A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to establish the medical Malpractice insurance crisis task force.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. Task Force Established. – The Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis Task Force is established. 
SECTION 2.(a) Membership. – The Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis Task Force shall be composed of 23 members. The members shall be as follows:
(1)	The Commissioner of Insurance, or a designee thereof.
(2)	The President of the North Carolina Medical Society, or a designee thereof.
(3)	The Executive Director of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Attorneys, or a designee thereof.
(4)	The Executive Director of the North Carolina Hospital Association, or a designee thereof.
(5)	The Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, or a designee thereof.
(6)	One attorney who represents the plaintiffs' bar, appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
(7)	One attorney who represents the plaintiffs' bar, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(8)	One practicing physician or other medical care professional, appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
(9)	One practicing physician or other medical care professional, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(10)	One individual who represents the medical malpractice insurance industry, appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
(11)	One individual who represents the public's interest in the availability of quality health care and who does not represent the interests of the insurance industry, attorneys, or medical care providers, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(12)	One attorney who represents the defendants' bar, appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
(13)	One individual who represents senior citizens, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(14)	Five members of the Senate, appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
(15)	Five members of the House of Representatives, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
SECTION 2.(b) Vacancies. – The appointing officer who made the initial appointment shall fill a vacancy in the appointed membership and shall appoint a replacement that satisfies the criterion for the member's initial appointment. In the event a vacancy occurs in the cochair before the expiration of the cochair's term, the members shall elect an acting cochair to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term. Three absences from meetings shall be treated as a vacancy.
SECTION 3.  Mission. – The mission of the Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis Task Force is to study, examine, and, if deemed necessary by the Task Force, devise a comprehensive strategy that addresses the current medical malpractice insurance crisis.  This mission requires:
(1)	Examining the trend in rising medical malpractice insurance rates.
(2)	Identifying which medical specialty areas are most impacted by increasing medical malpractice insurance premiums.
(3)	Identifying all health care providers that are being adversely affected by increasing medical malpractice insurance premiums, such as: physicians and other medical care professionals, hospital emergency rooms, trauma centers, birthing centers, nursing homes, private hospitals, and teaching hospitals.
(4)	Identifying the major interest groups.   
(5)	Determining the various factors that contributed to creating the current crisis.
(6)	Examining the current structure for addressing medical malpractice and the current way to address medical error in general.
SECTION 4.  Duties. – The Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis Task Force shall:
(1)	Evaluate the effectiveness of the current structure for addressing medical malpractice and the current way to address medical error in general.
(2)	Evaluate whether physicians and other medical care professionals who are leaving their professions are doing so primarily due to increasing medical malpractice insurance premiums or whether there are any other systemic problems in the health care system that are causing the flight.
(3)	Consider the consequences of maintaining the status quo.
(4)	Evaluate the current rates for medical malpractice insurance rates in North Carolina and compare these rates with the rates in other states. 
(5)	Consider what other states are doing and what is being done at the federal level to address the crisis in medical malpractice insurance. 
(6)	Consider options to address the crisis in medical malpractice insurance while safeguarding patients' access to quality health care and fairly compensating injured patients, for example: alternative dispute resolution, patient safety systems, tort reforms, and insurance market interventions. 
SECTION 5.  Report. – No later than December 1, 2004, the Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis Task Force shall submit a final report to include its findings and recommendations to the 2005 General Assembly. The Task Force may also make an interim report, including recommended legislation, to the 2004 Regular Session of the 2003 General Assembly. The report may include draft legislation to implement its recommendations along with an analysis of the fiscal impact of each recommendation. The Task Force shall terminate upon filing its final report.
SECTION 6.  Expenses of Members. – Members of the Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis Task Force shall receive per diem, subsistence, and travel allowances in accordance with G.S. 120‑3.1, 138‑5, or 138‑6, as appropriate.
SECTION 7. Cochairs; Meetings. – The President Pro Tempore of The Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives each shall designate a cochair of the Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis Task Force from among the appointees. The Task Force shall meet upon the call of the cochairs. All members of the Task Force are voting members. A majority of the members of the Task Force shall constitute a quorum. The Legislative Services Commission shall grant adequate meeting space to the Task Force in the State Legislative Building or the Legislative Office Building.
SECTION 8.  Staff. – The Legislative Services Commission, through the Legislative Services Officer, shall assign professional staff to assist the Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis Task Force in its work. The Senate Supervisor of Clerks shall assign clerical staff to the Task Force, and the expenses related to the clerical employees shall be borne by the Task Force.
SECTION 9.  Powers. – The Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis Task Force, while in the discharge of official duties, may exercise all the powers provided under the provisions of G.S. 120‑19 through G.S. 120‑19.4. The Task Force may contract for consultant services as provided by G.S. 120‑32.02.
SECTION 10.  Cooperation by Government Agencies. – The Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis Task Force may call upon any department, agency, institution, or officer of the State or any political subdivision of the State for facilities, data, or other assistance.
SECTION 11.  Funding. – There is appropriated from the General Fund to the General Assembly for the Legislative Services Commission the sum of twenty‑five thousand dollars ($25,000) for the 2003‑2004 fiscal year and the sum of twenty‑five thousand dollars ($25,000) for the 2004‑2005 fiscal year for the costs of conducting the Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis Task Force established in this act. 
SECTION 12.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2003.