A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO improve health care by AUTHORIZing SPECIAL INDEBTEDNESS TO FINANCE a cancer treatment center at the university of north carolina hospitals at chapel hill and a cardiovascular diseases institute at east carolina university.
Whereas, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with its Hospitals, Health Care System, and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, is emerging as a national leader in cancer prevention, early detection, and therapy – an intertwined approach to reduce the burden of cancer in North Carolina. To complete this mission, an expanded, $180‑million, freestanding North Carolina Clinical Cancer Center replacing its antiquated facility is needed; and
Whereas, because cancer increases ten‑fold at 65 years of age, demographic trends and the attractiveness of the region for retirees will nearly double the number of cancers; and
Whereas, in addition, the number of cancer patients seen at UNC from across the State is increasing yearly due to its multidisciplinary approach to cancer care; and
Whereas, enhanced clinical research opportunities afforded by the new Clinical Cancer Center will bring the highest level of care and innovation to the citizens of North Carolina; and
Whereas, quality of care amenities and support services for all patients, especially those volunteering for clinical trials, are inadequate and will be incorporated in the new Clinical Cancer Center; and
Whereas, seamless integration of high‑technology imaging and genetic analysis for early detection and therapeutic interventions will improve cancer care and will require a specifically designed facility; and
Whereas, space is needed for a cancer prevention clinic focused on surviving patients, their families, and high‑risk individuals, integrating all forms of prevention and early detection research; and 
Whereas, cutting‑edge therapeutic research engendered by the new Clinical Cancer Center will stimulate the State's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry; and
Whereas, genetics and technology will drive the next era of cancer care. Genetic targeting of prevention, early detection, and therapy will become modern medicine's dominant paradigm. Therapy will be followed with new imaging techniques. These developments will drive both the standard of care and the clinical research agenda at world‑class institutions. UNC's new Clinical Cancer Center, complete with a nationally recognized clinical and prevention research agenda, will bring these benefits to all citizens of North Carolina; and
Whereas, genetic analysis will identify high‑risk families. Knowledge of inherited genes will provide clues about families that need special attention. Targeted prevention strategies and sophisticated detection techniques, such as using computerized mammography or proteomic analysis of blood for tumor markers, will be applied to high‑risk families; and 
Whereas, gene expression patterns will guide treatment and novel imaging techniques will follow responses. Genetic technology will measure gene expression patterns in patients' cancers, allowing doctors to accurately predict response to therapy and to select individualized treatment. The multiple gene mutations that cause each cancer produce subtle changes in expression of the 35,000 genes encoded in our DNA. Bioinformatics algorithms will catalog these complex patterns from breast, colon, lung, prostate, leukemia, lymphoma, melanoma, and other cancers, providing a precise molecular signature of a patient's cancer with a predictive power that greatly exceeds current technology; and
Whereas, as these tests are perfected, medical science will be able to categorize for example, which women's breast cancer will respond to conventional therapy and which will not. For the former, patient confidence in the chosen chemotherapy or biologic therapy will be high. For the latter, the psychological impact will be great, but rather than waiting for therapeutic failure, patients and doctors can choose other options, like a trial of experimental therapy specifically designed for that patient's molecular subtype. The effect of standard and experimental therapies will be followed by novel imaging technologies, such as PET scans, that assess a tumor's biologic activity and not just its size; and
Whereas, the State of North Carolina has one of the highest incidences of advanced cardiovascular disease in the nation, killing one in four North Carolinians yearly; and 
Whereas, in North Carolina cardiovascular diseases lead hospital admissions and in the years 1995 and 1996 alone resulted in over 304,000 inpatient admissions with parallel associated costs exceeding over $4 billion; and
Whereas, this State has the fifteenth highest death rate from cardiac illnesses in the country and the fourth highest death rate from stroke in the United States; and
Whereas, the 29 counties of Eastern North Carolina are plagued by a multiplier of the average death rate because of limited access to clinical care, inadequate diagnostic outreach, a paucity of new technology and lagging prevention methods; and
Whereas, working together through the University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina, the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and Pitt County Memorial Hospital have become the major resources for treatment, education, and research for these costly diseases and in recent years have extended services and programs to the entire State; and
Whereas, there is both a desire and a need to expand the clinical and basic research efforts at the Brody School of Medicine, and to provide education and training through a new multidisciplinary, internationally recognized cardiovascular disease institute that would serve all citizens of the State; and
Whereas, the broad areas of focus of this expanded clinical and research effort would include heart and vascular disease, hypertension, and stroke, as well as developing new technologies in surgery and medicine; and 
Whereas, this effort would be comprised of two structural components:  a cardiovascular clinical research and education center and a basic science research center; and 
Whereas, an integrative approach would be used that would effectively integrate cardiovascular service lines; and
Whereas, these centers would also house a central cardiovascular data center that would be a repository for all images, diagnostic and medical records, and hemodynamic demographic data related to the hospital and center; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  In accordance with G.S. 142‑83, this section authorizes the issuance or incurrence of special indebtedness in the following maximum aggregate principal amounts to finance the costs of acquiring, constructing, and equipping the following projects. The State, with the prior approval of the State Treasurer and the Council of State, as provided in Article 9 of Chapter 142 of the General Statutes, is authorized to issue or incur special indebtedness in order to provide funds to the State to be used, together with other available funds, to pay the cost of these projects.
(1)	One hundred eighty million dollars ($180,000,000) for a new cancer rehabilitation and treatment center and adjacent physicians' office building to be located at the University of North Carolina Hospitals at Chapel Hill.
(2)	Sixty million dollars ($60,000,000) for the North Carolina Cardiovascular Diseases Institute at East Carolina University.
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.