HB 793 – STOP Act Amendment

HB 793 – STOP Act Amendment

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Wayne Sasser (R-Cabarrus, Rowan, Stanly)

 

Summary

This bill prohibits practitioners from prescribing more than a three-day supply (was five -day supply) of any targeted controlled substance upon the initial consultation and treatment of a patient for acute pain unless the prescription is for post-operative acute pain relief for use immediately following a surgical procedure.

 

Movement

Filed – 5/3/2021


HB 791 – Licensed Counselors Interstate Compact

HB 791 – Licensed Counselors Interstate Compact

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Diane Wheatley (R-Cumberland); Rep. John Szoka (R-Cumberland); Rep. Grier Martin (D-Wake); Rep. Gale Adcock (D-Wake)

 

Summary

This bill:

  • Establishes the Professional Counseling Licensure Compact.
  • States that the purpose of the Compact is to facilitate interstate practice of licensed professional counselors with the goal of improving public access to professional counseling services.
  • Specifies the Compact’s key objectives.
  • Specifies the requirements for a state to participate in the Compact.
  • Sets out the requirements for a licensee to exercise the privilege to practice under the terms and provisions of the Compact.
  • Requires licensed professional counselors to hold only one home state license in only one member state at a time and requires licenses to take certain actions when changing his or her primary state of residence.
  • Establishes the Counseling Compact Commission and specifies required details related to the Commission’s membership, duties, Executive Committee, meetings, and financing.
  • Authorizes the Commission to promulgate reasonable rules in order to effectively and efficiently achieve the purposes of the Compact.
  • Requires member states to recognize the right of a licensed professional counselor, licensed by a home state and under the rules promulgated by the Commission, to practice professional counseling in any member state via telehealth under a privilege to practice as provided in the Compact.

 

Movement

Filed – 5/3/2021


HB 788 – Achieve Better Mental Health Recovery Results

HB 788 – Achieve Better Mental Health Recovery Results

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. John Autry (D-Mecklenburg); Rep. Donny Lambeth (R-Forsyth); Rep. Wayne Sasser (R-Cabarrus, Rowan, Stanly); Rep. Terry Brown, Jr. (D-Mecklenburg)

 

Summary

This bill:

  • Appropriates $600K in nonrecurring funds for the 2021-2022 fiscal year to DHHS to be allocated to the Promise Resource Network for the establishment for four peer-run wellness centers to address mental health crises prevention and post-crisis response.
  • Establishes the position of Mental Health Recovery Policy Chief within the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services.
  • Tasks the Chief with ensuring that mental health recovery values and outcomes are drivers of State policy.

Requires the Division to publish a biennial NC Mental Health Recovery and Resiliency Agenda on its website.

Requires the Chief to ensure that individuals with personal experiences of mental health recovery inform the development of the Agenda.

Appropriates $100K in recurring funds for the 2021-2022 fiscal year and $100K in recurring funds for the 2022-2023 fiscal year to the Division to be used to fund the salary and benefits for the Chief position.

 

Movement

Filed – 5/3/2021


HB 786 – Enhance Local Response/Mental Health Crises

HB 786 – Enhance Local Response/Mental Health Crises

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. John Autry (D-Mecklenburg); Rep. Donny Lambeth (R-Forsyth); Rep. Donna White (R-Johnston); Rep. Cynthia Ball (D-Wake)

 

Summary

This bill appropriates $2M in nonrecurring funds in the 2021-2022 fiscal year to the Department of Public Safety to be distributed as grants to municipal police departments and county sheriff’s’ offices for at least one of the following purposes: (1) to establish nonpolice units to address nonviolent, noncriminal 911 calls regarding mental health, homelessness, substance use, or other behavioral health crises; 92) to establish co-responder response models in which law enforcement personnel and mental health specialists jointly respond to 911 calls regarding mental or behavioral health crises; or (3) to establish a mental health division or to bolster existing mental health services within a police department or sheriff’s office and to increase the amount of law enforcement personnel and 911 communications personnel that have received Crisis Intervention Training.

 

This bill also requires the grants to be awarded to police departments and sheriff’s offices that have active response models for mental or behavioral health crises or that are developing response models that will be in use on or before January 1, 2022.

 

Movement

Filed – 5/3/2021


HB 780 – End of Life Option Act

HB 780 – End of Life Option Act

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Pricey Harrison (D – Guilford); Rep. Jon Hardister (R-Guilford); Rep. John Faircloth (R-Guilford); Rep. Susan Fisher (D-Buncombe)

 

Summary

This bill establishes the End of Life Option Act. This Act:

  • Defines a “qualified individual” as an adult who meets all of the following qualifications: (1) is a resident of NC; (2) has the capacity to make medical decisions; (3) has the physical and mental ability to self-administer a terminal comfort care drug; (4) has been diagnosed by an attending physician as suffering from a terminal illness; (5) has undergone a hospice evaluation; (6) has expressed verbally and in writing the desire to receive a prescription for a terminal comfort care drug; (7) is acting voluntarily and without coercion or duress; has documented a request pursuant to statutory requirements on a specific form; and, (8) satisfies additional statutory requirements to obtain a terminal comfort care drug.
  • Defines a “terminal disease” as “an incurable and irreversible disease that, having previously been determined, has been medically confirmed by the attending physician and will, within reasonable medical judgment, result in death within six months.”
  • Provides an individual suffering from a terminal disease with the right to be informed of all available end-of-life options related to terminal care and to receive answers to questions about the foreseeable risks and benefits of medication without the physician withholding any requested information.
  • Establishes a process under which a qualified individual may request a prescription for a terminal comfort care drug.
  • Requires a request for a terminal comfort care drug to be made verbally and in writing and further specifies requirements for a sufficient written request.
  • Provides a statutory form to be used for a request for a terminal comfort care drug.
  • Provides a statutory form to be used by the attending witness at the time of self-administration of a prescribed terminal comfort care drug.
  • States that a qualified individual may at any time discontinue, withdraw, or rescind his or her request for a terminal comfort care drug.
  • Specifies responsibilities for the attending physician including the following requirements before prescribing a terminal comfort care drug: (1) make an initial determination that the individual requesting the drug has the capacity to make medical decisions, has a terminal disease, had undergone hospice evaluation which the attending physician has reviewed, and has voluntarily made a request on the statutorily required form; (2) confirm that the individual is making an informed decision by discussing certain specified issues with the patient; (3) confirm that the individual’s request does not arrive from coercion or undue influence through discussion with the patient; (4) provide certain specified information required by statute; (5) offers the patient an opportunity to withdraw or rescind the request; (6) inform the patient of the right to withdraw or rescind the request at any time; (7) verify, immediately prior to writing the prescription for a terminal comfort care drug, that the patient is making an informed decision and is in no way acting under undue coercion or undue influence; (8) confirm that all statutory requirements have been met before writing the prescription; (9) fulfill all statutory documentation requirements; (10) complete the Attending Physician Checklist and Compliance Form and the Supplemental Attending Physician Form and include it in the individual’s medical record; and (11) provide the individual with a copy of the Attending Witness Completion Form with instructions for how the Form should be completed and returned to the physician.
  • Specifies the manner in which the attending physician must deliver the terminal comfort care drug.
  • Specifies the responsibilities for the mental health specialist upon referral from the attending physician.
  • Establishes documentation requirements for the qualified individual’s medical record.
  • Requires certain documentation to be submitted to DHHS.
  • Provides civil and criminal liability for good-faith participation in the activities covered by the Act.
  • Specifies that participation in activities authorized by the Act is strictly voluntary.
  • Requires DHHS to collect and maintain certain specified information related to the activities covered by the Act.

 

Movement

Filed – 5/3/2021


HB 779 – Coronavirus Vaccine Bill of Rights

HB 779 – Coronavirus Vaccine Bill of Rights

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood, Madison, Yancey)

 

 

 

Summary

This bill:

  • Prohibits any person from being mandated, coerced, forced, or pressured to take a coronavirus vaccine.
  • States that every person has the right to determine what is in their own best medical interest without threat to their livelihood, education, or freedom of movement.
  • Prohibits employers of health care providers licensed to administer a coronavirus vaccine from requesting their health care providers promote any of the coronavirus vaccines to patients.
  • Requires health care providers who administer any of the coronavirus vaccines to attest to certain specified information with respect to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System database.
  • States that all persons are entitled to have access to unbiased, independent information about the coronavirus vaccines to assist them in determining what is in their own best medical interest.
  • Prohibits any person from being required to provide proof of having received a coronavirus vaccine as a condition of doing any of the following: (1) entering any public buildings, lands, or spaces; (2) participating in any public events; (3) accessing any public transportation; (4) attending any public school or educational institution; (4) obtaining or maintaining employment with any public or private employer.

 

Movement

Filed – 5/3/2021


HB 777 – Expand Project C.A.R.E./Funds

HB 777 – Expand Project C.A.R.E./Funds

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Julie von Haefen (D-Wake); Rep. Linda Cooper-Suggs (D-Wilson)

 

 

Summary

This bill appropriates $575K in recurring funds for the 2021-2022 fiscal year and the sum of $525K  in recurring funds for the 2022-2023 fiscal year to the Division of Aging and Adult Services to expand the Project Caregiver Alternatives to Running on Empty Program, which provides support to individuals with dementia and their caregivers.

 

Movement

Filed – 5/3/2021


HB 776 – Remote Online Notarization Act

HB 776 – Remote Online Notarization Act

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Destin Hall (R-Caldwell); Rep. Ted Davis, Jr. (R- New Hanover); Rep. Jon Hardister (R-Guilford); Rep. Robert Reives, II (D-Chatham, Durham)

 

Summary

This bill would allow the following types of notarial acts to be performed by means of communication technology: (1) acknowledgments; (2) jurats; (3) verifications or proofs; and (4) oaths or affirmations.

 

This bill also defines the manner of communication technology to be used during remote online notarization, establishes when a notary is authorized to perform a remote online notarial act, establishes the requirements and procedures for remote online notarial acts, specifies how a notary must verify identification, and requires remote online notaries to comply with certain specified security requirements.

 

Movement

Filed – 5/3/2021


HB 772 – Long-Term Care for NC Veterans

HB 772 – Long-Term Care for NC Veterans

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Brian Farkas (D-Pitt); Rep. George Cleveland (R-Onslow); Rep. Dennis Riddell (R-Alamance); Rep. Edward Goodwin (R-Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Perquimans, Tyrell, Washington)

 

Summary

This bill directs DHHS to conduct a comprehensive study of the long-term care needs of veterans in the State in collaboration with the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and requires DHHS to submit a report of its findings no later than February 15, 2022.

 

Movement

Filed – 5/3/2021


HB 770 – Realign Enforcement/HIE Network Participation

HB 770 – Realign Enforcement/HIE Network Participation

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Verla Insko (D-Orange)

 

Summary

This bill exempts the NC State Health Plan from the enforcement mechanism that requires the withholding of state funds from entities that fail to comply with the mandatory connection and submission requirements of the statewide health information exchange network.

 

Movement

Filed – 5/3/2021