SB 51/HB 54 Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment
SB 51/HB 54 Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment
Primary Senate Sponsors: Sen. Joyce Krawiec (R-Forsyth), Sen. Deanna Ballard (R-Watauga), Sen. Vickie Sawyer (R-Iredell)
Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Debra Conrad (R-Forsyth), Rep. Linda Johnson (R-Cabarrus), Rep. Pat Hurley (R-Randolph), Rep. Lisa Barnes (R-Nash)
Bill Summary
This bill would define a dismemberment abortion as an intent to cause death of an unborn child, to dismember a living unborn child with instruments that could harm a portion of the unborn child's body.
The bill would make it unlawful for a person to perform a dismemberment abortion unless it is necessary to prevent serious health risk to the unborn child's mother.
The bill states that a physician accused of proceeding in a dismemberment abortion may seek a hearing before the NC Medical Board on whether dismemberment abortion was necessary to prevent serious health risk to the mother.
The bill would grant immunity to the woman upon whom a dismemberment abortion was performed, any employee connected to the physician, or a pharmacist filling a prescription or person providing instruments for the abortion.
Bill Movement
Senate
This bill was filed on February 12, 2019.
This bill was referred to the Senate Rules Committee on February 13, 2019.
House
This bill was filed on February 12, 2019.
This bill was referred to the following committees:
- Health
- Judiciary
- Rules
HB 14 - Child Care Commission Reconstitution
HB 14 - Reconstitute Various Boards and Commissions
This bill would reconstitute several boards and commissions held to have unconstitutionally appointed membership according to McCrory v. Berger and Cooper v. Berger.
Child Care Commission
The Child Care Commission consists of 17 total members.
- 9 Governor Appointed Members
- 2 of these appointments shall be early childhood education specialists
- 4 President Pro Tempore Appointed Members
- 4 Speaker of the House Appointed Members
The bill also makes changes to the term limits of these members.
HB 28 - Prohibit Abortions After 13 Weeks
HB 28 - Prohibit Abortions After 13 Weeks
Primary Sponsors: Rep. Kidwell (R-Craven), Rep. Speciale (R-Craven), Rep. Presnell (R-Madison)
This bill would prohibit an abortion from being preformed after 13 weeks of pregnancy unless there is a medical emergency. The law currently prohibits abortions from being preformed after 20 weeks.
Bill Movement
This bill was filed on February 2, 2019.
This bill was referred to the following committees:
- Judiciary
- Health
- Rules
HB 22 - Woman's Right to Know Bill
HB 22 - Woman's Right to Know Addition/Ashley's Law
Primary Sponsors: Rep. Larry Pittman (R-Cabarrus), Rep. Speciale (R-Craven), Rep. Kidwell (R-Beaufort)
This bill would require the following information before a medical abortion.
- Before administration of mifepristone, the physician or qualified health professional shall inform the patient that it is possible to stop the abortion by not taking misoprostol and taking progesterone to reverse the effects of mifepristone.
- Information on how, where, and from whom women can obtain assistance in discontinuing an abortion must be available on the DHHS web site.
- Immediately before administration of misoprostol, the physician or qualified professional shall provide medical proof to the woman that fetal death has occurred.
Bill Movement
This bill was filed on February 5, 2019.
This bill was referred to the following committees:
- Judiciary
- Health
- Rules
HB 5/SB 3 - Medicaid Expansion Bills
HB 5 / SB 3 Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap
This bill was filed jointly in the House and Senate.
House Primary Sponsors: Rep. Gale Adcock (D-Wake), Rep. Carla Cunningham (D-Mecklenburg), Rep. Verla Insko (D-Orange), Rep. Farmer-Butterfield (D-Wilson)
Senate Primary Sponsors: Sen. Ben Clark (D-Hoke), Sen. Dan Blue (D-Wake), Sen. Gladys Robinson (D-Guilford)
Bill Summary
This bill would allow individuals under the following criteria to be eligible for Medicaid benefits:
- Adjusted gross income at or below 133% federal poverty level (FPL)
- Age range: 19-65
- Not entitled or enrolled in Medicare Part A or B
- Not otherwise eligible for Medicaid coverage currently
Benefits would be received through an Alternative Benefit Plan established by DHHS. The co-payments for benefits would be the same as current Medicaid beneficiaries.
The start date would be effective on the date that capitated coverage begins.
The bill states that it is the intent of the NCGA to enact legislation to replace the Hospital Provider Assesment with a similar hospital provider assessment. It is the intent to impose upon these same hospital providers a Mediciad Coverage Gap Assesment that will pay for the state share of the program and the administrative costs of Medicaid expansion.
House Movement
This bill was filed on January 31, 2019. This bill was referred to the Health Committee, the Appropriations Committee, and the Rules Committee.
Senate Movement
This bill was filed on January 31, 2019. This bill was referred to the Senate Rules Committee.
SB 3/HB 5 Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap
SB 3/HB 5 Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap
Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Gale Adcock (D-Wake) Rep. Carla Cunningham (D-Mecklenburg), Rep. Verla Insko (D-Orange), Rep. Jean Farmer Butterfield (D-Wilson)
Primary Senate Sponsors: Sen. Ben Clark (D-Hoke), Sen. Dan Blue (D-Wake), Sen. Gladys Robinson (R-Guilford)
Bill Summary
This bill would provide qualified individuals insurance coverage in the Medicaid coverage gap.
Individuals would be required to meet the following requirements:
- Gross income at or below 133% of the federal of the federal poverty level
- Between the ages of 19-65
- Not entitled to or enrolled in Medicare Part A or Part B
- Not eligible for Medicaid coverage under NC State Plan as it existed on January 1, 2019.
Beneficiaries would receive benefits through an Alternative Benefit Plan established by the Department Consistent with federal requirements.
Co-payments for benefits shall be the same as copayments required for Medicaid beneficiaries not under the Alternative Benefit Plan.
Bill Movement
House
This bill was filed on January 30, 2019.
This bill was referred to the following Committees:
- Health
- Appropriations
- Rules
Senate
This bill was filed on January 30, 2019.
This bill was referred to the Senate Rules Committee.
Public Health - PFAS and GenX Study Update
The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources met on January 10, 2019.
The network team studying water contaminant compounds includes the following institutions: UNC-CH, NCSU, NC A&T, ECU, UNC, UNC-C, and Duke. These institutions were able to secure an additional $1.4 million in grant funding to being the total investment to $6.4 million.
This group will conduct research through sampling, analysis, removal performance, determining health effects, and predicting models.
The groups main research questions include the following:
- What are the concentrations of emerging contaminants in public drinking water sources?
- What unanticipated an untargeted compounds occur in public drinking water sources?
- How much of the total organic flourine in drinking water sources is accounted for by targeted PFAS?
The network will review samples from 191 municipal surface water sources and 149 municipal well water sources.
The second progress report for the NCGA can be found here.
For more information about this study you can follow @NColloaboratory or visit collaboratory.unc.ecu.
Dental Plan Disclosures
HB 140 – Dental Plans Provider Contracts/Transparency
Primary Sponsor: Rep. Bert Jones (R – Caswell)
This bill would require a health plan to disclose fee schedules, claims and reimbursement policies when writing stand-alone dental insurance products. These disclosures have previously been required for health plans writing policies that include dental coverage for years.
House:
This proposed committee substitute received a favorable report in the House Insurance Committee on February 22, 2017
This bill passed in the House on second reading with a vote of 118-0, and third reading on February 28, 2017.
This bill will now move to the Senate.
Senate:
This bill was referred to the Senate Rules and Operations Committee meeting on March 30, 2017.
This bill was re-referred to the Senate Health Care Committee on June 19, 2017.
This bill was withdrawn from the Senate Health Care Committee on June 27, 2017.
This bill was found favorable in the Senate Rules and Operations Committee on June 27, 2017.
An amendment to clarify property coverage and to clarify when the minimum incurred loss ratio standard would become effective passed the Senate on June 28, 2017.
This bill passed in the Senate on June 28, 2017.
The House concurred with the changes on June 29, 2017.
This bill will now be sent to Governor Cooper.
This bill was vetoed by Governor Cooper on July 27, 2017.
This bill was referred to the House Rules Committee on August 3, 2017.
This bill was withdrawn from the House Rules Committee on August 22, 2017.
This bill was placed on the House Calendar for August 24, 2017.
This bill was heard in the House on August 24, 2017.
This bill was overridden in the House with a vote of 72-43.
This bill was placed on the Senate calendar for August 25, 2017.
This bill was withdrawn from the Senate calendar on August 25, 2017, and was placed on the calendar for August, 29, 2017.
On August 29, 2017, this bill was withdrawn from the calendar and moved to the calendar for August 30, 2017.
Governor Cooper's veto was overridden by the Senate on August 30, 2017.
This bill become NC Session Law on August 30, 2017.
Changes to Medical Board Appointments
HB 770 - Various Clarifying Changes
Primary Sponsors: Rep. Kyle Hall (R-Rockingham), Rep. Pat McElraft (R-Carteret), Rep. Brian Turner (D-Buncombe), Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford)
A Conference Committee for this bill was appointed in the House and Senate on June 29, 2017.
On August 3, 2017, The House and Senate reported a Conference Committee Report on this bill that included changes to appointments to the North Carolina Medical Board appointments.
The bill reduces the number of the Governor's appointments from six to four.
Specifically, the Governor's number of public members from would change from three to one.
The bill would allow the General Assembly to appoint two public members upon recommendation of the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore.
The bill clarifies that a public member could not be a health care provider or the spouse of a health care provider.
The bill also removes the Governor's ability to appoint a new member to the Board if there is a vacant position.
The House and Senate adopted the Conference Committee Report on August 3, 2017. This bill will now be sent to Governor Cooper.
Governor Cooper vetoed the bill on August 14, 2017.
This bill was referred to the House Rules Committee on August 18, 2017.
This bill was withdrawn from the House Rules Committee on August 22, 2017.
This bill was placed on the House Calendar for August 24, 2017.
This bill was overridden in the House with a vote of 71-44 on August 24, 2017.
This bill was placed on the Senate calendar for August 25, 2017.
This bill was withdrawn from the Senate calendar on August 25, 2017, and was placed on the calendar for August, 29, 2017.
On August 29, 2017, this bill was withdrawn from the calendar and moved to the calendar for August 30, 2017.
*The bill's entire history can be found here.
Industrial Commission Opioid Rule Adoption Process
SB 407 - Employee Misclassification/Industrial Commission Changes
Primary Sponsors: Sen. Andy Wells (R-Alexander)
This bill would require the Industrial Commission to implement rules related to opioids and pain management. The bill would remove the requirement that the Industrial Commission study causes of injury and recommend ways to prevent injuries.
This bill was filed March 28, 2017.
This bill was referred to the Senate Rules Committee on March 29, 2017.
This bill was withdrawn from the Senate Rules Committee, and re-referred to the Senate Finance Committee on April 6, 2017.
This bill received a favorable report in the Senate Finance Committee on April 25, 2017.
This bill received a favorable report in the Senate Rules Committee on April 26, 2017.
This bill passed second and third reading in the Senate on April 26, 2017.
This bill was received by the House, and passed first reading on April 27, 2017.
This bill was referred to the House Rules Committee on April 27, 2017.
This bill was withdrawn from the House Rules Committee, and re-referred to the House Judiciary III on June 19, 2017.
A proposed committee substitute received a favorable report in the House Judiciary III Committee on June 28, 2017.
This bill passed second reading on June 28, 2017.
This bill passed third reading on June 29, 2017.
This bill was sent to the Senate on June 30, 2017.
On August 3, 2017 the House and Senate appointed a Conference Committee for this bill.
On August 3, 2017, the House and Senate reported a Conference Committee Report.
On August 3, 2017, the House and Senate adopted the Conference Committee Report.
This bill has been sent to Governor Cooper.
This bill was signed by Governor Cooper on August 11, 2017.