A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to make certain adjustments to the current Operations Appropriations Act of 2023.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

EXTEND TIME LINE FOR CERTAIN NONRECURRING APPROPRIATIONS
SECTION 1.  This section applies to any nonrecurring appropriation that will revert to the fund from which the appropriation was made on June 30, 2024. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, these appropriations shall not revert at the end of the 2023‑2024 fiscal year and shall remain available for expenditure until September 30, 2024.

CHILD CARE SFRF REALLOCATION
SECTION 2.(a)  Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, State Fiscal Recovery Funds appropriated in S.L. 2021‑180 to the Department of Health and Human Services (Budget Code 14445) for "Premium Pay Bonuses" as provided on page C44, item 109 of the Committee Report described in Section 43.2 of that act and further described in Section 39.21 of S.L. 2021‑180 is reduced by the sum of eleven million nine hundred ninety‑three thousand eighty‑eight dollars ($11,993,088). The Department shall return these funds to the State Fiscal Recovery Fund, established in Section 2.2 of S.L. 2021‑25 (SFRF), as soon as practicable but no later than 15 business days after this section becomes law.
SECTION 2.(b)  The Office of State Budget and Management shall allocate the sum of eight million two hundred fifty‑one thousand seventy‑eight dollars ($8,251,078) from the SFRF to the Department of Health and Human Services (Budget Code 14420) for Child Care Stabilization Grants.

CLARIFY LANGUAGE/COMPENSATION GRANTS FOR CHILD CARE PROGRAMS
SECTION 3.  Section 9L.2(b) of S.L. 2021‑180, as amended by Section 9L.2(a) of S.L. 2022‑74 and Section 9D.11 of S.L. 2023‑134, reads as rewritten:
"SECTION 9L.2.(b)  Of the funds appropriated in this act from federal Child Care and Development Block Grant funds received pursuant to ARPA to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Child Development and Early Education, the sum of five hundred three million seven hundred ninety‑three thousand seven hundred eleven dollars ($503,793,711) in nonrecurring funds shall be allocated for the following in response to the COVID‑19 pandemic:
(1)	Up to two hundred seventy‑four million dollars ($274,000,000) of the funds shall be used as follows:
a.	A minimum of two hundred six million dollars ($206,000,000) to (i) reduce the waitlist for children eligible for subsidized child care who are in foster care and (ii) after addressing the waitlist under item (i) of this sub‑subdivision, work toward reducing the waitlist for children eligible for subsidized child care. Additionally, the Division shall use a portion of these funds to extend the compensation grants portion of the child care stabilization grants, as authorized under Section 3.2(a) of S.L. 2021‑25, until these funds are exhausted.
b.	Up to fifty‑nine million dollars ($59,000,000) to modernize and improve early childhood technology infrastructure.
…."

EFFECTIVE DATE
SECTION 4.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.