A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR A STATE EMPLOYEE WELLNESS PILOT PROGRAM.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, the sum of one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year and the sum of four hundred fifty thousand dollars ($450,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year.  Funds appropriated for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year shall be used to establish and implement a pilot wellness program for State employees at the Cleveland County Family YMCA. Funds appropriated in this act for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year shall be used to continue the Cleveland County YMCA pilot and to expand the pilot program to additional YMCA sites in other geographic regions of the State.
SECTION 1.(b)  The Cleveland County Family YMCA shall be the lead agency for the pilot program and shall convene a task force to establish standards for initial implementation and expansion of the pilot program to other YMCA sites in the 2008‑2009 fiscal year. The task force shall include representatives of the North Carolina YMCA State Alliance and the Chronic Disease and Injury Control section of the Department of Health and Human Services. The wellness pilot programs shall be designed to encourage State employee enrollment in a structured fitness program that includes measurable benchmarks.  The long-term goal of the pilot programs is to reduce health care costs and improve worker productivity through improved health status of the employee.  Based on the experience of the Cleveland County Family YMCA pilot program, the work group convened for the purposes of this act shall solicit applications from other YMCAs to participate as a pilot in the 2008‑2009 fiscal year.  In consultation with the task force, the Department shall:
(1)	Select sites that represent different geographic regions of the State.
(2)	Consider sites that have the highest density of State employees in the county served by the applicant YMCA.
(3)	Consider the applicant YMCA's capacity to implement the project successfully.
(4)	Consider other criteria set by the task force that will further the purposes and successful outcomes of the pilot.
SECTION 1.(c)  The Department shall allocate the funds appropriated in this act to participating YMCA sites as follows:
(1)	As a condition of receiving grant funds, each participating YMCA shall waive the one‑time initiation fee for each State employee that enrolls in the wellness pilot program. The Department, in consultation with the task force and applicant YMCA, may establish enrollment limits or other restrictions in order to ensure the viability and success of the pilot program.
(2)	The Department shall allocate funds to each participating YMCA to supplement non‑State funds to cover the cost to purchase equipment that has the ability to track fitness results, or if equipment is not needed, to cover actual costs incurred in the development of a customized wellness program for State employees.
(3)	As a condition of receiving grant funds, each YMCA shall comply with reporting and accounting requirements developed by the Department in consultation with the task force.
SECTION 2.  Not later than May 1, 2008, the Department of Health and Human Services shall report 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 on the allocation of grant funds and status of the fitness program implementation.  Not later than March 1, 2009, the Department shall report 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 on State employee participation levels in the wellness pilot programs and health outcomes resulting from such participation.  In its report, the Department shall recommend whether the pilot program should be extended to other areas of the State after the 2008‑2009 fiscal year.  Funds appropriated for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year that are unexpended and unencumbered shall not revert to the General Fund but shall remain with the Department of Health and Human Services to be used to enhance or improve pilot project implementation in the 2008‑2009 fiscal year.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.