Dispatch from Jones St: Bullying Bill Update

UPDATE:

The Senate did not take up the Bullying Bill today. Your action on this important legislation will help get this bill through the Senate.  Take a moment this weekend and email your NC Senator.

NC ACTION ALERT: URGENT ACTION REQUESTED. TAKE ACTION NOW.

Senate Bill 526: School Violence Prevention Act, passed the Senate Committee on Mental Health and Youth Services last evening. Today it will be on the Senate floor for a vote and we still have work to do! This legislation is important to the children with developmental disabilities in North Carolina.

Here is a brief message from one of North Carolina’s youth leaders:
“Being a person living a life with a disability can be difficult especially if the disability is visible. A person who does not walk straight or does not speak clearly is a target for bullies in the education system. As a student in their junior year of high school, people would think there would be an understanding and the teasing would decease but that is not the situation.”

ACTION TO BE TAKEN:

EMAIL or CALL your Senator NOW.

TELL THEM:
• Vote YES for the bill!
* SB 526 enumerates protected categories to protect children most vulnerable to bullying and harassment. This legislation addresses the needs of students with disabilities.

* To SUPPORT the bill with the enumeration that is currently in this important legislation.

* Seventy-eight students with disabilities, who gathered in Raleigh during the summer of 2006, discussed their experiences dealing with bullying and harassment while attending school. These young leaders recognized the importance of creating legislation that would create a protected category for students with disabilities.

* This legislation will support students with disabilities by utilizing the protected categories as a self-advocacy tool. Students with disabilities will be able to look to this legislation as their right to be protected from bullying and harassment.

* Enumeration of protected categories is a clear sign that all students, regardless of differences in characteristics, appearance, or ability are valued and deserve protection.

Find Your Senator:

Read the Bill:
Senate Bill 526: School Violence Prevention Act.
Sponsors: Senator Boseman.
Co-Sponsors: Senator Charles W. Albertson, Senator Bob Atwater, Senator Daniel G. Clodfelter, Senator Charlie Dannelly, Senator Katie G. Dorsett, Senator Linda Garrou, Senator Clark Jenkins, Senator Eleanor Kinnaird, Senator Vernon Malone, Senator Floyd B. McKissick Jr., Senator William R. Purcell, Senator Larry Shaw, Senator Josh Stein, Senator David F. Weinstein.
An Act to enact the school violence prevention act.

ACTION ALERT: BULLYING BILL CALL YOUR NC SENATOR TODAY!

NC ACTION ALERT: URGENT ACTION REQUESTED. TAKE ACTION NOW.

The NC Senate Votes on Senate Bill 526: School Violence Prevention Act TODAY at 11:00 AM.

Senate Bill 526: School Violence Prevention Act, passed the Senate Committee on Mental Health and Youth Services last evening. Today it will be on the Senate floor for a vote and we still have work to do! This legislation is important to the children with developmental disabilities in North Carolina.

Here is a brief message from one of North Carolina’s youth leaders:
“Being a person living a life with a disability can be difficult especially if the disability is visible. A person who does not walk straight or does not speak clearly is a target for bullies in the education system. As a student in their junior year of high school, people would think there would be an understanding and the teasing would decease but that is not the situation.”

ACTION TO BE TAKEN:

EMAIL or CALL your Senator NOW.

TELL THEM:
• Vote YES for the bill!
* SB 526 enumerates protected categories to protect children most vulnerable to bullying and harassment. This legislation addresses the needs of students with disabilities.

* To SUPPORT the bill with the enumeration that is currently in this important legislation.

* Seventy-eight students with disabilities, who gathered in Raleigh during the summer of 2006, discussed their experiences dealing with bullying and harassment while attending school. These young leaders recognized the importance of creating legislation that would create a protected category for students with disabilities.

* This legislation will support students with disabilities by utilizing the protected categories as a self-advocacy tool. Students with disabilities will be able to look to this legislation as their right to be protected from bullying and harassment.

* Enumeration of protected categories is a clear sign that all students, regardless of differences in characteristics, appearance, or ability are valued and deserve protection.

Find Your Senator:

Read the Bill:
Senate Bill 526: School Violence Prevention Act.
Sponsors: Senator Boseman.
Co-Sponsors: Senator Charles W. Albertson, Senator Bob Atwater, Senator Daniel G. Clodfelter, Senator Charlie Dannelly, Senator Katie G. Dorsett, Senator Linda Garrou, Senator Clark Jenkins, Senator Eleanor Kinnaird, Senator Vernon Malone, Senator Floyd B. McKissick Jr., Senator William R. Purcell, Senator Larry Shaw, Senator Josh Stein, Senator David F. Weinstein.
An Act to enact the school violence prevention act.

Dispatch from Jones St: Bullying Bill Gets Favorable Vote from Senate Mental Health and Youth Services Committee

Today the Senate Mental Health and Youth Services committee met to debate Senate Bill 526: School Violence Prevention Act. This bill is better known as the bullying bill.  The bill includes a list of enumerated categories that identify students that are most likely to be bullied.  This important list includes students with developmental disabilities.

The bill passed out of the committee with a 6 to 2 favorable vote.  It will now go to the Senate floor.

Dispatch from Jones St: More Information on Public Meeting Hosted by NC State House Appropriations Committee

The North Carolina Legislative website has updated information regarding this important public meeting on the state's budget.

The North Carolina State House Appropriations committee will host a public hearing on Tuesday, April 28th from 6:00pm-9:00pm to receive public input on the budget process.  This meeting will be held at the North Carolina This is a time to speak your concerns.

The House is also accepting written comments regarding the budget.

Can't be in Raleigh? No problem. This event will be live streamed.

Please visit the website for more information.

Monday Quick Hits: Hot Policy Topics for This Week

North Carolina:

This week the North Carolina House Appropriations committee will hold a public meeting to receive input on the state budget. We will be posting more information about this event as it becomes available.

The North Carolina Senate Finance committee is still working on their tax package.  The last word on this was that there may not be a vote on it this week but there will be a lot more discussion on it this week.

The April numbers look a bit better than expected, according to Governor Perdue.  What this will mean for House leaders as they work on the budget is anyone's guess.

Here is what to look for this week.

Bills to Watch for the Week:

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

On Tuesday, House HHS Appropriations Subcommittee will discuss the Continuation Reviews and Screening Updates with Dick Clifford, from Frank Porter Graham.  There will also be a continuation of the discussion regarding the merger of More at Four and SmartStart.

House Judiciary I will take up House Bill 925-Data Sharing/DHHS Agencies. This bill will authorize the sharing of confidential information among agencies of the Department of Health and Human services in order to conduct quality assessment and improvement activities and coordinate appropriation and effective care, treatment, or habilitation of DHHS clients. This bill received a favorable report when it was debated in the House Health Committee.  This is the final committee for this bill prior to heading to the House floor.

Also on Tuesday, the House Health committee will take up House House Bill 1339-DHHS Study/Medical Provider Rates. This bill will direct the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a study of provider medical rates to determine the equity of existing rates among providers. The study would focus on the cost of providing services, capital costs, and medical malpractice insurance and a review of medical providers for a stand-alone payment method, including the consideration of a private consultant to perform the rate-setting process.  The report is due back to Senate and House HHS Appropriations no later than October 1, 2009.

 

Friday Wrap Up: Bills, Committee Reports, and Other legislative Stuff.

North Carolina:

This week Secretary Lanier Cansler addressed the House Appropriation Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. Here is a brief report from that meeting.

On Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler addressed the members of the House Health and Human Services Subcommittee regarding the Department’s concerns over the Senate budget proposal.
Secretary Cansler expressed the following concerns. The Senate budget eliminates all positions that had not been filled in the past six months. Only 5% of the total HHS budget funds positions. 95% of the HHS budget is directed at services. The 60% of the 5% of positions eliminated are in state facilities.

Secretary Cansler stated that if we truly think about the elimination of these vacant positions we would see a significant impact on the structure of our state facilities. He also brought to the attention of the membership that our state pay structure is still not competitive enough. The example that he gave to the members of the committee was with the hiring of engineers and architects. Due to the lack of competitive salary offers we are having difficulty in attracting the quality of architect sand engineers that we require.

An additional concern was with the MMIS reductions. Secretary Cansler stated that in the previous legislative session the legislature directed the Department to make the MMIS system their top priority. Secretary Cansler agreed with this directive but stated that by cutting the budget we are dramatically affecting the implementation of the MMIS system. The Senate budget, according to Secretary Cansler would effectively shut the program down.

Overall Secretary Cansler expressed his concern to members of the House Health and Human Services appropriation subcommittee that the Senate budget would restrict management flexibility at the Department. The example that he presented was the Senate’s budget line of 23 million dollars for management flexibility. Secretary Cansler stated “at first I thought this was a good thing. But in reality they want another 22 million dollars in cuts in administrative costs. I can get it any where I want but those administrative costs would be in staff positions.”

On the reduction of Community Support hours to eight hours a week, as proposed by the Senate budget, Secretary Cansler pointed out that DMA estimates that we would not come near the mark of the savings stated in the Senate budget.
Secretary Cansler requested that the House HHS Appropriations subcommittee work with the Department to effectively craft a budget.

Dispatch from Jones St: House Hold Public Hearing on Budget

The Appropriations Committee of the North Carolina House of Representatives on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 will be receiving public comment on the state budget.

The hearing will be held from 6-9 p.m. in the auditorium of the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh on Fayetteville Street. Ten community colleges across the state will host interactive broadcasts of the hearing and it will also be streamed live on the Internet.

Members of the public are invited to offer suggestions and comments about the budget. Each speaker will have three minutes to share information. Other rules may also be established and will be available online at the North Carolina Legislature website closer to the date of the hearing. Information about how to submit written comments and how to access the online broadcast will also be available at the site.

Dispatch from Jones St: Senator Vernon Malone Services

From Indy Week:

The Malone family announced a schedule of services for the late

State Senator Vernon Malone, who passed away unexpectedly at his home on

Saturday, April 18.

*            Viewing of the body will be held Wednesday, April 22 from 9:00 until

4 p.m. at Lea Funeral Home, 2500 Poole Road, Raleigh

*            The body will be in repose at Martin Street Baptist Church at 6 p.m.

on Wednesday, April 22.

*            Family will receive friends and visitors at 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at

Martin Street Baptist Church, Raleigh

*            Funeral services will be on Thursday, April 23 at 12:00 p.m. at

Martin Street Baptist Church, Raleigh.

*            A burial service will immediately follow at the Carolina Biblical

Gardens in Raleigh after the funeral services.

The Malone Family has asked in lieu of flowers that individuals make

contributions to the Senator Vernon Malone Scholarship Foundation at Shaw

University. Donations can be sent to Shaw University, c/o Marilyn Fields,

118 East South Street, Raleigh, NC 27601

Monday Quick Hits: Hot Policy Topics for This Week

North Carolina:

This week the General Assembly will begin its week by grieving the loss of one of their own. On Saturday, Senator Vernon Malone passed away at his home in Raleigh.  Senator Malone was a dedicated public servant.  His leadership on education policy will be deeply missed.

The House will continue to work on the budget this week with a series of appropriation subcommittee meetings.

Also this week we will see the first meetings of the new Senate Select Committee on Economic Recovery.  This committee will be discussing and presenting the economic recovery package.

Meetings this Week:

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
8:30 AM APPROPRIATIONS/Education (House) 421LOB

8:30 AM APPROPRIATIONS/Health and Human Services (House) 643 LOB

IMMED. AFTER SESSION SELECT COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC RECOVERY (Senate) 544LOB

11:00 AM EDUCATION (House) 643 LOB
Char/Meck School Board Police. (H538)
Change School Starting Date. (H593)
Study Equity of School Counselor Compensation. (H1179)
Study Length of School Lunch Period. (H1470)
Counties & Schools Share P. E. Equ (H1471)

12:00 PM HEALTH (House) 544 LOB
Collateral Source Evid. Admissable/Med Mal. (H415)
Consumer Health Freedom Act. (H842)
Allow Dietetics/Nutrition Bd./Recover Costs. (H886)
Brain Injury Advisory Council. (H1284)
NC Risk Pool Clarifications. (H1391)
NC Risk Pool Changes/Out-of-State Services. (H1392)

2:00 PM STATE GOVERNMENT/STATE PERSONNEL (House) 424 LOB
Amend Professional Counselors Act/Fees. (H746)
Organ Donation Month. (H1014)

Wednesday, April 22, 2009
IMMED. AFTER SESSION SELECT COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC RECOVERY (Senate)
544LOB
8:30 AM APPROPRIATIONS/BASE BUDGET (Senate)
Rep. Gerry Madden, Texas House Member, will speak on Texas’s efforts to slow down prison construction 643LOB

10:00 AM EDUCATION/HIGHER EDUCATION (Senate)  643 LOB
Encourage Volunteerism in Schools (S1028)
Establish Physician Assistant Scholarships (S678)
Classroom Experience for School Personnel (S406)
Probationary Teacher Appeals (S962)

11:00 AM HEALTH CARE (Senate) 544 LOB
Prohibit Smoking in Public & Work Places (H2)
DHHS Study/Influenza Vaccine Public Schools (S805)

Dispatch from Jones St: Senator Vernon Malone Passes Away Additional Information

The following is a link to an update from Indy Week.

Dispatch from Jones St: Senator Vernon Malone Passes Away

The Arc of North Carolina offers its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Senator Vernon Malone.

Senator Malone served as co-chairman of the Senate Appropriations on Education/Higher Education and Education/Higher Education Committee.  Senator Vernon Malone was a member of the Senate Health Committee and the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, Substance Abuse Services.

Senator Malone was a tireless advocate in education and has shown leadership and support for students with developmental disabilities.

Most recently Senator Malone, a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 208: People First spoke strongly for the bills passage.

We will post more details when they become available.

News and Observer Story.

Friday Wrap Up: Bills, Committee Reports, and Other legislative Stuff.

Budget: 

This week the House began reviewing the Senate's $21 billion dollar budget proposal.  The

Senate's proposed budget for MH/DD/SA closely tracks the Governor’s proposed budget. During the Health Appropriation meeting Senator Doug Berger stated that the budget reflects at 5% decrease from the continuation budget in fiscal year 2009-2010 and a 6% decrease for fiscal year 2010-2011. 
The budget does support the Governor’s proposal to close the Wright and Whittaker schools. The Senate’s proposed budget does not reflect any cuts to the CAP/MR-DD Waiver program or to the START Crisis program.
The Senate budget special provisions did include direction to the Division to begin the process of applying for a TBI Waiver and a direction to the Institute of Medicine to study Veteran Mental Health services. The Senate budget also continued to support the medically fragile child care center located in Raleigh. The Senate budget did include a one time cut to the Housing 400 Initiative program, the funds affected with this cut are the housing subsidy appropriation. 

Committee Meetings:

Senate Judiciary I:
Senate Bill 602: Medicaid False Claims/Qui Tam Actions-Kinnaird.
This bill would strengthen the prosecution of Medicaid fraud by increasing criminal penalties for provider fraud, create criminal penalties for obstruction and making false entries, establish a private civil action for provider false claims, and authorize a subpoena for documents in cases of provider fraud and abuse.

The request for this bill came from the Attorney General’s office and the Department of Health and Human Services. The impetus for this bill comes from the Deficit Reduction Act. The bill is trying to conform to the current federal laws on Medicaid fraud. All states have been requested to pass legislation similar to this in order to draw down additional Medicaid funding.

This bill was not voted on during the committee meeting. There was a healthy debate dealing with issues regarding parts of the legislation that would extend authority for DMA to subpoena documents outside of a request from the attorney general’s office.

This bill will continue to be worked on and will be back in committee next week.

House Health:
House Bill 925: Data Sharing/DHHS Agencies-Alexander.
This bill would authorize the sharing of confidential information among agencies f the Department of Health and Human Services in order to conduct quality assessment and improvement activities and coordinate appropriate and effective care, treatment or habilitation of DHHS clients.
Representative Alexander spoke on behalf of this legislation. This bill would permit better coordination of care and would still follow HIPPA regulations. There was no debate on the bill. It was passed out of committee.

Senate Health Care:
Senate Bill 331: MH/National Accred. Benchmarks-Berger
This bill would make changes to national accreditation benchmark requirements for certain Medicaid enrolled facilities.
This bill was pulled from the calendar.

House Mental Health Reform:
House Bill 672: Accountability for State Funding/MHDDSA-Earle.
The committee had a vigorous debate regarding this bill but did not vote on it. It will be taken up next week. The bill would require LMEs to hold a public meeting at one of their board meetings before moving funding from one disability group to another. It does not limit the LMEs ability to move funds but it does give the disability advocates an opportunity to voice their concerns on the front side of changes as opposed to after the fact. The bill also had language that would require LMEs to meet Division benchmarks prior to moving funds. This language caused considerable debate and in the last few minutes of the meeting Representative Alexander proposed an amendment that would require the public hearings but remove the benchmark language. In addition her amendment would require the Department to report to the Legislature on how single stream LMEs were using funds by January 2010.

On Wednesday, April 15, 2009 a compromise bill was negotiated. Representative Alexander was asked to withdraw her amendment and the new committee substitute passed unanimously out of committee.

The following is the compromise language:
Section 1:
A LME that utilizes single stream funding must, on a biannual basis, report on the allocation of service dollars and allow for public comment at a regularly scheduled LME Board of Directors meeting.

Before an LME proposes to reduce State funding to HUD group homes and
HUD apartments below the original appropriation State funds, the LME
must: a. Receive approval of the reduction in funding from the Department,
and b. Hold a public hearing at an open LME board meeting to receive
comment on the reduction in funding.

Section 2:
The Department of Health and Human Services shall analyze the effectiveness of single stream funding in the expenditure of state funds and review the allocation of service dollars to specific disabilities of those LME utilizing single stream funding for a year or more and report its findings to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services, the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, and the Fiscal Research Division by June 30, 2010.

Bills that Passed the House:

House Bill 218: Parent & Student Involvement Act
This legislation begins the process of looking at our states policies for long term suspension. The bill will require written notification including a description of the incident leading to the recommendation for expulsion or suspension for more than ten days. The specific provisions of the student conduct policy or rule alleged to have been violated and the specific process to request a hearing to contest the expulsion or suspension for more than ten days including the number of days within which to request a hearing. This bill passed the Juvenile Justice and Education committee and was on the House floor for a vote on Wednesday, April 15, 2009.
This bill passed the House second reading with a vote of 107 in favor to 7 opposed. Third reading was scheduled for Thursday, April 16th and the bill is expected to pass.

Bills that Passed the Senate:

Senate Bill 208: People First
On April 9, 2009 the Senate passed Senate Bill 208: People First legislation with a vote of 47 in favor and none opposed, three Senators were absent for the vote. This bill was debated in the Senate Health committee where Senators questioned if this bill would have any unintended consequences. Some of the concerns raised were with the changing of language that could affect Medicaid funding, criminal laws that contain specific federal or state definitions, and civil laws that contain specific rulings that incorporate definitions. These concerns are the same that were raised in all of the states where this legislation has been presented. After multiple negotiations a compromise bill was presented on the Senate floor. This bill directs Legislative Services to include in legislative draft training a section on the use of People First language. This bill also directs the General Statutes Commission to recommend to the 2010 and 2011 General Assembly any statutory changes and drafting policies needed to make the General Statutes and administrative rules refer to a person with a disability as a person first. This bill will now go to the House.  

Dispatch from Jones St: House HHS Appropriations

Here we go with budget round #3!  The Governor put out her budget proposal and the Senate followed with their budget proposal and now we have the House beginning their process.

Just in case you are curious, the Senate tax plan has not yet been revealed. We are expecting to see that this week.

More curiosity? Today is April 15th, tax day, and with that hanging over the General Assembly we should see the new numbers of just how much revenue this state has for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

We will be following all the events this week.

Dispatch from Jones St: HB 672 State Accountability MH DD SA

Today the House Mental Health Reform committee will continue its debate of House Bill 672: State Accountability MH/DD/SA.  We will update you on what happens after the meeting.

Friday Wrap Up: Bills, Committee Reports, and Other legislative Stuff.

Weekly Legislative Wrap-Up 04/09/09

The Senate bill filing deadline and the House bill filing deadline have both passed. After this report on bills filed we will have no new legislation to be introduced. The focus of all future wrap-ups will be about what has happened in committee meetings.

Committee Meetings:

House Mental Health Reform:
On Wednesday, April 8, 2009 the House Mental Health Reform committee debated two bills that directly affect people served by the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services.

The first bill debated was House Bill 673:
House Bill 673: Support for Developmental Disability Services-Earle.
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H673v1.pdf

This legislation will create a statewide data collection system that will reflect how many people with developmental disabilities are currently waiting for services and what services they are waiting for. The bill also permits the Department to ensure that State-funded developmental disability services are authorized on an annual or semi-annual basis depending on the services, and will also give direction to the Department to develop developmental disability service definitions that allow for funding of a person-centered plan.

This bill was also debated with many of the committee members stating that a statewide data collection system that could present to the legislature any gaps in services was a needed legislation. This bill was voted on and passed out of committee with a favorable report. The bill will now be re-referred to appropriations.

The second bill debated was House Bill 672:
House Bill 672: Accountability for State Funding/MHDDSA-Earle.
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H672v1.pdf

The committee had a vigorous debate regarding this bill but did not vote on it. It will be taken up next week. The bill would require LMEs to hold a public meeting at one of their board meetings before moving funding from one disability group to another. It does not limit the LMEs ability to move funds but it does give the disability advocates an opportunity to voice their concerns on the front side of changes as opposed to after the fact. The bill also had language that would require LMEs to meet Division benchmarks prior to moving funds. This language caused considerable debate and in the last few minutes of the meeting Representative Alexander proposed an amendment that would require the public hearings but remove the benchmark language. In addition her amendment would require the Department to report to the Legislature on how single stream LMEs were using funds by January 2010.

Bills filed:
House Bill 925: Data Sharing/DHHS Agencies. – Representative Alexander
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H925v1.pdf
This bill authorizes the sharing of confidential information among agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services in order to conduct quality assessment and improvement activities and coordinate appropriate and effective care, treatment, or habilitation of DHHS clients.

House Bill 940: Funds/NC Special Olympics. – Representative England.
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H940v1.pdf
This is a funding bill that will appropriate $200,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 fiscal years.

House Bill 1087: MHDDSA Client Rights/Provider Entities. – Representative Braxton
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H1087v1.pdf
This bill makes technical correction to the clients rights and humans rights committee. It removes the language referring to county program and inserts local management entity.
House Bill 1088: DHHS/Procurement Methods.-Representative Braxton.
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H1088v1.pdf
This bill would exempt from purchases and contracts law purchases by certain mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services facilities.

House Bill 1129: Clarify Silver Alert-All Ages. – Representative Mobley
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H1129v1.pdf
This bill clarifies that the Silver Alert system may be issued for a person of any age who is believed to be suffering from dementia or other cognitive impairment.

House Bill 1188: Improve LME Accountability. – Representative Insko
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H1188v1.pdf
This bill makes technical corrections to the appointment of area authority and county program directors and membership on a local management entity board of directors.

House Bill 1237: Establish Adult Day Health Overnight Respite.-Representative Moore
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H1237v1.pdf
The bill would establish adult day health overnight respite programs and to direct the Division of Medical Assistance to pursue a Medicaid waiver to provide coverage for respite care.

House Bill 1243: Study Medicaid Income Levels/CAP.-Representative Mobley
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H1243v1.pdf
This bill will authorize the legislative research commission to study the income requirements of the Medicaid and Community Alternative Programs (CAP).

House Bill 1297: Provider Credentialing/Insurers. – Representatives Stewart
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H1297v1.pdf
This bill pertains to the credentialing of health care providers under health benefit plans.

House Bill 1309: Residential Treatment Facility/TBI.-Representative Insko
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/Bills/House/PDF/H1309v1.pdf
The bill directs the commission for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services to adopt rules providing for the licensure and accreditation of residential treatment facilities for persons with traumatic brain injury.

Additional Legislative News:

Budget:
This week the North Carolina Senate passed its budget. The budget sits at $21 billion dollars and for MH/DD/SA it closely tracks the Governor’s proposed budget.
During the Health Appropriation meeting Senator Doug Berger stated that
the budget reflects at 5% decrease from the continuation budget in fiscal year 2009-2010 and a 6% decrease for fiscal year 2010-2011.
The budget does support the Governor’s proposal to close the Wright and Whittaker schools.
The Senate’s proposed budget does not reflect any cuts to the CAP/MR-DD Waiver program or to the START Crisis program.
The Senate budget special provisions did include direction to the Division to begin the process of applying for a TBI Waiver and a direction to the Institute of Medicine to study Veteran Mental Health services.
The Senate budget also continued to support the medically fragile child care center located in Raleigh.

People First Bill Update

Due to the Senate's budget agenda the People First Bill was moved to Thursday.

Senate Appropriations Bill:SB 202

Today Senate Appropriations Committee met to review and vote on the Senate proposed budget. The Senate Health and Human Service budget includes an approximate 5% decrease from the continuation budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year and an approximate 6% decrease for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

The Senate budget does include a special provision that will direct the Division of MH,DD,SA to begin the process of applying for a TBI waiver.

The Senate budget for HHS tracks very closely to the Governor's proposed budget.

There were no reductions to the CAP/MR-DD Waiver funding that currently exist in the continuation budget.

SB 208: People First Bill

The full Senate will vote today at 3:00pm on the Senate Bill 208: People First. We will be watching and listening to the debate on the Senate floor and will report the vote.

Senate Appropriation Meeting Now to Present Budget

This is it folks! The Senate full appropriations is now presenting their budget. We will have a detailed report later this week once we review and compare the Senate and Governor's proposals.

Institute on Medicine Study on Developmental Disabilities Transition Report-Tuesday

During the 2008 legislative short session the General Assembly requested a study on transition services for people with developmental disabilities.

On Tuesday, April 7, 2009 the House Appropriations Health and Human Services will receive this report.

Here is the information:
DAY & DATE: TUESDAY, April 7, 2009
TIME: 8:00 am
LOCATION: 1228 Legislative Building
COMMENTS: Study on Developmental Disabilities Transitions Report from the North Carolina Institute on Medicine presented by Pam Silberman.

Monday Quick Hits: Hot Policy Topics for This Week

North Carolina:

Last month Governor Bev Perdue released her budget. Today the Senate gets its turn at the budget.  According to the rumor mill, we expect to see a difference in spending between the Governor's proposal and the Senate's proposal in Education. Specifically at how much UNC will receive.  There is also going to be a difference in the cigarette tax.  North Carolina is still a tobacco state as witnessed by those full page ads this weekend.  So...with that here is the fun down for the week.

Monday, April 6, 2009
3:00 PM APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION/HIGHER EDUCATION (Senate)  421LOB

4:00 PM  APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON GENERAL GOVERNMENT (Senate)
Senate Budget Report  1124LB

4:00 PM APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (Senate)  414LOB

4:00 PM APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON JUSTICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY (Senate)
JPS Budget Report  415LOB

4:00 PM  APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATURAL AND ECONOMIC RESOURCES (Senate) Senate NER Budget  423LOB

4:00 PM  APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (Senate) Presentation of HHS Budget 643LOB

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

10:00 AM Senate Judiciary I - 1027 LB
Assets of Ward's Estate (S605)
Notice to Creditors Without Estate Admin. (S606)
Make General Statutes Gender Neutral (S870)
Guardianship/Incompetency (S932)
Guardianship/Jurisdiction and Portability (S945)
Guardianship/Court-Appointed Counsel (S946)

Wednesday, April 8, 2009
10:00 AM Senate Education/Higher Education - 643 LOB
State Bd. of Community College Elections (H485)
Require Arts Educ. Credit for Graduation (S66)
Modify DPI/SBE Reporting Requirements (S689)
Reinstatement of Sick Leave/School Employees (S740)
Amend the Compulsory School Attendance Law (S708)

11:00 AM Senate Health Care - 544 LOB
Increase Transparency of MH/DD/SA Facilities (S799)
Rewrite Sanitarian Examiners Laws/Fees (S834)
Tech. & Org. Changes/Certain DHHS Facilities (S1042)
Amend Rabies Laws (S674)

2:00pm House Mental Health Reform  - 424 LOB
HB 672 Accountability for State Funding MH/DDSA Earle
HB 673 Support for DD Services Earle
HB 666 Clarify Status of DWI Treatment Courts Alexander