GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1989

H	2 

HOUSE BILL 611
Committee Substitute Favorable 6/9/89

Short Title:  Radio Reading Funds/Information.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to:  
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March 15, 1989

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA RADIO READING SERVICES AND TO ALLOW INFORMATION FROM THE REGISTER OF THE BLIND TO BE RELEASED TO THE NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY FOR THE BLIND AND PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the North Carolina Association of Radio Reading Services the sum of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) for the 1989-90 fiscal year to expand radio reading services in North Carolina, which provide reading services to the blind and visually impaired in North Carolina.  These funds shall be allocated as follows:
(1)	One hundred sixty thousand dollars ($160,000) to expand the four existing North Carolina Radio Reading Services in terms of increasing local broadcasting hours and the number of listeners served.  These Services are:
a.	Western North Carolina Radio Reading Service, Inc.;
b.	CPCC Radio, in Charlotte;
c.	Radio Reading Service, Inc., in Raleigh; and
d.	Southeastern North Carolina Radio Reading Service, in Fayetteville.
(2)	Forty thousand dollars ($40,000) to encourage the creation of radio reading services in areas presently not being served in North Carolina.
Sec. 2.  G.S. 111-28 reads as rewritten:
"§ 111-28. Department of Human Resources authorized to receive federal, etc., grants for benefit of needy blind; use of information concerning blind persons.
The Department of Human Resources is hereby authorized and  empowered to receive grants-in-aid from the federal government or any  State or federal agency for the purpose of rendering other services to the needy blind and those in danger of becoming blind; and all such grants so made and received shall be paid into the State treasury and credited to the account of the Department of Human Resources, to be used in carrying out the provisions of this law.
The Commission for the Blind is hereby further authorized and empowered to make such rules and regulations as may be required by the federal government or State or federal agency as a condition for receiving such federal funds, not inconsistent with the laws of this State.
Whenever the words ‘Social Security Board' appear in G.S. 111-6, 111-13 to 111-26 the same shall be interpreted to include any agency of the federal government which may be substituted therefor by law.
The Department of Human Resources is hereby authorized and empowered to enter into reciprocal agreements with public welfare agencies in other states relative to the provision of assistance and services to residents, nonresidents, or transients, and cooperate with other agencies of the State and federal governments in the provisions of such assistance and services and in the study of the problems involved.
The Department of Human Resources is hereby authorized and empowered to establish and enforce reasonable rules and regulations governing the custody, use and preservation of the records, papers, files, and communications of the Department.
It shall be unlawful, except for purposes directly connected with the administration of aid to the needy blind and in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Department of Human Resources, for any person or persons to solicit, disclose, receive, make use of, or to authorize, knowingly permit, participate in, or acquiesce in the use of, any list of or name of, or any information concerning, persons applying for or receiving aid to the needy blind, directly or indirectly derived from the records, papers, files, or communications  of the Department of Human Resources or the board of county commissioners or the county social services department, or acquired in the course of the performance of official duties.
Notwithstanding the above, the Department of Human Resources is authorized to release to the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles and the North Carolina Department of Revenue the name and medical records of any person listed in the register of the blind in this State maintained under the provisions of G.S. 111-4. All information and documents released to the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Revenue shall be treated by those departments as confidential for their use only and shall not be released by them to any person for commercial or political purposes or for any purpose not directly connected with the administration of Chapters 20 and 105 of the General Statutes of this State.  The Department of Human Resources is also authorized to release to the North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Department of Cultural Resources, the name and address of any person listed in the register of the blind in this State maintained under the provisions of G.S. 111-4.  All information released to the North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped shall be treated as confidential for its use only and shall not be released to any person for commercial or political purposes or for any purpose not directly connected with providing information concerning services offered by the North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped."
Sec. 3.  This act shall become effective July 1, 1989.