Legislative Update: Budget passed, but it’s not over yet

In the words of the late great Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.” And that appears to be the theme song of the General Assembly, which has finally passed a budget that has received the governor’s signature and become law.

But they aren’t finished yet.

This week, in between votes on the budget, both chambers again began moving legislation through the process.

House Bill 373, the 2016 Presidential Primary, originally was aimed at changing the date of the Presidential Primary to earlier in the year to give North Carolina more importance in next year’s campaign cycle. Initially, Republican leaders wanted to move it to February, but the national party threatened to take away the majority of the state’s votes at the nominating convention.

The date was changed to March 15, which many legislators oppose since splitting the primary off from the other primaries for next year’s races would increase the total cost of the election primaries by as much as $9 million. WRAL is reporting that it has been agreed in caucuses to move the primaries for all other offices – state, federal and local – back to March 15. The bill has been sent to conference committee, where it is expected that the change will be made.

Pulling all the primaries forward to March 15 would also mean setting the filing period  to comply with federal law. Chamber leaders are reported saying that the filing period will probably be set for the first three weeks in December.

It is still unclear whether the $2 billion bond referendum included in the budget at the governor’s request will be added to the primary ballot or the General Election in November 2016.

HB 372, Medicaid Transformation, has cleared the conference committee and is calendared to be voted on in each chamber on Tuesday, Sept. 22. The bill, if passed and signed into law, will move Medicaid from a fee-for-service model to managed health care.

Managed healthcare works when providers accept payment to provide medical services to a patient. Payment is per patient and not per service performed. A tentative agreement has been made between the two chambers, and the governor has indicated that he will sign the measure. It is expected to take about two years to get the new model structured and in place.

HB 117, NC Competes, an economic development bill is back in motion, this time without sales tax redistribution that was moved to the budget before subsequently being removed from consideration. However the removal of the multiplier used to adjust a portion of the sales tax is still included in the bill. If the removal of the provision remains in the bill, losing the adjustment will cost Dare County an estimated $700,000.

HB 20, the Rural Access to Healthcare Act, if passed into law, opens the door for the Pungo Hospital in Belhaven to reopen. Closure of that hospital has forced Hyde County EMS to transport patients to inland hospitals or to Outer Banks Hospital. The hospital was closed by Vidant about 18 months ago because, asserted Vidant, it wasn’t profitable.

The provision that was added to the bill to allow the reopening of the hospital was added as an amendment in the Senate and now will need the approval of the House before it can be sent to the governor for his signature.

The amendment, if accepted, also will provide a path for some other rural hospitals which have been closed to reopen. The provision calls such a hospital a “Legacy Medical Care Facility” To be deemed such, a facility must not be or have been open for six months; has been open within the past 24 months and operated by a person who has the appropriate license; was primarily engaged in inpatient treatment and care of injured and disabled persons. Such facilities will not have to obtain a certificate of need to reopen the facility.

(Sandy Semans is a retired newspaper editor and reporter who now works as a free-lance writer.  She lives in Stumpy Point. Her update on the goings-on in this session of the General Assembly will appear weekly in The Island Free Press, usually on Friday.)

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