AN ACT relating to LOCAL MANAGEMENT ENTITIES use of STATE FUNDS FOR mental health, DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY, and substance abuse SERVICES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 122C‑117(a) is amended by adding the following new subdivisions to read:
"§ 122C‑117.  Powers and duties of the area authority.
(a)	The area authority shall do all of the following:
…
(15)	An LME that utilizes single stream funding shall, on a biannual basis, report on the allocation of service dollars and allow for public comment at a regularly scheduled LME board of directors meeting. 
(16)	Before an LME proposes to reduce State funding to HUD group homes and HUD apartments below the original appropriation of State funds, the LME must:
a.	Receive approval of the reduction in funding from the Department, and
b.	Hold a public hearing at an open LME board meeting to receive comment on the reduction in funding."
SECTION 2.  The Department of Health and Human Services shall analyze the effectiveness of single stream funding in the expenditure of State funds and review the allocation of service dollars to specific disabilities of LMEs that utilize single stream funding for a year or more and report its findings to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services, the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, and the Fiscal Research Division by June 1, 2010.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2009.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 18th day of June, 2009.

	_____________________________________
		 Walter H. Dalton
	 President of the Senate

	_____________________________________
		 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	_____________________________________
		 Beverly E. Perdue
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2009