House committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes. 

Deletes Part I of the act, which made captive insurance changes. Deletes Part VIII of the act which concerned exclusive provider benefit plans. Deletes Part XIII of the act which made changes to certain criminal penalties.

Adds a new Part on Medicare supplement changes. Amends GS 58-54-45 by making the current provisions applicable to a person whose eligibility for medicare occurred before January 1, 2020. Adds that in addition to any rule adopted under this Article that is directly or indirectly related to open enrollment, an insurer must at least make standardized Medicare Supplement Plan A available to persons eligible for Medicare by reason of disability before age 65 and also standardized Plan D or G if marketing either Plan to persons eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020, due to age. Requires an application to be submitted during the six-month period beginning with the first month the person first enrolls in Medicare Part B. Provides that persons eligible for Medicare by reason of disability before age 65 who are enrolled in a managed care plan and whose coverage under the managed care plan is terminated through cancellation, nonrenewal, or disenrollment have the guaranteed right to purchase Medicare Supplement Plans A, D, or G (was, A and C) from any insurer within 63 days after the date of termination or disenrollment. Effective January 1, 2020.

Adds a new Section on credit property insurance reporting requirements. Amends GS 58-57-90 to require each writer of credit property insurance written in the State to submit the specified information to the Department of Insurance for each of the last five calendar years by April 1 of each year (was, the Department must collect the data on credit property insurance written in the State). Requires the Department to publish the information in an aggregate form on its website by July 1 of each year. 

Makes additional conforming, organizational, and technical changes. 

House committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes.

Amends the definition of caretaker set out in GS 7B-101, by removing the addition of an adult in a dating or romantic relationship with the parent, guardian, or custodian of the juvenile as an adult entrusted with the juvenile's care.

Further amends the definition of mentally incapacitated set out in GS 14-27.20, to now define the term as a victim who due to any act is rendered substantially incapable of either appraising the nature of his or her conduct or resisting the act of vaginal intercourse or a sexual act (under the previous edition, was a victim who is rendered substantially incapable of either appraising the nature of his or her conduct or resisting the act of vaginal intercourse or a sexual act due to any act, regardless of whether committed by a perpetrator or the victim). 

Deletes all of Section 4 of the act, which amended GS 14-27.21, GS 14-27.22, GS 14-27.26, and GS 14-27.27, by removing the "forcible" language from the rape and sexual offenses provided therein.

House committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes. 

Deletes Section 5 of the act which amended GS 143B-135.16 to make specified violations of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resource's rules an infraction instead of a Class 3 misdemeanor. Makes additional technical changes. 

House committee substitute makes the following changes to the 2nd edition.

Amends GS 143-355.4 to also allow the property owner's designee to select and install an appropriate testable backflow preventer. Makes conforming changes. 

House committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes. Maintains the whereas clauses but deletes the rest of the content of the previous edition and replaces it with the following. Encourages the North Carolina State Bar Council to adopt a rule to provide that full-time employees of the NCGA who are licensed attorneys are exempt from all continuing legal education requirements. Makes conforming changes to the act's titles.

House committee substitute to the 1st edition makes the following changes.

Amends GS 126-84 to to reinstate the duty of State employees under the current statutory language to report gross mismanagement, gross waste of monies, or gross abuse of authority (the previous edition included gross mismanagement, waste of monies, or an abuse of authority).

Moves the provision authorizing the State Auditor to assist State employees in making reports regarding retaliation directly to the State Auditor as an alternative to making reports to the employing State department, agency, or institution from GS 126-85 to GS 126-84.

Appropriates $700,000 for 2019-20 from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction for grant-in-aid to REAL School Gardens to establish a two-year pilot program beginning with the 2019-20 school year and ending with the 2020-21 school year, with the purpose of transforming teaching practices and creating outdoor learning laboratories on school campuses in 10 rural elementary schools operating a school-wide Title I program (as defined in the act). Requires the State Superintendent to select qualifying schools. Specifies how the funds may be used. Funds are to remain available until the end of the 2020-21 school year. Requires an annual report on the progress of the pilot program, an accounting of expenditures, and student outcome and teacher effectiveness data by October 1 in 2020 and 2021. Effective July 1, 2019.

Part I.

Amends GS 20-24.1 (Revocation of driver's license for failure to appear or pay fine, penalty or costs for motor vehicle offenses) by adding to subdivision (a)(2) the requirement that before revoking a license upon failure to pay a fine, penalty, or court costs as ordered by the court, there must be a court finding at sentencing that the person is able to pay and the license should be suspended if the person fails to pay.  Modifies subsection (b) by removing costs from several subdivisions, and adding new subdivision (5) as one of several enumerated conditions, any one of which need to be met before a license may be restored; subdivision (5) adds that a license revoked for failure to pay a fine, penalty, or court costs under subdivision (a)(2) remains revoked until 12 months have passed since revocation.  Amends subsection (c) to exclude from the requirement of paying a restoration fee a person who is indigent.  Makes other minor, non-substantive changes, including making some language gender-neutral.  

Modifies GS 20-24.2 (Court to report failure to appear or pay fine, penalty, or costs) by making clarifying changes.

Effective December 1, 2019.

Part II.

Adds new Subpart D, Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act, in part 2 of Article 13 of GS Chapter 143B, providing as follows. Sets out the General Assembly's findings. Prohibits using the following types of restraints on a pregnant inmate upon notification or diagnosis of an inmate's pregnancy, for the duration of the pregnancy, and for 30 days following delivery: (1) leg restraints; (2) handcuffs or other wrist restraints, except to restrain the inmate's wrists in front of her; and (3) restraints connected to other inmates. Prohibits using restraints during labor or delivery. Includes an exception to these prohibitions for instances when a correctional facility employee has a reasonable belief that the inmate will harm herself, the fetus, or any other person, or poses a substantial flight risk. Prohibits conducting invasive body cavity searches of pregnant inmates unless the correctional facility employee has a reasonable belief that the inmate is concealing contraband. Requires the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to ensure that pregnant inmates are provided sufficient food and dietary supplements as ordered by a physician, a physician staff member, or a facility nutritionist. Prohibits placing a pregnant inmate, or any female inmate who has given birth within the previous 30 days, in restrictive housing unless a correctional facility employee has a reasonable belief that the inmate will harm herself, the fetus, or any other person, or pose a substantial flight risk. Prohibits assigning a pregnant inmate to any bed that is elevated more than 3 feet off of the floor. Requires the warden of the facility to compile a monthly summary of the written reports that are to be submitted when exceptions to the prohibitions above are made and to submit the summary to the Secretary of DPS.

Requires allowing the newborn to remain with the inmate for 72 hours following delivery unless doing so poses a health or safety risk to the newborn. Requires DPS to provide necessary nutritional and hygiene products to care for the newborn during the period of postpartum recovery; requires that such times be provided for free to indigent inmates. 

Requires DPS, to the greatest extent practicable, to place inmates who are parents of minor children within 250 miles of their permanent address of record. Requires adopting rules allowing visitation of inmates who are parents with low or minimum security classification by their children with the specified requirements, including eliminating restrictions on the number of children under age 18 who are allowed visitation privileges.

Requires limiting inspections by male correctional officers when a female inmate is in a state of undress. Requires specified reporting if a male correctional officer deems it appropriate to conduct an inspection or search while a female inmate is in a clear state of undress. 

Requires making sufficient menstrual products available; requires providing those items for free to indigent inmates.

Requires DPS to provide correctional facility employees and correctional officers who have contact with pregnant inmates with training related to the physical and mental health of pregnant inmates and fetuses, including the specified components. Also requires providing educational programming for pregnant inmates related to the specified topics. 

The above provisions are effective October 1, 2019.

Appropriates $3 million for 2019-20 from the General Fund to DPS, Division of Adult Correction, for implementing the statutory requirements above. Effective July 1, 2019.

Part III.

Requires the Secretary of Public Safety (Secretary) to place a prisoner in a facility as close as practicable to the prisoner's permanent residence, and to the extent practicable, in a facility within 125 driving miles of that residence, subject to seven specified factors, including bed availability, the prisoner's security designation, and other security concerns, and recommendations of the sentencing court. Requires the Secretary to, subject to those same seven factors and the prisoner's preference for staying or being transferred, to transfer prisoners to facilities closer to the primary residence even if the prisoner is already within 125 driving miles of the residence. Specifies that a designation of a place of imprisonment is not reviewable by any court. Effective October 1, 2019. 

Part IV.

Amends GS 153A-225 by adding the requirement that a local confinement facility transferring a prisoner to a State prison provide the receiving facility with the transferred prisoner's health information or medical records. Effective October 1, 2019.

Part V.

Requires the Secretary, in partnership with the Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission, to do the following no later than one year from the date the act is enacted: (1) study the use of medical release for ill, disabled, and geriatric inmates over the previous five fiscal years, and extensions of the limits of confinement for permanently and totally disabled or terminally ill inmates over the previous five fiscal years and (2) report to the NCGA judiciary committees on seven specified topics related to inmate health, medical releases, extension of limits of confinement, and related recommendations and actions taken.

Part VI.

Appropriates $3.2 million for 2019-20 from the General Fund to the DPS, Division of Adult Correction, to provide inmates with access to telemedicine for mental health support during hours when no in-person specialist is available. Effective July 1, 2019. 

Part VII.

Appropriates $2.5 million for 2019-20 from the General Fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts to: (1) revise current citation and summons forms to include a notice on participation in court date notification systems, (2) improve existing court date notification systems, and (3) create court date reminder systems where they do not exist. Effective July 1, 2019.

Part VIII.

Appropriates $12 million from the General Fund to DPS, Division of Adult Correction, to hire staff to provide behavioral health and substance use treatment. Effective July 1, 2019. 

Part IX.

Appropriates $7.5 million from the General Fund to DPS, Division of Adult Correction, to establish a Day Treatment Program within the NC Correctional Institution for Women. Effective July 1, 2019. 

Part X.

Appropriates $2.8 million from the General Fund to DPS to fund Local Reentry Councils to fund housing support specialists and peer support counselors and to fund rental assistance programs and transportation assistance programs. Effective July 1, 2019. 

Part XI.

Effective when the act becomes law, unless otherwise indicated. 

Amends GS 95-24 to no longer require that a claim for workers' compensation be filed or the employee be paid compensation within two years after the accident in order to have a right to compensation. 

Amends GS 97-25.1, which terminates the right to medical compensation two years after the employer's last payment of medical or indemnity compensation (unless certain conditions are met) to exclude from this limitation first responders.

Amends GS 97-29 as follows. Requires employers of a first responder who qualifies for total disability to pay the injured employee a weekly compensation equal to 100% of the first responder's average weekly wages.  Adds that first responders qualify automatically for extended compensation in excess of the 500-week limitation on temporary total disability if at the time the employee applies to exceed the limitation, 425 weeks have passed since the date of first disability, and there is evidence that the employee has sustained a total loss of wage-earning capacity. Defines first responder for use in the statute. Makes conforming changes. 

Amends GS 105-113.80 to make hard cider subject to the same excise tax as that levied on malt beverages, which is 61.71 cents per gallon. Defines hard cider in GS 105-113.68. Makes conforming changes to GS 105-113.82 concerning the distribution of the tax, and GS 105-113.83 concerning payment of the tax. Applies to hard cider sold on or after October 1, 2019. 

Enacts new GS Chapter 168B, North Carolina Independent Living Act, which provides as follows.

Creates the 24-member Statewide Independent Living Council (Council) within the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services, to develop, approve, and submit to the appropriate federal agency the State Plan for Independent Living Services (State Plan) every three years, and to monitor, review, and evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the State Plan. Sets out additional duties. Requires the Council to hold its first meeting by May 1, 2020.  

Requires the State Plan to direct the use of federal funds provided under the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and any State funds appropriated to the Council for independent living services. Requires the State Plan, and each amendment to it, to address the priorities in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, to establish a statewide program of independent living services and a network of independent living centers. Specifies that any individual with a significant disability, as defined in the State Plan, is eligible for services under the Article (intends under the Chapter). Requires the Council to submit the State Plan, as amended, to the specified NCGA committee and division annually on July 1, to include the current State Plan for the preceding year, amendments to that State Plan, and outcome data. 

Requires the federal and State funds granted and appropriated to the Council to be administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services, to implement the State Plan, including the seven specified components, which include funding and operation of independent living centers in this state, independent living services to eligible individuals with disabilities, and training for individuals with disabilities. 

Appropriates $100,000 in recurring funds for 2019-20 and for 2020-21 from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services, to be allocated to the Council for implement the State Plan and the act. 

Requires the North Carolina Statewide Independent Living Council, Inc., to continue until the Governor makes all appointments under this act and all assets of the nonprofit corporation are transferred. The current State Plan for Independent Living continues in full force and effect until a new State Plan is submitted, approved, and adopted by the Council formed under the act.

Effective July 1, 2019.

Establishes the Competency-Based Mathematics Education Pilot Program (Pilot) within the Department of Public Instruction to be administered for five years, the purpose of which is to allow students in grades 9-12 to advance to higher levels of mathematics courses contingent upon the mastery of concepts and skills, rather than upon the awarding of course credits. Exempts participating schools and their students from the requirements of the standard course of study in mathematics. Requires the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Department of Public Instruction to develop guidelines selecting Pilot participants. Requires dissemination of the selection guidelines and the application form by October 31, 2019. Sets out minimum requirements for the application form. Allows approving up to five local school administrative units for participation in the Pilot. Requires participants to implement the plans presented in their applications beginning with the 2020-21 school year. 

Appropriates $500,000 in nonrecurring funds for 2019-20 from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction to administer and evaluate the Pilot.

Requires participating local school administrative units to be selected during the 2019-20 school year for implementation of the Pilot beginning with the 2020-21 school year. 

Enacts new GS 115C-81.90 requiring the State Board of Education (State Board) to develop or identify an academically rigorous elective course on firearms and ballistics that can be offered at the high school level, at the discretion of each local board of education. Sets out requirements for the course content. Prohibits a local board of education offering the class from allowing the use or possession of live ammunition or a fully assembled or fully functional firearm in a classroom setting; however, does not prohibit the lawful possession of live ammunition or a firearm by a law enforcement officer, acting in his or her official capacity, on educational property.

Requires the State Board to establish the course of study for the elective by December 31, 2019. Also requires establishing criteria for grant proposals by educators to develop a curriculum for that elective, including a requirement that the curriculum be completed no later than August 1, 2020. Requires proposals to be accepted no later than March 31, 2020, and requires the grant to be awarded no later than May 1, 2020. 

Appropriates $100,000 for 2019-20 from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction to fund grants for the curriculum development. Effective July 1, 2019. 

Amends GS 14-297 by adding the following. Makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor to knowingly suffer to be opened or used in or on any part of any premises owned or controlled by that person more than four electronic machines or devices and requires that such electronic machines or devices be forfeited. Requires a premises with four or less electronic machines or devices to keep them more than 100 feet from any other electronic machines or devices.

Specifies that it is not a violation for any person to, before January 1, 2020, knowingly suffer to be opened or used 25 or fewer electronic machines or devices, located in or on any part of any premises owned or controlled by that person. Allows for continued use of by that person after January 1, 2020, as long as the person complies with Article 2E of GS Chapter 105 and does not divide, subdivide, partition, lease, or sublease those premises as a means to open or use additional electronic machines or devices. Violations are: (1) a Class 1 misdemeanor for the first offense, (2) a Class H felony for the second offense, and (3) a Class G felony for a third or subsequent offense.

Subjects any person who does not display the required permit sticker or displays an expired permit sticker  to a penalty of up to $1,000 per violation and allows for seizure or disabling of that machine or device.

The above applies to offenses committed on or after October 1, 2019.

Amends GS 14-306.4, which prohibits the use of electronic machines and devices to make the statute applicable to an electronic machine or device whether or not it is a single or multiplayer game, and whether or not it is a single terminal or multiple terminals. Amends the definition of entertaining display to include a fish game or any other multiplayer or multistation video game. Excludes from the statute any video game based on or involving the random or chance matching of different pictures, words, numbers, or symbols that involves the skill or dexterity of the player if the electronic machine or device uses a certified valid sweepstakes system, which is to include certification of both the sweepstakes game software as well as the functionality of the sweepstakes promotion. Requires the certification to include a unique certification number issued by a specifically certified lab and requires the certification to have been issued on or before January 1, 2020. 

Adds new Article 2E, Electronic Sweepstakes, in GS Chapter 105, which provides as follows. Levies an annual excise tax of $250 on each certified electronic machine or device operated in this State. The tax is applicable without regard to how the machine or device: (1) is activated; (2) is programmed for operation; or (3) determines and associates the prize with an entry at the time the sweepstakes is entered. Effective January 1, 2020. 

Except as otherwise provided, effective December 1, 2019.