A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH INCUBATORS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) for the 2005‑2006 fiscal year. These funds shall be allocated to the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to coordinate the development of "public health incubators". Core participants in these incubators will be local public health departments in selected underserved regions. Other governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations will also be invited to participate. The funds shall be used to provide ongoing public health incubator projects in the four public health incubators currently established at the rate of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) to each of the four incubators, with the remaining appropriation to be allocated to up to four additional regional public health incubators selected by a selection committee. The selection committee shall consist of a representative of the North Carolina Association of Local Health Directors, a representative of the North Carolina Public Health Association, two representatives from each currently funded public health incubator, a representative of the Division of Public Health of the Department of Health and Human Services, and two representatives from the North Carolina Institute for Public Health. The North Carolina Institute for Public Health may use up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) for special projects and administrative expenses. The funds shall be used to:
(1)	Establish or strengthen the capacity to conduct epidemiological investigation and to actively monitor public health conditions, diseases, and risk factors.
(2)	Establish or strengthen the capacity to monitor health disparities and to develop plans to reduce those disparities.
(3)	Conduct regional community health assessments with the assistance of other members of the public health community, including other governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations, to establish partnership health priorities based on these findings, and to draft public health interventions to address the highest health priorities.
(4)	Raise public awareness of the health‑related issues in partnership communities, collaborating with members of the larger public health community and with local and State media, reporting health issues to the county commissioners, the boards of health, legislators, at‑risk groups, and to the community at large.
(5)	Provide regular, supplemental training to members of the participating boards of health to inform them about their overall responsibilities, including their role in policy development, to introduce them to evidence‑based best practices in public health with an emphasis on collaborative initiatives, and to update them on emerging public health issues, particularly those that are of greatest concern to their communities.
(6)	Conduct workforce preparedness assessments and follow‑on training for the public health workforce in the pilot regions and to establish or supplement policy to facilitate effective responses to public health emergencies where appropriate.
(7)	Assist the accreditation administrator in the review of partnership health departments and assist in remediation where necessary, through collaborative efforts.
(8)	Establish a formal, systematic review of the incubators to track and evaluate the efficacy of roles, organization, and programs, to identify best practices, and to develop recommendations for improvement based on these findings.
SECTION 2.  The Department of Health and Human Services shall report on the use of these funds and an evaluation of the incubator efforts to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, and the Fiscal Research Division.  The Department shall submit the report October 1, 2005, and March 1, 2006.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2005.