#NCLEG Happenings Week 16

May 2015

Post Author

NC Child Legislative Update: May 11-15

Legislative Update–5/15/15

The House Appropriations Subcommittees released their budget proposals this week. The proposals look similar to Governor McCrory’s in that there isn’t much in the way of dramatic or unexpected funding decisions. However, it’s important to remember that even though there are very few significant budget cuts, both the House proposal and the Governor’s proposal maintain historically low levels of investment in children’s education and health.

We expect to see a full proposal next Monday with a vote in the full House late next week.

Aside from the budget, only a couple bills of note moved, including Senate passage of the tanning bed bill (see bottom of the email).

Budget Summary

Health and Human Services

Click here for the money report.
Click here for the special provisions.

Division of Central Management and Support

Community Mental Health Initiatives–The budget includes $7.8M in recurring funding for community mental health programs pusuant to the USDOJ settlement.

Infant Mortality Prevention / Justification Review–There is a nonrecurring allocation of $7.9M for a set of infant mortality prevention programs that are subject to a “justification review.” These programs are:

Maternal and Child Health Contracts – $2,847,094
Healthy Beginnings (2 contracts) – $396,025
Pregnancy Care Case Management – $300,901
Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting – $425,643
Triple P- Positive Parenting Program – $828,233
NC Perinatal and Maternal Substance Abuse Initiative – $2,729,316
Perinatal Substance Abuse Specialist – $45,000
Residential Maternity Homes – $ 375,000

According to the budget narrative, future funding for these programs will be contingent on a justification review and completion on a state plan for improving birth outcomes. The budget does create a recurring reserve of $7.9M to fund infant mortality prevention programs in FY17 and beyond. This is part of an effort to invest in evidence based programs for children 0-5.

Healthy Babies Bundle–The Healthy Babies Bundle is package of infant mortality prevention programs recommended by the Child Fatality Task Force. The House budget includes funding for most of these items from the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant: Safe Sleep ($45K), March of Dimes ($350K), and 17P ($52K). There is new funding in the amount of $650K for evidence-based programs in counties with the highest infant mortality rates. The ECU High-Risk clinic did not receive an allocation in the budget.

Office of Program Evaluation Reporting and Accountability–The special provisions include a directive to DHHS to create an Office of Program Evaluation Reporting and Accountability that is charged with assessing the “evidentiary basis of all department programs” and developing a website with a laundry list of details about each program.

Division of Child Development and Early Education

Federal and Lottery Fund Swap for NC Pre-K–The budget replaces about $16.9M in General Fund dollars with the same amount from the federal TANF block grant and lottery funds. While this won’t affect program funding immediately, this shift continues a disturbing trend of state divestment from early education programs.

Smart Start Funding Swap–The budget replaces $5.5M in General Fund dollars with the same amount from the TANF block grant.

Child Care Subsidy Funding Swap–The budget replaces $4.5M in General Fund dollars with the same amount from the TANF block grant.

NC Pre-K Funding Increase–$2.3M recurring increase.

Child Care Subsidy Special Provisions–The budget includes a special provision reestablishing the prorated copayment and a provision excluding grandparents and other relative caretakers from the “family income unit,” which allows those caretakers to remain eligible for child care subsidies.

Early Education and Family Support Program Review–The special provisions direct the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on HHS to appoint a subcommittee to examine the effectiveness of each program.

Division of Social Services

Foster Care Caseload–$4.5M increase for increasing foster care caseload.

Child Advocacy Centers–$400K nonrecuring allocation for FY16 only. This funding is in addition to an ongoing $375K allocation for a federal block grant.

Successful Transition of Youth in Foster Care–$1.3M allocation to Youth Villages to improve outcomes for youth transitioning out of foster care.

Division of Public Health

Grants to Local Health Departments to Improve Birth Outcomes–This item provides $5M in FY16 and $2.5M in FY17 to a competitive block grant process for local health departments to apply for funds to improve birth outcomes.

Nurse Family Partnership–This item increases state funding for the Nurse-Family Partnership by $900K on a recurring basis.

Prenatal Quality Collaborative of NC (PQCNC)–The budget allocates $465K in FY16 and $635K in FY17 to PQCNC, which works to improve the quality of perinatal care in the state. The allocation is meant to be a bridge until the program is fully receipt supported.

Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services

Expand START Teams–There is a $2.3M recurring allocation to fund a fourth START Team, which provides services to children with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Psychiatric Beds–There is a $5.9M recurring allocation to increase the number of community hospital available for inpatient psychiatric treatment from 165 to 180.

Division of Medical Assistance (Medicaid) and Health Choice

Flexibility Reduction–In FY2016, there is a $14.9M recurring reduction and a $19.6M nonrecurring reduction; in FY2017, there is a $19.6M recurring reduction. The only place this money could come from are reimbursement rate cuts or service cuts, and neither of those are acceptable options.

Medicaid Rebase–This is the increase in funding to account for enrollment and utilization growth–$287.5M in FY16 and $460.6M in FY17.

Health Choice Rebase–This is the increase in funding to account for enrollment and utilization growth–$5.5M in FY16 and $6.2M in FY17.

SCHIP FMAP Rate–You might have noticed very large decreases in state funding for SCHIP in both the Medicaid and Health Choice sections of the budget. These reductions are possible as a result of the increased federal reimbursement rate for SCHIP under the ACA and should not impact overal funding for children’s health insurance.

Eligibility Expansion for Health Choice–To meet federal requirements, eligibility for NC Health Choice is expanded from 200% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) to 211% of FPL, though this largely to account for changes in the way eligibility is calculated and shouldn’t result in the addition of many, if any, new children to Health Choice.

Education

Click here for the money report.
Click here for the special provisions.
*Note–Any proposal regarding teacher raises will be included in the full budget that will be release on Sunday evening or early Monday.

Enrollment Growth–The budget includes $100M in FY16 and $207M in FY17 for enrollment growth.

Teacher Assistants–The budget includes $88.8M in recurring funding to maintain current levels of teacher assistants (funding in previous budget was nonrecurring).

Textbooks–The budget includes $50M in recurring funding for textbooks and digital resources, which had previously been a major area of concern.

School Connectivity Initiative–The budget includes $12M in recurring funding to ensure all schools have access to high-speed internet.

Digital Learning Plan–The budget includes $9M in recurring funds to support the implementation of the state’s digital learning plan.

Transportation–There is a $20M recurring cut to the transportation budget, which will be challenging for local school districts who have been consolidating bus routes already.

School Safety / Instructional Support Personnel–$1.8M in recurring funds for school counselors, psychologists, and social workers.

AP/IB Bonuses for Teachers–$3.9M in FY16 and $4.3M in FY17 are allocated for $50 bonuses for teachers of students who achieve certain scores on AP or IB exams.

Driver Training–This item restores $26.4M for driver training for only FY16. It’s unclear if the intention is let this funding lapse once again in FY17.

Charter School Acceleration–There is $1M allocated on a recurring basis to Parents for Educational Freedom to accelerate charter school development.

Educational Opportunities for Students with Disabilities–The budget includes a nonrecurring $600K allocation to improve outcomes for students wiht disabilities.

Opportunity Scholarships (vouchers)–The budget includes a one-time allocation of $6.8M in FY16 to increase the availability of private school vouchers.

Bills on the Move

HB158, Jim Fulghum Teen Skin Cancer Prevention Act — This bill bans minors from using tanning beds at commercial tanning salons. The bill passed the Senate this week and has already passed the House. 

HB879, Juvenile Code Reform — This bill includes a variety of code revisions with the purpose of improving due process, confinement, and reentry of juveniles. The bill is on NC Child’s legislative agenda. This bill previously passed the House and passed the Senate on Wednesday with an amendment to the expunction section of the bill.

HB82, Execution/Nonsecure Custody Order/Child Abuse — This bill clarifies that law enforcement can enter a private residence to take physical custody of a potential victim of abuse or neglect. This bill passed the Senate this week and has previously passed the House.

HB237, Repeal Personal Ed Plan/Modify Trans Plans — This bill eliminates Personal Education Plans for at-risk students and requires school improvement teams to implement transition plans between the elementary and middle school years and the middle and high school years for at-risk students. The bill passed the Senate this week and previously passed the House.

HB562, Amend Firearm Laws — This sweeping gun bill allows gun owners to bring firearms on school grounds (if the gun is locked in a vehicle), prohibits doctors from disclosing a patient’s gun ownership to law enforcement, and weakens limitations on concealed carry permits. This bill was scheduled to be heard in the House Rules Committee this week, but the meeting was canceled. It’s unclear what the future of the bill is.