A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT appropriating funds to the department of health and human services, division of social services, to provide TEMPORARY FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR FACILITIES LICENSED TO ACCEPT STATE‑COUNTY SPECIAL ASSISTANCE.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  The following definitions apply in this section:
(1)	Facility licensed to accept State‑County Special Assistance payments or facility. – Any residential care facility that is (i) licensed by the Department of Health and Human Services and (ii) authorized to accept State‑County Special Assistance payments from its residents.
(2)	State‑County Special Assistance. – The program authorized by G.S. 108A‑40.
SECTION 1.(b)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Social Services, the sum of nineteen million eight hundred seventy‑two thousand dollars ($19,872,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2019‑2020 fiscal year and the sum of nineteen million eight hundred seventy‑two thousand dollars ($19,872,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year, to provide temporary financial assistance to facilities licensed to accept State‑County Special Assistance payments, as provided in this section.
SECTION 1.(c)  Nonrecurring funds appropriated in this act to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Social Services (DSS), for each year of the 2019‑2021 fiscal biennium for facilities licensed to accept State‑County Special Assistance payments shall be used to provide temporary financial assistance in the form of a monthly payment to these facilities on behalf of each resident who is a recipient of State‑County Special Assistance. The counties shall pay to the State fifty percent (50%) of the cost of providing these monthly payments to these facilities. The monthly payments provided by DSS to these facilities shall be subject to all of the following requirements and limitations:
(1)	The amount of the monthly payments authorized by this section is equal to one hundred eighty‑four dollars ($184.00) per month for each resident of the facility as of the first day of the month who is a recipient of State‑County Special Assistance.
(2)	A facility that receives the monthly payments authorized by this section shall not, under any circumstances, use these payments for any purpose other than to offset the cost of serving residents who are recipients of State‑County Special Assistance.
(3)	The DSS shall make monthly payments authorized by this section to a facility on behalf of a resident only for the period commencing July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2021.
(4)	The DSS shall make monthly payments authorized by this section only to the extent sufficient State and county funds allocated to the DSS for each year of the 2019‑2021 fiscal biennium are available for this purpose.
(5)	The DSS shall not make monthly payments authorized by this section to a facility on behalf of a resident whose eligibility determination for State‑County Special Assistance is pending.
(6)	The DSS shall terminate all monthly payments pursuant to this section on the earlier of the following:
a.	June 30, 2021.
b.	Upon depletion of the State and county funds allocated to the DSS for each year of the 2019‑2021 fiscal year for this purpose.
SECTION 1.(d)  Notwithstanding any provision of this act or any other provision of law to the contrary, the DSS shall not be required to provide any temporary financial assistance to facilities beyond June 30, 2021, or upon depletion of the State and county funds allocated to the DSS for each year of the 2019‑2021 fiscal biennium for this purpose, whichever is earlier.
SECTION 1.(e)  If possible, the DSS shall use an existing mechanism to administer these funds in the least restrictive manner that ensures compliance with this section and timely and accurate payments to facilities. The DSS shall not, under any circumstances, use any portion of the State and county funds allocated to the DSS for each year of the 2019‑2021 fiscal biennium for the purpose of this section for any other purpose.
SECTION 1.(f)  For each year of the 2019‑2021 fiscal biennium, the Division of Social Services shall not use more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) in nonrecurring funds for administrative purposes related to providing financial assistance to facilities licensed to accept State‑County Special Assistance, as authorized by this section.
SECTION 1.(g)  Nothing in this section shall be construed as an obligation by the General Assembly to appropriate funds for the purpose of this section, or as an entitlement by any facility, resident of a facility, or other person to receive temporary financial assistance under this section.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2019, and expires on June 30, 2021.