GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	1 

SENATE BILL 206

Short Title:  GPAC/ICF/MR Con Moratorium.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senators Martin of Guilford; and Blackmon.
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Referred to:  Government Performance Audit.
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February 17, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT A RECOMMENDATION OF THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AUDIT COMMITTEE TO PLACE A MORATORIUM ON NEW CERTIFICATES OF NEED FOR INTERMEDIATE CARE FACILITIES FOR THE MENTALLY RETARDED.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  The General Assembly finds that intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded (ICFs/MR) continue to be developed in North Carolina even though most states have decreased the number of individuals residing in these facilities and that North Carolina continues to admit a significant number of individuals to State-operated ICFs/MR while most other states are moving to deinstitutionalize the mentally retarded.  The General Assembly further finds that North Carolina rates for private ICFs/MR are ranked among the highest in the country.
Sec. 2.  Effective July 1, 1993, through June 30, 1995, the Division of Facility Services, Department of Human Resources, shall not grant a Certificate of Need for the development of any new intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded.  The Department of Human Resources shall ensure that stringent screening and assessment take place to ensure appropriate utilization of home- and community-based services that will be required during the moratorium and to avoid a sudden surge in the growth of new beds, after the moratorium is lifted. 
Sec. 3.  The base budget of the Division of Medical Assistance, Department of Human Resources, is reduced by two million four hundred thousand dollars ($2,400,000) for the 1994-95 fiscal year due to the implementation of this act.
Sec. 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1993, and applies to applications for new certificates of need received on or after that date.