, and services in order to assure compliance with the Board’s technical standards, to gain the most advantageous contracts for the Network users of this State, and to assure financial accountability where State funds are used.

(5)        To provide a liaison among local government users and to advocate on behalf of the Network and its users in connection with legislation affecting the Network.

(6)        To facilitate the sharing of knowledge about information technologies among users of the Network.

(7)        To take any other appropriate actions to foster the development of the Network.

(8)        To employ the services of an Executive Director who shall report solely to the Board.

(9)        To exercise administrative control over the operational budget established by the Board and appropriated by the General Assembly.

(10)      To exercise sole authority and control over employee positions allotted to the Board, including the authority to establish qualifications, classification, and salary levels for its employees and determine appropriate methods of screening for candidates, interviewing, hiring, and day-to-day management of Board employees.

(b)        All grants or other uses of funds appropriated or granted to the Board shall be conditioned on compliance with the Board’s technical and other standards. ?(1996, 2nd Ex. Sess., c. 18, s. 23.3(a); 2003-284, s. 17.2(b); 2004-129, s. 43; 2015-241, ss. 7A.2(e), 7A.3(1), 7A.4(w); recodified from N.C. Gen. Stat. ? 143B-1393 by 2021-180, s. 19A.7A(b), (c).)