A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT appropriating funds to the department of health and human services to expand the statewide telepsychiatry program (NC‑STEP).
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Central Management and Support, Office of Rural Health, the sum of three million four hundred twenty‑three thousand dollars ($3,423,000) for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year, to be allocated to East Carolina University Center for Telepsychiatry and e‑Behavioral Health for the statewide telepsychiatry program established under G.S. 143B‑139.4B, known as NC‑STeP. These funds shall be used as follows:
(1)	$3,243,000 in recurring funds, to be allocated equally toward the establishment of 12 new NC‑STeP program sites.
(2)	$180,000 in recurring funds for operational expenses.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2020.