Bill Summary for H 200 (2011-2012)

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Summary date: 

Apr 29 2011

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View NCGA Bill Details2011-2012 Session
House Bill 200 (Public) Filed Tuesday, March 1, 2011
TO MAKE BASE BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS FOR CURRENT OPERATIONS OF STATE DEPARTMENTS, INSTITUTIONS, AND AGENCIES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Intro. by Brubaker.

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Bill summary

Amendments from the House Appropriations Committee meeting on 4/27/11 make the following changes.
Amendment #1 amends Section 10.46.(b) to provide that required rate reductions must take effect no later than October 1, 2011. Further provides that if effective after July 1, 2011, the reductions are to be adjusted by a percentage sufficient to yield savings as if the reductions had taken effect July 1, 2011.
Amendment #2 adds a new section entitled:

COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENT FUNDS
SECTION 14.12A.(a) Directs that of the funds appropriated in this act to the Department of Commerce, $343,187 for 2011-12 and $243,187 for 2012-13 are to be used only as provided by this section. Allocates up to $25,000 to each regional council of government or lead regional organization for 2011-12 and 2012-13.
SECTION 14.12A.(b) Directs a regional council of government to use funds allocated to it by this section only to assist local governments in grant applications, economic development, community development, support of local industrial development activities, and other activities as deemed appropriate by the member governments.
SECTION 14.12A.(c) Directs that funds allocated by this section must be paid by electronic transfer in two equal installments each fiscal year. Upon receipt of the report required by subsection (e) of this section, the first installment must be paid no later than September 15 of each year.
SECTION 14.12A.(d) Specifies that funds allocated by this section must not be used for payment of dues or assessments by the member governments and must not supplant funds appropriated by the member governments.
SECTION 14.12A.(e) Provides that by September 1 of each year, and more frequently as requested, each council of government or lead regional organization must report to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations and the Fiscal Research Division of the General Assembly on prior state fiscal year program activities, objectives, and accomplishments and prior state fiscal year itemized expenditures and fund sources. Each council of government or lead regional organization must provide to the Fiscal Research Division of the General Assembly a copy of the organization's annual audited financial statement within 30 days of issuance of the statement.

Amendment #7 adds a new section entitled:

NORTH CAROLINA WINERIES & TOURISM/OPERATING COMMITTEES
SECTION 14.3A.(a) Establishes an operating committee for the Vinifera Group and an operating committee for the Muscadines Group. Provides guidelines, including the purpose, membership, and meeting details for the committees.

Amendment #9 amends Section 13.22.(a) to provide that technical assistance, inspection, and enforcement will be provided by the Division of Water Quality.
Amendment #13 deletes Section 9.7, which forbids the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina from approving or implementing campus-initiated tuition increases.
Amendment #14 deletes Section 9.2., entitled DOCUMENTATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ENROLLMENT GROWTH FUNDING MODEL.
Amendment #17 deletes Section 9.3., which provided that a special responsibility constituent institution must not increase the state appropriation for any program or line item reduced by the act.
Amendment #21 amends Section 10.8.(b) to allow, at the discretion of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, certain existing funds allocated to LMEs to be used to purchase additional local inpatient psychiatric beds or bed days. Makes other conforming changes.
Amendment #22 adds a new subsection:
SECTION 7.19.(c) Directs the Department of Public Instruction to not reduce funding or positions for the Positive Behavioral Support program.
Amendment #23 adds a new section entitled:

FUNDS FOR RECYCLING PROGRAMS FOR PRODUCTS THAT CONTAIN MERCURY
SECTION 13.10B. Effective July 1, 2011 until December 31, 2017, rewrites GS 130A-310.54 to implement and fund the Mercury Pollution Prevention Fund for the purpose of implementing recycling programs for products containing mercury, including at least recycling programs for light bulbs and thermostats. Makes other technical and conforming changes.

Amendment #28 amends Section 30.3.(b) to specify available funds are not to be used to fund the North Carolina International Terminal. Also adds a new section entitled:

PROHIBIT GENERAL FUND, HIGHWAY FUND, OR HIGHWAY TRUST FUND EXPENDITURES FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL
SECTION 30.8. Directs that, notwithstanding any provision of law, funds from the General Fund, Highway Fund, or Highway Trust Fund are not to be used to fund the North Carolina International Terminal of the North Carolina State Ports Authority. Excepts the use of agency receipts.

Amendment #34 amends Section 31.23.(b), (c), and (d) by adding that no court costs are to be assessed to an application for the taxing of costs or a prayer for relief. Makes other technical and conforming changes.

Amendment #35 adds a new section entitled:

TRANSFER SENTENCING SERVICES PROGRAM
SECTION 18.11. Transfers all functions, powers, duties, and obligations of administering the Sentencing Services Program entrusted in the Office of Indigent Defense Services to the Department of Correction as a Type I transfer. Makes technical and conforming statutory changes.

Amendment #38 amends Section 10.31.(d), prohibiting the Department of Health and Human Services from imposing prior authorization requirements on medications prescribed for Medicaid recipients for the treatment of mental illness, unless the provider fails to prescribe those drugs in accordance with indications and dosage levels approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, or HIV/AIDS. Further provides guidelines when individuals 18 years old and younger are prescribed three or more psychotropic drugs.

Amendment #41 amends Section 5.4.(b) to replace the word “Children” with “Students.” Amends Section 19.1.(aa) by deleting the language which establishes the Division of Emergency Management within the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety in GS 143B-272.52. Deletes Section 19.1.(ff). Deletes Section 19.1.(nn), which deleted the definition of “Civil Air Patrol members” from GS 143-166.2(d), as rewritten by subsections (h) and (l) of the section. Deletes the word “FEDERAL” from the title of Section 26.1. and replaces it with the word “STATE.” Deletes Section 28.28.(e), which suspended salary increase provisions under GS 20-187.3 for 2011-12 and 2012-13. Amends the bill by deleting numerous duplicative sections, and makes conforming changes. Amends the bill to create a new subsection:

SECTION 20.6.(a) Transfers the campaign finance functions of the State Board of Elections and the lobbying registration and enforcement functions of the Secretary of State to the State Ethics Commission and makes technical changes.
Makes further technical, conforming, and clarifying changes.

Amendment #45 amends the bill by adding a new section entitled:

JOHNSTON COUNTY LME ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDING
SECTION 10.8A. Provides that, notwithstanding GS 122C-115(a1), the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services, must not further reduce, as a consequence of the total population of the catchment area served, the allocation of administrative funding to the Johnston County Area Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Authority for 2011-12.

Amendment #51 deletes Section 7.22. in its entirety and replaces it with a new section entitled:

NORTH CAROLINA VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS
SECTION 7.22. Directs the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) to report to the State Board of Education (SBE) and to maintain an administrative office at the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). Directs the Director of NCVPS to ensure that students residing in rural and low-wealth county local administrative units (LEAs) have access to e-learning course offerings. Directs the SBE to implement an allotment formula for NCVPS beginning with the 2011-12 school year. Specifies steps to be taken to implement the allotment formula. Provides that the NCVPS program is available at no cost to all high school students enrolled in North Carolina’s public schools, Department of Defense schools, and schools that are operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Directs SBE to consider recommendations from the eLearning Commission and NCVPS Advisory Board when establishing a fee and payment structure for NCVPS. Directs the SBE to establish a separate per student fee structure for out-of-state students, private school students, and home-schooled students. Directs NCVPS to develop a revenue-generating plan for the sale of courses to out-of-state educational entities and to submit such plan to SBE by September 1, 2011. Requires, beginning in 2011, that the Director of NCVPS submit an annual report on NCVPS to SBE no later than December 1 of each year. Specifies the information required in the report. Directs SBE to reduce ADM dollar allotments on the basis of ADM in grades 6-12 to provide $2,866,923 for state-level operations and administration of NCVPS for 2011-12 with such reductions continuing (adjusted annually) in future fiscal years. Directs SBE to reduce ADM dollar allotments on the basis of ADM in grades 6-12 to provide the sum of $2 million in order to create the NCVPS enrollment reserve which is to fund NCVPS instructional costs for LEAs or charter schools with enrollments exceeding projected NCVPS enrollment. Provides formula to fund enrollment reserve for 2012-13 and annually thereafter. Requires SBE to use only funds provided through the North Carolina Virtual Public Schools Allotment Formula and the NCVPS enrollment reserve to fund instructional costs of NCVPS. Repeals section 7.4 of SL 2010-31 (North Carolina Virtual Public Schools Allotment Formula).

Amendment #54 deletes Section 20.2. which transfers the North Carolina Human Relations Commission from the Department of Administration to the Office of Administrative Hearings and replaces it with a new section entitled:

STUDY BY THE LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH COMMISSION OF THE DUTIES AND SERVICES OF THE NORTH CAROLINA HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION OF THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
SECTION 20.2. Authorizes the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) to study the duties and services of the North Carolina Human Relations Commission and the Civil Rights Division of the Office of Administrative Hearings to determine whether there is unnecessary overlap and duplication of services and to recommend the placement of the Commission and Division in the appropriate agencies. Requires LRC to make interim report to the 2011 General Assembly when it reconvenes in 2012 and make its final report to the 2013 General Assembly. Effective when it becomes law.

Amendment #71 amends Section 7.1.(b) (Education Reform) by rewriting certain subsections to provide more detailed and clarifying language. Adds numerous other subsections directing the Committee to study state funding formulas, course offerings, alternative course delivery methods, increasing public access to value-added assessments, school and district accreditation, adding additional information to the State Public School Report Cards, use of school district resources, privatization of local school administrative unit services, and strategies for measuring and strengthening academic achievement in middle schools.
Amendment #72 deletes Section 13.1., which increased certain inspections fees, gave local health departments authority to set such fees, and reduced the percentage of such fees that are used to support state health programs and activities.
Amendment #73 amends Section 13.27.(b) by deleting the word “operating” where it occurs and adds a provision directing that the funds appropriated under the section are to be transferred to the Wildlife Resources Fund, as provided by GS 143-250, and are to be used for personal services expenditures only.
Amendment #74 amends Section 10.21.(a) by directing the Office of Minority Health to coordinate and implement the grant-in-aid program. Amends Section 10.21.(c) by adding an additional provision forbidding the grantee from using more than 5% of the grant funds for indirect costs. Makes other technical and conforming changes.
Amendment #75 adds a new section entitled:

FUNDS FOR CLEANUP AND MONITORING OF TEXFI SITE CONTAMINATION
SECTION 13.10A. Reduces the operating expenses of the Solid Waste Management Trust Fund by $50,000 for 2011-12 and provides funding of $50,000 to be used for 2011-12 for the cleanup and monitoring of the groundwater and other contamination at the Texfi site in Fayetteville.

Amendment #77 adds a new section entitled:

STATEWIDE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT SESSIONS
SECTION 15.11A. Directs the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to develop protocols to offer regular Administrative Court sessions in each district court in the state for the purpose of hearing Chapter 20 (Motor Vehicles) infractions and directs that such sessions be offered in each district by October 1, 2011. The AOC must report to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations on the scheduling and deployment of resources by February 1, 2012.

Amendment #81 amends Section 29.16.(f) by increasing the annual salary that an employee must earn to not be subject to a furlough from $25,000 to $30,500.
Amendment #98 amends Section 28.28. by deleting subsections (a) and (b) and replacing them with a new SECTION 28.28(a) granting the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, State Highway Patrol, the flexibility to achieve a savings of $1,380,370, recurring, in the State Highway Patrol’s administrative structure and specifically authorizes the elimination of positions. Amends Section 28.28.(c) to forbid any elimination of sworn law enforcement positions allocated for district-level traffic and commercial vehicle enforcement unless the state Highway Patrol is otherwise incapable of implementing the above reductions. Makes other technical changes.

Amendment #99 amends Section 31.30. by providing that the Board of Transportation must maintain one untolled ferry route to any barrier island that is not accessible by a state-maintained road.
Amendment #100 adds a new section entitled:

MEN’S HEALTH
SECTION 10.26A. Directs the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, to ensure attention to the prevention of disease and improvement in the quality of life for men over their lifetime by (1) developing a strategic plan to improve health care services, (2) building public health awareness, (3) developing initiatives within existing programs, and (4) pursuing federal and state funding for the screening, early detection, and treatment of prostate cancer and other diseases affecting men’s health.

Amendment #105 adds a new section entitled:

MODIFY ELIMINATION OF NON-MATCH POSITIONS IN REGIONAL OFFICES
SECTION 13.3A. Provides that the following positions, eliminated in items 104, 105, 107, 109, and 110 of the Report on the Continuation, Expansion and Capital Budgets are not to be eliminated: (1) 60035967; (2) 60035965; (3) 60035966; (4) 60035968; (5) 60035957; and (6) 60035972. Grants DENR flexibility to select other positions supported by the General Fund, in the same dollar amount, to substitute for elimination.