A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to cap reimbursement by COUNTIES, TO MAKE ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO PAYMENT, for medical services provided to inmates in county jails, to allow counties to utilize medicaid for eligible prisoners, TO PROVIDE THAT VACANCIES IN THE OFFICE OF DISTRICT COURT JUDGE SHALL BE FILLED BY APPOINTMENT OF THE governor, amend provisions in 2013 environmental law, AND TO CREATE A PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION AGAINST notaries who violate the notary public act. 
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Article 10 of Chapter 153A of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 153A‑225.2.  Payment of medical care of prisoners.
(a)	Counties shall reimburse those providers and facilities providing requested or emergency medical care outside of the local confinement facility to prisoners or other persons under arrest by, or in the lawful custody of, county law enforcement officers the lesser amount of either a rate of seventy percent (70%) of the provider's then‑current prevailing charge or two times the then‑current Medicaid rate for any given service. Each county shall have the right to audit any provider from whom the county has received a bill for services under this section, but only to the extent necessary to determine the actual prevailing charge to ensure compliance with this section.
For the purposes of this section, "requested or emergency medical care" shall include all medically necessary and appropriate care provided to an individual from the time that individual presents to the provider or facility in the custody of county law enforcement officers until the time that the individual is safely transferred back to the care of county law enforcement officers or medically discharged to another community setting, as appropriate.
Nothing in this section shall preclude a county from contracting with a provider for services at rates that provide greater documentable cost avoidance for the county than do the rates contained in this subsection or at rates that are less favorable to the county but that will ensure the continued access to care.
(b)	No county may avoid liability for payment of medical care by discharging or otherwise releasing a prisoner or other person under arrest or in lawful custody of county law enforcement officers for the purposes of avoiding liability for payment of medical care for which the county is otherwise responsible.
(c)	The county shall make reasonable efforts to equitably distribute prisoners among all hospitals or other appropriate health care facilities located within the same county and shall do so based upon the licensed acute care bed capacity at each of the hospitals located within the same county. Counties with more than one hospital or other appropriate health care facility shall provide semiannual reports conspicuously posted on the county's Web site that detail compliance with this section, including information on the distribution of prisoner health care services among different hospitals and health care facilities."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 153A‑225(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Each unit that operates a local confinement facility shall develop a plan for providing medical care for prisoners in the facility. The plan:
(1)	Shall be designed to protect the health and welfare of the prisoners and to avoid the spread of contagious disease;
(2)	Shall provide for medical supervision of prisoners and emergency medical care for prisoners to the extent necessary for their health and welfare;
(3)	Shall provide for the detection, examination and treatment of prisoners who are infected with tuberculosis or venereal diseases; and
(4)	May utilize Medicaid coverage for inpatient hospitalization or for any other Medicaid services allowable for eligible prisoners, provided that the plan includes a reimbursement process which pays to the State the State portion of the costs, including the costs of the services provided and any administrative costs directly related to the services to be reimbursed, to the State's Medicaid program.
The unit shall develop the plan in consultation with appropriate local officials and organizations, including the sheriff, the county physician, the local or district health director, and the local medical society. The plan must be approved by the local or district health director after consultation with the area mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse authority, if it is adequate to protect the health and welfare of the prisoners. Upon a determination that the plan is adequate to protect the health and welfare of the prisoners, the plan must be adopted by the governing body.
As a part of its plan, each unit may establish fees of not more than twenty dollars ($20.00) per incident for the provision of nonemergency medical care to prisoners. In establishing fees pursuant to this section, each unit shall establish a procedure for waiving fees for indigent prisoners."
SECTION 3.  In preparation for the July 1, 2014, effective date of Section 2 of this act, the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance, shall work with the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners to prepare for the change to G.S. 153A‑225(a)(4) contained in Section 2 of this act. The Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance, shall use a uniform method, developed by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, which will allow all counties to interface with the Division of Medical Assistance to implement this act. The Department of Public Safety shall provide technical assistance as needed.
SECTION 4.  G.S. 7A‑142 reads as rewritten:
"§ 7A‑142.  Vacancies in office.
A vacancy in the office of district judge shall be filled for the unexpired term by appointment of the Governor. The bar of the judicial district, as defined in G.S. 84‑19, shall nominate five persons who are residents of the judicial district who are duly authorized to practice law in the district for consideration by the Governor. The nominees shall be selected by vote of only those bar members who reside in the district. In the event less than five persons are nominated, upon providing the nominations to the Governor, the bar shall certify that there were insufficient nominations in the district to comply with this section. Any vacancy shall be filled no sooner than 30 days after the vacancy occurs. Prior to filling the vacancy, the Governor shall give due consideration to the nominations provided by the bar of the judicial district."
SECTION 5.  Part 8 of Article 1 of Chapter 10B of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 10B‑61.  Private right of action.
(a)	Any party to a transaction requiring a notarial certificate for verification, and any attorney licensed in this State who is involved in such a transaction in any capacity, whether or not the attorney is representing one of the parties to the transaction, shall have standing to bring a civil action in superior court against any public notary commissioned under this Chapter who violates the provisions of this act in connection with that transaction.
(b)	A party or attorney having standing under subsection (a) of this section may maintain an action for damages against the notary or may seek injunctive relief against the notary, or both. The action shall be brought in the county where the transaction took place, and if that cannot be determined, then the action may be filed in the Superior Court of Wake County.
(c)	The remedies available in this section are cumulative and do not affect the availability of any other sanction, remedy, or claim against a notary allowed under this Chapter or other State or federal law.
(d)	It is the intention of the General Assembly that if the provisions of this act are held invalid as a grant of an exclusive or separate emolument or privilege or as a denial of the equal protection of the laws, within the meaning of Sections 19 and 32 of Article I of the North Carolina Constitution, the remainder of this act shall be given effect without the invalid provision or provisions."
SECTION 6.  Sections 1 and 3 of this act become effective September 1, 2013. Section 2 of this act becomes effective July 1, 2014.  Section 5 of this act is effective when it becomes law and applies to notarial acts and omissions occurring on or after that date. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.