GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1989

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 454*

Short Title:  Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Representatives Jeralds; P. Wilson and S. Thompson.
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Referred to:  Human Resouorces.
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March 6, 1989

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO CREATE THE ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY PREVENTION COMMISSION AND TO PROVIDE FOR DISTRIBUTING MONEY TO ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY PREVENTION PROJECTS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  Chapter 130A of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Article to read:
                            “Article 5A.
"Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Commission.

"§ 130A-132.1.   Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Commission: creation, membership, terms, meetings, staff, rules, duties.
(a)	Creation.  There is created the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Commission. As used in this Article, ‘Prevention Commission' means the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Commission. The Prevention Commission shall be located administratively in the Division of Health Services in the Department but shall exercise all its prescribed statutory powers independently of the Division and the Department.
(b)	Membership.  The Prevention Commission shall consist of 15 members:
(1)	Three members appointed by the Governor, one of whom shall be a member of the medical profession;
(2)	Three members appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate in accordance with G.S. 120-121, one of whom shall be a member of a local board of education;
(3)	Three members appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in accordance with G.S. 120-121, one of whom shall be a public school student;
(4)	The State Superintendent of Public Instruction or his designee;
(5)	The Director of Division of Health Services or his designee;
(6)	The Director of the Division of  Social Services or his designee;
(7)	The President of the North Carolina Congress of Parents and Teachers or his designee;
(8)	The Chairman of the Board of the North Carolina Coalition on Adolescent Pregnancy or his designee; and
(9)	The Chairman of the Board of the North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute or his designee.
(c)	Terms.  The initial terms of members shall begin September 1, 1989, and expire August 30, 1991. Their successors shall serve for two-year terms. A vacancy shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in accordance with G.S. 120-122. The appointing authorities shall make their appointments before the beginning of each term, and in no case shall the failure of any appointing authority to make appointments prevent the Prevention Commission from conducting business. At all times the ex officio member of the Prevention Commission or his designee mentioned in subsection (b) subdivisions (4) through (9) shall be the current holder of the office mentioned in the subdivision or his designee; if the office changes occupants during the term of the Prevention Commission, the new holder or his designee shall succeed to membership on the Prevention Commission.
(d)	Meetings.  The initial meeting of the Prevention Commission shall be held before September 30, 1989, and the initial meeting of each term shall be held before September 30 in the first year of the term. The initial meeting of each term shall be called by the State Health Director. Succeeding meetings in the term shall be called by the Chairman. At the first meeting of each term, the Prevention Commission shall elect one of its members Chairman and shall adopt rules for the conduct of meetings, consistent with this Article. A quorum for any meeting shall consist of the Chairman or the person designated in the rules to preside in his absence, plus a majority of the remainder of the members who have been appointed at the time of the meeting. Members of the Prevention Commission who are not State officers or employees shall receive per diem and necessary travel and subsistence expenses in accordance with G.S. 138-5.  Members who are State officers or employees shall be reimbursed for travel and subsistence in accordance with G.S. 138-6.
(e)	Staff; Consultants.  The Prevention Commission may employ professional and clerical staff and may hire outside consultants to assist it in its work.
(f)	Rules.  The Prevention Commission shall have the authority to promulgate rules for its own operation and for the adolescent pregnancy prevention programs it funds pursuant to this Article.
(g)	Duties.  The Prevention Commission shall allocate funds for local adolescent pregnancy prevention projects in accordance with G.S. 130A-132.2, assist with the development of new projects, and provide technical assistance for existing and developing adolescent pregnancy prevention projects.  The Prevention Commission shall make a report to the General Assembly prior to May 1, 1990, and prior to May 1 of every succeeding year. Each annual report shall contain:
(1)	An analysis of the adolescent pregnancy and related problems in the State as a whole and in each county,
(2)	A statement of the Prevention Commission's latest thinking on the best approach to solving those problems, and
(3)	An evaluation of the State's approach to the problems to date, including but not limited to an evaluation of the local projects that have received money from the Prevention Commission.
"§ 130A-132.2.  Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Commission allocations.
(a)	Applications.  Any local agency or organization or combination of agencies and organizations may apply to the Prevention Commission for an allocation of money to operate a project aimed at preventing adolescent pregnancy. The application shall contain an analysis of the adolescent pregnancy and related problems in the locality the project would serve, and a description of how the project would attempt, over a period of at least five years, to prevent the problems. The application shall state how much money is needed to operate the project and how the money shall be spent. The Prevention Commission shall conduct annually a proposal-writing session that shall be attended by a representative of any project that wishes to apply for funding; that session shall define the criteria for accountability and evaluation that the Prevention Commission requires of projects. That session shall also provide information about additional funding sources to which projects might turn to satisfy the matching requirements of subsection (f).
(b)	Annual Allocations.  The Prevention Commission shall allocate money to local adolescent pregnancy prevention projects. The Prevention Commission shall allocate seed money for the long-range purpose of building a statewide approach to prevention of adolescent pregnancy through a network of local prevention projects. The Prevention Commission shall make an annual allocation of money to projects by June 1 of every year. The money shall be payable during the next fiscal year, beginning July 1.
(c)	Minimum Standards:  First Year. In allocating money to projects for the first time, the Prevention Commission shall apply the following minimum standards:
(1)	Each project shall have a plan of action that extends for at least five years for prevention of adolescent pregnancy.
(2)	Each project shall have realistic, specific, and measurable goals and objectives for the prevention of adolescent pregnancy.
(3)	Each project, before submitting its proposal, shall send a representative to the proposal-writing session held by the Prevention Commission pursuant to subsection (a).
(d)	Minimum Standards: Succeeding Years.  In allocating money to projects for the second and succeeding years, the Prevention Commission shall apply the following minimum standards:
(1)	Each project shall have a Board of Advisors composed of members from outside the sponsoring agency of the project. The Board of Advisors shall include representatives from at least four of the following: media, government, charitable organizations, private business, medical institutions. The Boards of Advisors shall meet monthly and are responsible for project evaluations and reports.
(2)	Each project shall promptly comply with reporting and evaluation requirements of the Prevention Commission.
(3)	Each project shall define and maintain cooperative ties with other community institutions.
(4)	Each project shall demonstrate its ability to attract financial support from sources other than the Prevention Commission, including sources in the local community.
(e)	Criteria for Selection. For first-year funding, the Prevention Commission shall choose from among the applicants that meet the minimum standards in subsection (c) the best selection of projects according to the following criteria:
(1)	Qualifications of staff,
(2)	Appropriateness of the project to adolescent pregnancy prevention,
(3)	Appropriateness of the project to the locality,
(4)	Degree of need of the locality, and
(5)	Other appropriate criteria.
In making its decision, the Prevention Commission shall be advised by a panel that shall include experts in fields related to adolescent pregnancy.
(f)	Schedule of Funding.  If the Prevention Commission finds that a project it has chosen for first-year funding continues to meet the minimum standards of subsections (c) and (d), the Prevention Commission shall continue to fund that project's demonstrated needs, to the extent of available money, for five years according to the following schedule:
(1)	Eighty percent (80%) of the project's annual budget shall come from the Prevention Commission in the first year,
(2)	Seventy percent (70%) in the second year,
(3)	Sixty percent (60%) in the third year,
(4)	Fifty percent (50%) in the fourth year, and
(5)	Forty percent (40%) in the fifth year.
The portion of a project's budget that must come from sources other than the Prevention Commission may be provided as in-kind contributions as well as cash.
(g)	Five-Year Limit on Funding. No project shall receive money from the Prevention Commission if it has previously received money from the Prevention Commission for five full years. Provided that any project that has received State funding before June 1, 1990, will be eligible for consideration for five years' support from the Prevention Commission according to the schedule. The Prevention Commission shall fund any such project that meets the minimum standards if it determines, after considering the experience and impact of the project and measuring its application against those of other applicants, that it should be funded."
Sec. 2.  Funds appropriated for adolescent pregnancy prevention projects for the 1988-89 fiscal year, if unspent during the 1988-89 fiscal year, shall not revert, but shall be carried forward and used for the purposes described in Section 4 of this act. 
Sec. 3.  The funds designated in Sections 4 and 5 of this act are funds in the continuation budget. The sum of two million seven hundred seventy thousand dollars ($2,770,000) is appropriated in the continuation budget, as described in Sections 4 and 5 of this act, for the adolescent pregnancy program for the 1989-91 biennium. Of that sum, there is appropriated one million five hundred sixty-five thousand dollars ($1,565,000) for the 1989-90 fiscal year to the entities and for the purposes set out in Section 5 of this act and one million two hundred five thousand dollars ($1,205,000) for the 1990-91 fiscal year to the entities and for the purposes set out in Section 6 of this act. Funds that are appropriated in Sections 3, 4, and 5 of this act, if unspent at the end of the fiscal year for which they are appropriated, do not revert.  
Sec. 4.  Of the funds appropriated for fiscal year 1989-90 from the General Fund to the Department of Human Resources, Division of Health Services, one million one hundred twenty thousand dollars ($1,120,000) shall be allocated for the adolescent pregnancy program as described in this section. Of the funds appropriated for fiscal year 1989-90 from the Social Services Block Grant to the Department of Human Resources four hundred forty-five thousand dollars ($445,000) shall be allocated for the adolescent pregnancy prevention program as described in this section. The Department shall allocate the one million five hundred sixty-five thousand dollars ($1,565,000) described in the previous two sentences as follows during the 1989-90 fiscal year:
(1)	One hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Commission for its administrative needs,
(2)	One hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to the North Carolina Coalition on Adolescent Pregnancy for statewide technical assistance to all programs, and
(3)	The remaining one million three hundred eighty-five thousand dollars ($1,385,000) to the adolescent pregnancy prevention projects, other than the North Carolina Coalition on Adolescent Pregnancy, that were funded during the 1988-89 fiscal year. Those projects shall receive the same level of State funding they received during the 1988-89 fiscal year and shall be governed by the same law as during the 1988-89 fiscal year.
Sec. 5.  Of the funds appropriated for fiscal year 1990-91 from the General Fund to the Department of Human Resources, Division of Health Services, seven hundred sixty thousand dollars ($760,000) shall be allocated for the adolescent pregnancy prevention program as described in this section. Of the funds appropriated for fiscal year 1990-91 from the Social Services Block Grant to the Department of Human Resources four hundred forty-five thousand dollars ($445,000) shall be allocated for the adolescent pregnancy prevention program as described in this section. The Department shall allocate the one million two hundred five thousand dollars ($1,205,000) described in the previous two sentences as follows during the 1989-90 fiscal year:
(1)	One hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to the North Carolina Coalition on Adolescent Pregnancy for statewide technical assistance and program support, and
(2)	The remainder to the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Commission to carry out its responsibilities under Section 1 of this act, provided that the Prevention Commission may use no more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for administration.
Sec. 6. This act shall become effective July 1, 1989.