GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	1 

SENATE BILL 359

Short Title:  GPAC/DD In-Home Care Initiatives.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senator Martin of Guilford.
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Referred to:  Government Performance Audit.
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February 24, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT A RECOMMENDATION OF THE GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE AUDIT COMMITTEE TO EXPAND THE MEDICAID HOME- AND COMMUNITY-BASED WAIVER AND TO INCREASE FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAMS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  The General Assembly finds that, in the movement to reduce the number of people living in institutions, the most under-utilized approach is the prevention or the reduction of the need for out-of-home care and support.  The General Assembly further finds that, quite often, a relatively small amount of support at the family level can prevent long-term, costly services in a residential facility. 
Sec. 2. (a)	The Department of Human Resources shall forward its application for an expanded Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Waiver as soon as possible, in order to enable the Department to fund in-home support programs and comprehensive case management services essential to the increase in family support programs for people with disabilities pursuant to this act.
(b)	There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services, the sum of thirty-one million nine hundred thousand dollars ($31,900,000) for the 1993-94 fiscal year and the sum of forty million one hundred thousand dollars ($40,100,000) for the 1994-95 fiscal year to implement the Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Waiver and to fund programs that support families of people with developmental disabilities that cannot be funded through the Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Waiver.  These programs shall include direct family subsidies and family support coordination networks.
Sec. 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1993.