A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE CERTAIN CHARTER SCHOOLS TO ELECT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TEACHERS' AND STATE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM AND THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHERS' AND STATE EMPLOYEES' COMPREHENSIVE MAJOR MEDICAL PLAN; and to assess interest on premium payments not remitted BY CHARTER SCHOOL EMPLOYING UNITS in a timely manner.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding the time limitations contained in G.S. 135‑5.3(b) and G.S. 135‑40.3A(b), the board of directors of any charter school that received State Board of Education approval under G.S. 115C‑238.29D on or after January 1, 2002, may elect to become a participating employer in the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System in accordance with Article 1 of Chapter 135 of the General Statutes and may also elect to become a participating employing unit in the North Carolina Teachers' and State Employees' Comprehensive Major Medical Plan in accordance with Article 3 of Chapter 135. The elections authorized by this section shall be made no later than 30 days after the effective date of this act and shall be made in accordance with all other requirements of G.S. 135‑5.3 and G.S. 135‑40.3A.
SECTION 2.  G.S. 135‑39.6A reads as rewritten:
"§ 135‑39.6A.  Premiums set.
(a)	The Executive Administrator and Board of Trustees shall, from time to time, establish premium rates for the Comprehensive Major Medical Plan except as they may be established by the General Assembly in the Current Operations Appropriations Act, and establish regulations for payment of the premiums. Premium rates shall be established for coverages where Medicare is the primary payer of health benefits separate and apart from the rates established for coverages where Medicare is not the primary payer of health benefits.
(b)	The Executive Administrator and Board of Trustees shall establish separate premium rates for the long‑term care benefits provided by Part 4 of this Article if the benefits are administered on a self‑insured basis.
(c)	The Executive Administrator and Board of Trustees shall establish premium rates for benefits provided under Part 5 of this Article. The Department of Health and Human Services shall, from State and federal appropriations and from any other funds made available for the Health Insurance Program for Children established under Part 8 of Article 2 of Chapter 108A of the General Statutes, make payments to the North Carolina Teachers' and State Employees' Comprehensive Major Medical Plan as determined by the Plan for its administration, claims processing, and other services authorized to provide coverage for acute medical care for children eligible for benefits provided under Part 5 of this Article.
(d)	In setting premiums for firemen, rescue squad workers, and members of the national guard, and their eligible dependents, the Executive Administrator and Board of Trustees shall establish rates separate from those affecting other members of the Plan. These separate premium rates shall include rate factors for incurred but unreported claim costs, for the effects of adverse selection from voluntary participation in the Plan, and for any other actuarially determined measures needed to protect the financial integrity of the Plan for the benefit of its served employees, retired employees, and their eligible dependents.
(e)	The total amount of premiums due the Plan from charter schools as employing units, including amounts withheld from the compensation of Plan members, that is not remitted to the Plan by the fifteenth day of the month following the due date of remittance shall be assessed interest of one and one-half percent (1 1/2%) of the amount due the Plan, per month or fraction thereof, beginning with the sixteenth day of the month following the due date of the remittance. The interest authorized by this section shall be assessed until the premium payment plus the accrued interest amount is remitted to the Plan. The remittance of premium payments under this section shall be presumed to have been made if the remittance is postmarked in the United States mail on a date not later than the fifteenth day of the month following the due date of the remittance."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.