Enacts new Part 8 in Article 50 of GS Chapter 58, titled the North Carolina Health Benefit Exchange Act, to establish the nonprofit entity of the North Carolina Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) and provide for its membership, authority, and operation.
Definitions. Provides definitions applicable to new Part 8. Defines qualified health plan as a health benefit plan that meets certification criteria described in section 1311(c) of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended, meets criteria in GS 58-50-324 (health benefit plan certification requirements in proposed Part 8), and meets any additional requirements. A qualified employer (1) elects to make full-time employees eligible for one or more qualified health plans offered through the SHOP Exchange and, at the employer's option, some or all of its part-time employees; (2) has its principal place of business in North Carolina; (3) elects to provide coverage through the SHOP Exchange to all eligible employees, wherever employed; and (4) employs no more than the maximum number of employees allowable. The SHOP Exchange is the Small Business Health Options Program established in Part 8. Defines qualified individual as an individual, including a minor, who (1) is seeking to enroll in a qualified health plan offered to individuals through the Exchange; (2) is legally domiciled in North Carolina on the date of enrollment; (3) is not incarcerated at the time of enrollment, other than incarceration pending disposition of charges; and (4) is a citizen or national of the United States or an alien lawfully present in the U.S., and is also reasonably expected to be in the U.S. for the entire period for which enrollment is sought.
Exchange. Provides that the Exchange, established under Part 8, is not an instrumentality of North Carolina, and will operate under the Exchange Board of Directors. Requires the Exchange to make qualified health plans available to qualified individuals and qualified employers beginning on or after January 1, 2014. Authorizes the Exchange to offer only qualified health plans, unless it is a limited scope dental benefit, as specified. Allows a qualified health plan to voluntarily offer benefits in addition to essential health benefits, unless the Exchange Board of Directors determines it is not in the public interest. Requires the state to defray the costs of the additional benefits to the extent that state law or regulation requires that qualified health plans provide additional benefits. Prohibits the Exchange and any health carrier from charging a fee or penalty for termination of coverage in specified circumstances. Creates a Board of Directors (Board) of the Exchange, consisting of the Commissioner of Insurance (Commissioner), the Director of the Division of Medical Assistance, and eight appointed members, as listed. Details appointment, term, and meeting guidelines. Includes an indemnification provision for the Board and employees of the Exchange and classifies members of the Board as public servants under GS Chapter 138A. Lists additional ethics provisions and subjects the Board to Article 33C of GS Chapter 143 (governing meetings of public bodies). Enumerates the general duties and powers of the Exchange, including the duty to facilitate the purchase and sale of qualified health plans and to assist qualified individuals and qualified employers with enrollment. Also directs the Exchange to establish a SHOP Exchange (1) through which qualified employers may access coverage for their employees and (2) which will enable any qualified employer to specify a level of coverage so any employee may enroll in any qualified health plan offered through the SHOP Exchange at the specified level of coverage.
Sets forth duties, including reporting requirements, for the Board. Requires the Board to develop and submit a Plan of Operation for the Exchange to the Commissioner containing specified information. Provides for public inspection and public comment and specifies components for inclusion in the Plan of Operation.
Health Benefit Plan Certification. Directs the Exchange to certify a health benefit plan as a qualified health plan if the plan meets all of the detailed requirements. Prohibits the Exchange from excluding a health benefit plan by imposing premium price controls. Further prohibits the Exchange from excluding a plan solely because the plan is a fee-for-service plan or because the plan provides treatments necessary to prevent patients' deaths in circumstances the Exchange deems inappropriate or too costly. Provides additional requirements applicable to the certification of qualified health plans and includes criteria related to qualified dental plans. Allows a qualified individual enrolled in a qualified health plan to pay any applicable premium owed by the individual to the insurer issuing the plan.
Consumer Choice. Provides that nothing in Part 8 or in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act) will be construed to: (1) prohibit a properly authorized insurer from offering a health benefit plan to a qualified individual or employer outside the Exchange; (2) prohibit a qualified individual from enrolling in, or a qualified employer from selecting for its employees, a health benefit plan outside the Exchange; (3) terminate, abridge, or limit the operation of any requirement under state law with respect to any health benefit plan outside the Exchange; (4) restrict the choice of a qualified individual to enroll or not enroll in a qualified health benefit plan or to participate in the Exchange; or (5) compel an individual to enroll in a qualified health plan or participate in the Exchange. Allows a qualified individual to enroll in any qualified health plan, except that in the case of a catastrophic plan, as described, the individual may enroll in the plan only if the individual is eligible under the Affordable Care Act.
Risk Pooling. Requires an insurer who delivers or issues for delivery any health benefit plan in North Carolina to consider all enrollees in all health benefit plans, other than grandfathered health plans offered by the insurer in the individual market or in the small group market, including enrollees who do not enroll in individual plans or small group plans, to be members of a single risk pool. Authorizes the Commissioner to merge or separate the individual and small group insurance markets, if appropriate.
Funding. Shares the funding stream, beginning in 2014, currently supporting the North Carolina Health Insurance Risk Pool to support the Exchange in 2015 and subsequent years. Provides criteria for charging assessments or user fees. Requires the Exchange to publish the average costs of taxes, assessments, licensing, regulatory fees, administrative costs, monies lost to fraud and waste, and any other payments, on the Internet. Provides for an annual audit and exempts the Exchange from all state taxes.
Additional Provisions. Authorizes the Board and the Commissioner to adopt rules, as required, to implement Part 8. Deems all documents, made or received in connection with the Exchange, public records and subject to GS Chapter 132 (governing public records), except as protected under state or federal law. States that nothing in Part 8 will be construed to conflict with, preempt, or supersede the Commissioner's authority to regulate the business of insurance. Requires all health carriers offering qualified health plans to comply fully with all applicable laws, unless specifically excepted. Reserves GS 58-50-344 through GS 58-50-349 for future codification purposes.
Directs the Exchange to study and make recommendations to the 2013 Regular Session of the General Assembly regarding a Board fund for administrative expenses. Directs the Exchange to study and make recommendations to the Department of Insurance (DOI) regarding whether large employers, as defined, should be offered coverage through the Exchange in or after 2017. Also requires collaboration with DOI to study costs associated with mandated coverage and to report the results and any recommendations before the 2012 session convenes.
Enacts new GS 58-3-300 to direct the Commissioner to establish, no later than January 1, 2014, a reinsurance program, as specified in the Affordable Care Act, for the individual market. Directs the Commissioner to either assess a charge on or make a payment to health plans and health insurers, depending upon whether the actuarial risk of the enrollees of the plans or coverage for a year is more or less than the average actuarial risk of all enrollees in all plans or covered in the state for that year that are not self-insured group health plans and which are subject to the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended. Defines applicable terms.
Enacts new GS 58-3-305 to require insurers providing coverage under a health benefit plan in the individual or group markets to comply with section 1311(e)(3) of the Affordable Care Act (transparency in coverage), except that a plan or coverage that is not offered through the Exchange will only be required to (1) submit the information required to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and to the Commissioner and (2) make that information public. Defines applicable terms.

Appropriates $100,000 for 2011-12 and $100,000 for 2012-13 in nonrecurring funds from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services to support the NC Special Olympics. Lists allowable uses for the funds. Effective July 1, 2011.

Appropriates $280,000 for 2011-12 and $280,000 for 2012-13 from the General Fund to the Department of Correction for the Women at Risk Program for female offenders in Buncombe and surrounding counties. Effective July 1, 2011.

       Identical to S 62, filed 2/10/11.

Adds a new subsection (a1) to GS 115C-84.2 to authorize local boards of education to allow students to make up instructional days lost because of inclement weather to make up a maximum of five missed days via distance learning in accordance with a plan approved by the State Board of Education. Provides additional details regarding the operation of the distance learning plan. Makes a conforming change to GS 115C-84.2(a)(1) regarding the school calendar.
Applies beginning with the 2011-12 school year.

Clarifies that the provisions of GS 113-182.1(b)(5) as enacted by SL 2010-13, Section 1, do not apply to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Spotted Seatrout submitted to the Joint Legislative Commission on Seafood and Aquaculture on August 23, 2010, by the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources; however, provides that the provisions of GS 113-182.1(b)(5) as enacted by SL 2010-13 do apply to the FMP for Spotted Seatrout for all subsequent reviews and revisions of the FMP.
Provides that despite the provisions of GS 113-182.1(d) (providing that each FMP must be reviewed at least once every five years), the Marine Fisheries Commission must review the FMP for Spotted Seatrout no later than January 1, 2014.
Makes this act effective retroactively to June 23, 2010.

Amends GS 58-50-180(e)(4a) (powers and authority of the Health Insurance Risk Pool) to add that the Health Insurance Risk Pool (Pool) may provide premium subsidies from (1) federal grants made to the Pool, and (2) the Pool’s own funds, not to exceed the amount of the most recent year that the Pool received a federal grant award, as specified. Current law allows the Pool to provide premium subsidies if federal grant funds are available for individuals with incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty guidelines, and if the Pool Board of Directors (Board) deems it is fiscally prudent to do so. Proposed amendments would delete the federal grant funds requirement and would allow the Pool to provide premium subsidies for individuals with incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty guidelines where the Board deems it is fiscally prudent.
Amends GS 55-50-190(b) (Risk Pool risk rates) to provide that the Pool rates will be 125% to 175% (currently, 150% to 200%) of rates established as applicable for individual standard rates and will be adjusted annually.
Enacts new GS 58-50-195(a)(8) to add that any individual who is and continues to be a resident of North Carolina is eligible for Poolcoverage if the individual is eligible for and has not exhausted current COBRA health insurance coverage at a rate exceeding the Pool rate and provides evidence of eligibility for Pool coverage under any of the subdivisions (1) through (4) of GS 58-50-195(a).
Amends GS 58-50-210(a) to direct Pool coverage to exclude charges or expenses incurred during the first six months (currently, 12 months) following the effective date of coverage, for any condition for which medical advice, care, or treatment was recommended or received during the 12-month period immediately preceding the effective date of coverage, except as specified.
Effective October 1, 2011.

As title indicates.

Appropriates from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) $900,000 in recurring funds for 2011-12 and 2012-13, $228,000 in non-recurring funds for 2011-12, and $205,000 in non-recurring funds for 2012-13 to support implementation and use of standardized preadmission screening, resident assessment, and care plan development for adult care homes and facilities licensed under GS Chapter 122C (the Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Act of 1985). Describes requirements and schedules associated with screenings and directs DHHS, within one year of preadmission screening implementation, to require screening, assessment, and care plan development for residents not previously screened. Effective July 1, 2011.

Enacts new GS 20-141.7 to provide for enforcement of speed limits in designated work zones and school speed zones on public highways through the use of fixed or mobile electronic speed-measuring systems (cameras). Secretary of Transportation is to designate up to 15 work zones and 15 school zones at one time for enforcement. Requires that notice be given of the presence of cameras. Violation of the speed limit captured by a camera is subject to a civil penalty of $125 if within a school zone and $250 if within a highway work zone, with no insurance or driver’s license points. Owner of vehicle is to be mailed notice of violation; owner is liable for payment unless the owner provides identity of other driver. Requires the Division of Motor Vehicles to set hearing procedure for owners to contest responsibility, with appeal to district court for trial de novo.
Requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to set standards for speed-measuring systems and for their calibration and periodic testing. Cameras are required to show tag number, date and location of violation, and vehicle speed. Provides that photographs are admissible as prima facie evidence of violation.
Enacts new GS 115C-457.4 to establish a Civil Penalties Litigation Fund within the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund, with 75% of civil penalties under new GS 20-141.7 to go to that new Litigation Fund and 25% to go to State Public School Fund. Amounts paid into the Litigation Fund are to be allocated to individual school systems, on a per pupil basis, to be used exclusively for technology. Provides that the purpose of payment to the Litigation Fund is to satisfy the August 2008 judgment in NC School Boards Association v. Moore ($749 million judgment entered on remand to superior court following North Carolina Supreme Court decision on July 1, 2005, at 359 NC 474). Provisions in GS 115C-457.2 on agency’s retention of costs of collecting penalty do not apply to fines under new GS 20-141.7 until judgment is satisfied.
Provides that payments to the Public School Fund under the act are to be used exclusively for the Drivers Education Program and authorizes DOT to pay costs of speed-measuring systems from funds it otherwise would have transferred to the Department of Public Instruction for driver’s education. Allows DOT funds to be used to establish new positions with approval of the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations.
Requires the Secretary of Transportation to evaluate and report to specified General Assembly committees on the speed-measuring systems program, with recommendations for any changes, annually by May 1st beginning in 2012.
Effective October 1, 2011, and expires October 1, 2026.

       Identical to S 28, filed 2/2/11.

Appropriates $870,000 for the 2011-13 biennium from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health Services, with the following amounts allocated for specified uses: (1) $350,000 for the March of Dimes, (2) $325,000 for the East Carolina School of Medicine, (3) $150,000 for the Healthy Start Foundation, and (4) $45,000 to the UNC School of Medicine. Includes whereas clauses. Effective July 1, 2011.