The Legislature is back in action!

The legislature roared back into session on Wednesday this week.  Despite only being in town for two working days, they managed to file dozens of bills and pass major policy decisions out of committee.  We will be back with weekly updates throughout the session. For now, here is a brief summary of legislation filed this week related to the work of Disability Rights NC.

HB 4 (Howard, Warren, Starnes, Setzer)/SB 6 (Rucho, Rabon, Brock), Unemployment Insurance Fund Solvency and Program Changes.  HB 4 modifies the state's Unemployment Insurance program to reduce the amount of benefits and length of time that benefits are available to the state's unemployed.  It also removes a number of good cause qualifications for benefits that exist under the current state law, including provisions that allow for benefits when an individual must leave employment because of disability or other health concern; disability or health concern of a minor child, aged or disabled parent, or disabled immediate family member; or inability to accept work during a particular shift because of concerns related to child care, elder care, or care of a disabled family member.  The bill was filed on the first day of session on Wednesday, approved by the Finance committee on Thursday morning, and by the full House on Thursday afternoon.

 

HB 5 (Dollar, Burr), Temporary Funding Extension for Group Homes, allows group homes (meaning any facility that (i) is licensed under Chapter 122C of the General Statutes, (ii) meets the definition of a supervised living facility under 10A NCAC 27G .5601, and (iii) serves adults whose primary diagnosis is mental illness or a developmental disability but may also have other diagnoses) to access the $39.7 million allocated in the state budget for temporary, short‑term financial assistance to a group home on behalf of a resident who loses eligibility for Medicaid covered personal care services (PCS) after an independent assessment.  It was filed on the first day of session on Wednesday, and approved by the Appropriations committee on Thursday morning.  It is scheduled to be heard in the full House on Monday night. 

 

SB 4/HB 16, No NC Exchange/No Medicaid Expansion (Apodaca, Brown, Rucho/Burr, Avila, Hollo, Collins).  SB 4 seeks to prohibit Medicaid expansion and a state-federal partnership health benefit exchange.  SB 4 was filed on the first day of session on Wednesday, and approved by the Senate Insurance committee on Thursday.  It will be heard by the full Senate on Monday night.  On a somewhat related note, Governor McCrory and Secretary Wos spoke about a Medicaid Audit completed by the state auditor this week, indicating that their first order of business was to get the Medicaid program administrative costs under control, and possibly leaving the door open on Medicaid expansion.

 

HB 20 and HB 21 (Moore), Joint Session State Board of Education Confirmation, seeks to approve appointments by the Governor to membership on the State Board of Education that are subject to confirmation by the General Assembly in joint session. The appointees will fill vacancies in Regions 1 and 7, Rebecca H. Taylor and Gregory M. Alcorn, as well as appoint one at-large board member William W. Cobey, Jr.  HB 20, which seeks the joint session, was passed by the House on Thursday and sent to the Senate. HB 21, which names the new members, will be heard in the House Education committee next Tuesday.

 

HB 53 (Tillis, Moffitt, Murry), NC Right to Work/Secret Ballot Amendments.  HB 53 proposes constitutional amendments be placed on the ballot in October 2013 to amend the state constitution to prohibit collective bargaining.

 

HB 56 (Howard), Amend State Contract Review Laws, directs the Attorney General, in consultation with the Dept. of Administration, to establish procedures for the review of contracts; notice to the Dept. of Administration of contracts exceeding $1 mil.; and for the Dept. of Administration to adopt procedures for the identification and record-keeping of contracts.  It is based on recommendations of the Program Evaluation Division.

HB 58 (Howard), Nonprofit Grants/Increase Accountability, would require the Office of State Budget and Management to implement additional rules for grants to nonprofits, including a requirement of concrete, measurable benchmarks against which to measure success; and the Identification of program performance measures that will be used to compare quantifiable outputs and outcomes against the benchmarks established in contracts pursuant to this subdivision; criteria for when grant monies may be withheld; periodic reporting requirements; and also limits the amount an agency can withhold for its own oversight to 2%.  Note that “grants” as defined in the statute do not include any payment by the Medicaid program. It is based on recommendations of the Program Evaluation Division. 

SB 10 (Apodaca, Hunt, Rabon) and SB 34 (Hartsell), Eliminate Obsolete Boards and Commissions, is a considerably scaled down version of the bill filed last year.  It does seek to eliminate the Committee on Dropout Prevention. SB 34 differs from SB 10 in that it additionally recommends that the Chief Justice abolish the Actual Innocence Commission, as the Innocence Inquiry Commission has been established.

SB 12 (Tillman), Appoint Superintendent of Public Instruction, seeks a constitutional amendment for the Governor to appoint the state superintendent, rather than be elected by the state.

SB 39 (Tillman, Goolsby), Restore Partisan Judicial Elections, would require all state Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, superior and district court judges to run by party affiliation.

SB 42 (Daniel, Tillman, Tucker), Charter School/Government Unit, provides that a charter school is a governmental unit for the purpose of a lease or transfer of personal or real property between a charter school and another governmental unit.