NCGA: Legislative Update - The Arc of NC Legislative Agenda Wrap Up

This week we will be reviewing several key bills that were passed during this legislative session.  The Arc of North Carolina presented a very robust and comprehensive legislative agenda to our legislators.  With the work of many leaders, our policy platforms were recognized and many of the bills we worked on became laws. This week we are going to highlight the first three of these new laws.

So today we start with

House Bill 673/Session Law 2009-186: Support for Developmental Disability Services-Earle.

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 will present to the legislature any gaps in services that may need legislation.

-HB 673 includes many of the recommendations from the Institute of Medicine Study on Developmental Disabilities. The Institute of Medicine Study on Developmental Disabilities was legislated by the General Assembly during the 2008 short session.

-This bill will re-establish a standardized waiting list for people with developmental disabilities who are seeking services. This wait list will provide the necessary data collection to be used by the state and members of the General Assembly to effectively serve people with developmental disabilities.

The waiting list will collect data for people with developmental disabilities who may qualify for the following targeted services
a. Waiting for residential services.
b. Potentially eligible for CAP-MRDD.
c. In need of other State-funded services and supports for people with developmental disabilities.

-This bill directs the Secretary of DHHS to develop and adopt rules governing a statewide data system that will be used to for statewide planning.

This bill was voted on and passed out of committee with a favorable report.

Vote History: The bill passed the House (112 in favor 0 opposed) and the Senate (48 in favor and 0 opposed). The governor signed this bill into law on June 29, 2009.