Neighbors on Call's Weekly Policy Update for 3/8/21

COVID

• A bill to allocate $1.7 billion the state received last year as part of the federal pandemic relief CARES Act unanimously passed both state legislative chambers and will now go to Gov. Cooper. HB196 provides funds for virus testing and prevention and includes support for public universities and for child-care assistance. Democrats tried unsuccessfully to add state funding to pay bonuses to K-12 and college employees and to increase unemployment benefits.
  

• On March 3 COVID-19 vaccines were made available to a large group of frontline essential workers in North Carolina, including firefighters, law enforcement, grocery store workers, migrant farmers, restaurant workers, postal workers, clergy and others. An increasing vaccine supply, including the recently approved Johnson & Johnson single-dose shot, has expedited the state’s vaccine timeline. It is expected that people with underlying medical conditions will be able to make vaccine appointments starting March 24.

Fair Representation

• North Carolina state and local officials agree that at least 62 municipalities in 33 counties will have to delay 2021 municipal elections because they must first redistrict based on data from the US Census Bureau, which is delayed. However, there is debate about whether to delay elections across all municipalities in the state or to target changes to only those local governments that rely on districts or wards for candidate filing or electing candidates. The census delays will also impact county and state primaries in 2022. Any decision will raise both practical and constitutional questions, and legislative leaders from both parties have not yet committed to any action.

Education Policy

• Both the NC House and Senate approved versions of bills that would allow increased capacity at both indoor and outdoor school events. Governor Cooper’s recent executive order had increased capacity at all outdoor events to 30% and at indoor events to 15%. HB 128 would allow event capacity at high school, community college and UNC campuses to no less than 30% and no greater than 50%. HB118 would increase outdoor high school sports event capacity up to 50%, but because it is specific to 14 counties, it is considered a local bill and does not require the governor’s approval. The Senate has approved similar bills and the two chambers will formulate a final version of one or both bills.
  

• On Monday the NC Senate failed by one vote to override Gov. Cooper’s veto of a bill (SB37) that would require all NC public school districts to offer some form of in-person learning. One of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Ben Clark (D-Cumberland, Hoke) was absent for the vote. On Wednesday Senate leadership announced that, given Sen. Clark’s excused absence, they would vote on a motion to reconsider the override, and that if that motion passed, they would take another override vote, waiting at least 24 hours as required by Senate rules. While the Governor and the legislature agree in principle about in-person instruction, Gov. Cooper wants the bill to give local districts more control over reopening decisions and wants middle and high schools to more closely adhere to social distancing guidelines. He also wants the legislature to allow his administration to shut schools down if COVID-19 trends worsen.
  

• Two days after the NC Senate failed to override the governor’s veto of SB 37, nearly two dozen Senate Democrats who had opposed the bill asked the State Board of Education to help convince school districts to offer an in-person learning option incorporating NCDHHS and CDC guidelines on social distancing and allowing local and state health officials to change reopening plans “if warranted,” as recommended by Gov. Cooper.
  

• On Thursday, the State Board of Education adopted a resolution stating that all school districts “should” provide students with an in-person learning option, following new NCDHHS guidance on restricting remote learning options to “higher-risk students and families opting for remote learning.” State School Superintendent Catherine Truitt also pressed the NCDHHS to share benchmarks that would need to be achieved in order for older students to attend school five days a week.
  

Economic and Housing Policy

• Gov. Cooper issued an executive order that would require people who initially file for unemployment benefits on or after March 14 to show evidence they are looking for work. The requirement – which will not affect persons already receiving benefits - is not new but was waived at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Republican legislators have proposed two bills, SB114 and HB107, both of which reinstate a work search requirement. While there is bipartisan agreement about the work search requirement, the governor faces opposition from Republicans to his call for increasing maximum weekly unemployment benefits from $350 to $500.
  

• The $1.7 billion pandemic relief package (HB 196) passed by the state legislature imposes new spending restrictions on a federally funded rental assistance program that the state has been struggling to implement since December. Republican lawmakers responsible for the new rules, which impose spending caps for each county and revise how the program can calculate and pay rental assistance, say the changes will ensure equity, but the governor and program administrator express concern the new rules will further delay implementation.

Health Care Policy

• Medicaid recipients who are under court-order to get substance abuse or mental health treatment can temporarily lose child custody. A bill that would make it easier to keep these parents in the Medicaid program is advancing in the state Senate. SB 93 has bipartisan support and was approved unanimously by the Senate Health Care Committee.

Womens’ Rights

• NC legislators Rep. Julie von Haefen (D-Wake), Sen. Natasha Marcus (D-Mecklenburg), and Sen. Jay Chaudhuri (D-Wake) have introduced the RemoveBarriers/Gain Access to Abortion Act (“RBG Act”) in their respective legislative chambers. HB188 and SB167 would expand access to reproductive health care in North Carolina by repealing the counseling and 72-hour delay requirement, expanding the pool of professionals allowed to perform abortions, repealing the ban on using telemedicine in abortions and repealing insurance and funding bans on abortion coverage from Medicaid and other health care plans.

Gun Violence Prevention

• A bill to permit people to carry concealed handguns at religious services held on school property passed the NC Senate. Current law allows concealed-carry at religious services except where schools operate on the property. SB 43, Protect Religious Meeting Places, would not allow concealed carry when school or extracurricular activities are in session. Proponents of the bill suggest concealed carry will protect churchgoers in an active-shooter situation, but opponents argue the law puts children at greater risk from accidental shootings and negatively impacts efforts to prevent gun violence at all schools. All Republican and three Democratic senators voted in favor of the bill.

Criminal Justice

• NC Department of Public Safety officials clarified their statements after seeming to suggest that only nonviolent offenders would be considered for early prison release under last week’s court agreement. That settlement is aimed at correcting inadequacy in protecting incarcerated people from COVID-19 and includes reducing the prison population by 3,500 inmates over the next 6 months. The clarification reiterates that all 3,500 people selected for early release are already slated to be released in 2021. Of these, some have received early release credits for model behavior, and some may have committed “crimes against persons,” a category that includes violent crimes.

Neighbors on Call's Weekly Policy Update for 3/1/21

COVID

• On Wednesday Governor Cooper announced a new executive order that eases several previous COVID-19 restrictions. The order would allow bars and restaurants to serve alcohol until 11:00 PM, increase the cap on outdoor gatherings to 25, and increase the occupancy limit on many businesses. In addition, it would allow for 30% capacity (up to a 250-person cap) at most sporting events. This provision goes some way toward addressing the wishes of lawmakers who advanced a bill to allow 40% capacity at high school sporting events. Sponsors of the bill, SB 116, say they still intend to pursue its passage.

Education Policy

• On Friday Governor Cooper vetoed SB 37, a bill that would require school districts to provide in-person instruction, citing its incompatibility with federal and state COVID-19 safety guidelines. The General Assembly is preparing to vote to override Cooper’s veto. While most school districts in the state already offer some in-person instruction, those that have stayed remote-only -- such as Durham Public Schools -- would have to reopen 15 days from the bill’s passage.
  

Economic and Housing Policy

• On Thursday the House Finance Committee cleared HB 107. The bill, which would make various changes to the state unemployment system, includes provisions to fix the unemployment tax rate for employers at 1.9% rather than raising it according to existing state law and to reinstate work-search requirements for those claiming non-COVID-19-related unemployment. North Carolina’s unemployment tax rate for employers is currently the fourth lowest in the country.

• On Thursday HB 76 passed the House Finance Committee unanimously. The bill would close a loophole that allows out-of-state debt settlement companies to operate in North Carolina, where predatory debt settlement is already prohibited. Though the bill already passed the House last year, lobbying efforts by debt settlement companies stopped it from passing the Senate. The bill has bipartisan support.

Health Care Policy

• On Tuesday Wake County Superior Court Judge Michael O’Foghluda ruled against a group of North Carolina hospitals that had sued the NC DHHS over their awarding of Managed Care Organization (MCO) contracts during the Medicaid transformation process. The group of hospitals, called My Health by My Providers, had argued that the original legislative vision would have awarded MCO contracts to providers like those in their group, including Duke Health and UNC Health Care, instead of large national insurance companies. A spokesperson indicated Tuesday that the group is still considering appealing the ruling.

• On Tuesday HB 91, a bill that would expand access to treatment for people with autism, passed the House Health Committee unanimously. The bill would allow applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapists, who currently must be supervised by a specialized psychologist, to be licensed to practice independently. North Carolina, the only state that requires such supervision, only has 62 such specialized psychologists, severely limiting access to behavioral therapy for autism within the state. The bill has significant bipartisan support.

Gun Violence Prevention

• On Wednesday the Senate Judiciary Committee cleared SB 43, a bill that would allow for concealed carry of guns outside of school hours at religious facilities that also serve as educational facilities. Concealed carry is currently prohibited at educational institutions in North Carolina; this bill would create an exemption for such places that are also places of religious worship. The bill is scheduled for debate on March 1.

• On Wednesday HB 48 cleared the House Judiciary Committee. The bill would allow paramedics to carry concealed weapons when they embed with SWAT teams or work with law enforcement in emergency situations. The bill will likely appear before the full House this week.

Criminal Justice

• On Thursday the North Carolina Department of Public Safety announced a settlement with the NC NAACP and other plaintiffs who had alleged that the state has inadequately protected incarcerated people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The settlement, approved by Wake County Superior Judge Vince Rozier, Jr.,includes a commitment from DPS to release 3,500 people early from prison, a number the ACLU (another plaintiff) described as “unprecedented.” It also mandates the implementation of additional COVID-19 prevention measures in prisons. The case will be stayed for 180 days while the settlement agreement is implemented.

Neighbors on Call's Weekly Policy Update for 2/22/21

COVID-19

• North Carolina will now no longer be required to offer coronavirus vaccines to persons who don’t live, work or spend “significant time” in the state. NC Department of Health Services data indicate that about 30,000 shots of the first 1.1 million administered in North Carolina went to non-residents, but it is not clear how many of these crossed state lines solely for the purpose of getting the inoculations. Federal guidelines initially required states to administer vaccines to anyone who met a state’s eligibility plan, but the U.S. CDC has lifted that requirement.

Governance

• Republican legislative leaders have eliminated the NC legislature’s nonpartisan Program Evaluation Division, a research and advisory unit tasked with evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of public programs. The Division, created in 2007 with unanimous support from the General Assembly, has saved the state some $38.6 million annually. It will be replaced by partisan staff tasked with a similar mandate. While Republican leaders assert the move will improve efficiency, both Democrats and some former Republican representatives have expressed disagreement with the decision.

Fair Representation

• The U.S. Census Bureau announced that it will not release state district data, usually available in March, until September 30, largely due to the impact of the pandemic on the census process. If the 2020 Census data shows that existing districts are out of balance, state and local officials are required to draw new voting maps based on the decennial data before new elections can be held. Local elections for 2021 are likely to be affected by this delay, and it is not known how this will affect congressional, state legislative, and local elections in 2022.

Education Policy

• SB 37, which requires NC K-12 public school districts to provide the option of in-person learning to all students, received final approval with bipartisan support in both legislative chambers and has been sent to the governor. Under the bill, special-needs students must have the option of full-time in-class instruction, but it retains a provision allowing all families to opt for online-only classes and gives local school districts the leeway to create alternative work assignments for teachers at high risk for COVID-19. Gov. Cooper has expressed reservations about mandating reopening, preferring to give school districts more discretion.. However, the bill passed with enough votes to override a veto.
  

• Lawmakers have begun refining the details of a bill (HB 82) that would provide non-compulsory, in-person summer school to students in state public schools. The program would target students who are academically “at risk,” and according to the state Dept. of Public Instruction, the proportion of these students across the state has grown from 40 to 60 percent during the pandemic. It is expected that the cost of the program would be covered by federal pandemic relief money the state doled out to school districts last week.

Economic Policy

• North Carolina is projected to have $4.1 billion more available revenue over the next two years than previously expected. The consensus report presented to state House and Senate budget writers during a joint appropriations committee meeting on Wednesday points to an unexpected surplus as lawmakers assess where the state stands financially and how spending could increase in areas like pay raises for state employees and disaster relief.

Health Care Policy

• The NC Office of the State Auditor identified overpayments of $13.4 million in Medicaid reimbursements to health care providers ineligible because they had lost their licenses, lacked credentials or had other problems. Moreover, the audit identified significantly more than that amount in potential overpayments. State Auditor Beth Wood, a Democrat, indicated that DHHS could have found and fixed many of the problems before the audit became public.

Criminal Justice

• Senate Republicans filed a bill to reduce state funding to any city or county that disproportionately reduces local funding for law enforcement. They also revived another bill that would require local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
  

• The “Police Funding Protection Act” (SB 100), written in response to calls for “defunding: the police, would penalize any city or county that reduces its law enforcement budget without a proportionate reduction in the budgets of other departments. Representatives for local municipalities say these budgetary decisions should be made on the local level, not dictated by state officials who may not be responsive to local taxpayers’ priorities.
  

• SB 101, “Require Cooperation with ICE 2.0,” requires sheriffs to determine the immigration status of anyone booked into a city or county jail on a felony or impaired driving charge; if proper identification is not provided, sheriffs must detain these individuals for Homeland Security’s ICE agents. The bill is similar to one vetoed by Gov. Cooper in 2019 because it included a provision that sheriffs who didn't abide by the law could be removed from office. The revised bill would make this noncompliance a misdemeanor.