NCACC Legislative Alerts

Nov. 29, 2011 - update
S433 stalls on House floor

Despite favorable action in the House Health and Human Services Committee on Nov. 29, S433 - which would expand authority and flexibility options for organizing health and social services to all 100 counties - was not voted on by the full House. Due to the House’s procedural rules, the bill needed a two-thirds vote to be considered on the floor, and was only three votes shy of that super majority needed. No other avenue was available for reconsideration given the three-day limitation on the mini-session.

Seventy-four House members – in a bipartisan show of support – voted to have S433 considered. During the House Health and Human Services Committee’s initial consideration, legislative comments focused on the General Assembly’s faith in the ability of elected boards of county commissioners to make sound decisions locally.

The bill remains one of the Association's highest legislative priorities for 2011-12.

Nov. 29, 2011
House committee OKs Senate-approved version of S433

The House Health & Human Services Committee has given its OK to the version of S433 (version 3) approved by the Senate. The full House can now vote on the version of the bill approved by the Senate in June, meaning the bill can be ratified today if it passes the House on second and third reading. The House convenes at noon.

This bill would accomplish an NCACC legislative goal to "allow county flexibility to organize local human services" by eliminating the stipulation that only counties with populations of at least 425,000 can merge their human services functions into a consolidated board.

Nov. 28, 2011 - update
House sends S433 back to committee

S433 was referred back to the House Committee on Health and Human Services on Tuesday night to allow the committee to work out some kinks in the bill to ensure that there is a strong positive vote on this legislation Tuesday. The committee is expected to send the bill back to the House on Tuesday for a final vote.

The House Committee on Health and Human Services will take place on Nov. 29 at 9 a.m. in Room 544 of the Legislative Office Building. We continue to encourage county officials to continue to contact their House members in support of S433.

Nov. 28, 2011
House to consider S433

Rep. Carolyn Justice of Pender County has arranged for S433 – Local Human Service Administration – to be heard in the House today (Nov. 28) at 2 p.m. The Association is asking county officials to contact their House members and ask them to support passage of the House version of S433.

S433 allows a Board of Commissioners to consolidate its Human Services functions if it believes it is in the best interest of its county. It is important to emphasize that this is totally voluntary on a county’s part. This bill provides counties an important option, since it expands county commissioners’ authority to organize their county’s human services delivery system.

S433 passed the Senate in April with bipartisan support by a 40-9 vote.

North Carolina counties adopted this goal as a top legislative priority in health and human services. Current law only allows those counties whose populations exceed 425,000 to consider restructuring to streamline administration and coordinate services. Both Mecklenburg and Wake have exercised this option successfully for more than 20 years.

The General Assembly’s Program Evaluation Division concluded in a year-long study of consolidation opportunities that the population threshold should be eliminated and that all counties be given this flexibility as an option. The study found that counties spend more than $500 million on social services administration while state dollars account for less than 3 percent.

July 12, 2011
NCGA report recommends possible merger of small community college systems

The North Carolina General Assembly’s Program Evaluation Division (PED) has released a report regarding the North Carolina Community College System. Specifically, the report focuses on two main areas:

1. Mandating merger of smaller Community Colleges with systems located nearby
• The report states that administrative savings could be realized by identifying smaller community college systems (colleges with less than 3000 FTE students) for merger with other community colleges located within 30 miles
• Mandating this merger would impact 15 community colleges and save approximately $5.1 million
2. Taking advantage of group purchasing power and economies of scale
• The report states that the community college system is missing an opportunity to take advantage of group purchasing power system wide

On Wednesday, July 13, 2011, the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee will hear a presentation from the PED staff. After the report the committee may make recommendations for potential legislative action on the two items described above to pursue in the upcoming 2012 Short Session.

We would like to hear from county officials regarding your thoughts on how such a change would impact your county and your local community college. Please send any thoughts and concerns to ncacc@ncacc.org.

To view a complete copy of the PED Community College Report, visit www.ncleg.net/PED/Reports/documents/CC/CC_Report.pdf.

For additional information about the Program Evaluation Division, visit www.ncleg.net/ped/index.html.

To view a membership list of the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee, visit www.ncleg.net/gascripts/Committees/Committees.asp?sAction=ViewCommittee&sActionDetails=Non-Standing_6354.