GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1997

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 1471*

Short Title:  Welfare Law Corrections.	(Public)

─────────────────────────────────────── 
Sponsors: Representatives Howard, Berry; and Hill.

─────────────────────────────────────── 
Referred to:  Welfare Reform, if favorable, Appropriations.

─────────────────────────────────────── 

May 25, 1998

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO MAKE CERTAIN CORRECTIONS TO THE WELFARE LAWS, AS RECOMMENDED BY THE JOINT LEGISLATIVE PUBLIC ASSISTANCE COMMISSION. 
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. (a) G.S. 108A-27.9(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The Department shall prepare and submit to the Director of the Budget a biennial State Plan that proposes the goals and requirements for the State and the terms of the Work First Program for each fiscal year. Prior to submitting a State Plan to the General Assembly, the Department shall submit the State Plan to the Joint Legislative Public Assistance Commission for its review and then consult with local governments and private sector organizations regarding the design of the State Plan and allow 45 days to receive comments from them."
(b)	Section 12.20(b) of S.L. 1997-443 reads as rewritten:
"(b)	The requirement that the Department prepare and submit the State Plan to the General Assembly for approval as prescribed in G.S. 108A-27.9(a) shall not be applicable for fiscal year 1997-98.  Until the counties have prepared their county plans and the State has prepared the State Plan in accordance with this Part and that State Plan has been enacted by the General Assembly and it becomes law, the provisions of the State Plan submitted to the federal government on October 16, 1996, shall remain in effect.  State Plans submitted after the 1997-98 fiscal year shall be enacted by the General Assembly and become law in order to be effective."
Section 2.  Section 12.36(a) of S.L. 1997-443 reads as rewritten:
"Section 12.36.  (a) Of the funds appropriated in this act to the Office of State Budget and Management, the sum of five million seventy-five thousand two hundred two dollars ($5,075,202) for the 1997-98 fiscal year and the sum of three million nine hundred thousand dollars ($3,900,000) for the 1998-99 fiscal year shall be placed in a Restrictive Reserve to Implement Welfare Reform.  These funds shall be allocated from the Reserve as follows:
(1)	$275,000 for the 1997-98 fiscal year and $400,000 for the 1998-99 fiscal year to support the establishment of a uniform system of public assistance programs as authorized under G.S. 108A-25.1, and to provide counties with workstations for biometric imaging:
(2)	$2,500,000 in each fiscal year to fund program integrity activities in each county.  These funds shall be given to the counties in a lump sum and unexpended funds shall revert to the General Fund;
(3)	$500,000 for the 1997-98 fiscal year to establish and support an Office of Inspector General in the Department of Justice;
(4)	$300,000 in each fiscal year to establish a pilot project in the Department of Labor for creation of Individual Development Accounts;
(5)	$1,500,202 for the 1997-98 fiscal year for the following purposes:
a.	To establish First Stop Employment Assistance in the Department of Commerce;
b.	To expand the Labor Market Information System in the Employment Security Commission; and
c.	To assist the Job Service Employer Committees or the Workforce Development Boards in their completion of the study of the working poor.
	Funds shall not be allocated under this subdivision unless and until the Office of State Budget and Management has certified that federal funds are not available to the Department of Commerce for these purposes; and
(6)	$700,000 for the 1998-99 fiscal year for the continued support of the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Justice, and for the First Stop Employment Assistance in the Department of Commerce.  These funds shall be allocated by the Office of State Budget and Management on the basis of need."
Section 3.  This act becomes effective June 30, 1998.