Signed by Governor Roy Cooper III

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to concur with senate amendments and pass a bill that appropriates funds from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for COVID-19 coronavirus relief.

Highlights:

• Appropriates $300 million to the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) to allocate to the general maintenance reserve in the Highway Fund for the Department of Transportation for the purpose of replacing lost revenue due to the COVID-19 emergency (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $150 million to OSBM for allocation to counties ineligible to receive direct funding from the CARES Act (Sec. 3.3).

• Requires OSBM to allocate the above-mentioned funds by providing each county eligible to receive funding a base allocation of $250,000, with the remaining funds distributed to eligible counties on a per capita basis using county population totals (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $125 million to OSBM for Golden LEAF to provide loans to assist small businesses with business needs during economic hardship (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $75 million to the Department of Public Instruction for school nutrition services provided by public school units participating in the National School Lunch Program or School Breakfast Program through the end of the 2019-2020 school year (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $70 million to OSBM to be used for the continuity of operation needs across state government (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $70 million to the Department of Public Instruction to be allocated to local school administrative units, charter schools, and the Innovative School District to provide a supplemental summer learning program for students whose learning has been negatively affected by the impacts of COVID-19 (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $50 million to the OSBM to be used for the purchase of supplies and equipment necessary for life safety, health, and sanitation, such as ventilators, touch-free thermometers, gowns, disinfectant, and sanitizing wipes, and the purchase of personal protective equipment that meets the federal standards from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such as surgical and respiratory masks and gloves, as follows (Sec. 3.3):

• 50 percent to the North Carolina Healthcare Foundation; 

• 15 percent to the North Carolina Senior Living Association and the North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association, in equal amounts; 

• 10 percent to the North Carolina Medical Society to allocate to independent medical practices; and 

• 25 percent to the Department of Public Safety, Division of Emergency Management, to be allocated to meet the needs of the State Highway Patrol and North Carolina National Guard, and the remaining balance to be allocated among entities the Division deems essential to the state’s COVID-19 response. 

• Appropriates $50 million to the Department of Health and Human Services to provide funds for rural and underserved communities especially hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, to support health provider grants, targeted Medicaid assistance for rural hardship grants to nonhospital providers, enhanced telehealth services, transportation for critical services, and health care security for the uninsured (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $30 million to the Department of Public Instruction to be allocated to local school administrative units, charter schools, regional schools, and other elementary or secondary schools operated by the State Board of Education to purchase computers or other electronic devices for use by students (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $25 million to the Department of Health and Human Services to be used to expand public and private initiatives for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, and trends tracking and analysis (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $20 million to the Department of Health and Human Services to provide flexible funds to support local health departments, rural health providers, the State Laboratory of Public Health, and behavioral health and crisis services (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $15 million to the Department of Public Instruction to hold in reserve and award as grants to public school units that apply for funds to support extraordinary costs associated with providing Extended School Year Services or future services for exceptional children who qualify for these services due to the impacts of COVID-19 (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $11 million to the Department of Public Inspection to improve Internet connectivity for students in response to COVID-19 by providing community and home mobile Internet access points (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates $6 million to the Department of Health and Human Services to allocate equally among each of the 6 food banks in the state (Sec. 3.3).

• Appropriates the following funds for the rapid testing and development of a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine, community testing, antibody testing, and other COVID-19 research (Sec. 3.3):

• $15 million to the Duke University Human Vaccine Institute of the Duke University School of Medicine;

• $29 million to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and

• $15 million to the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University;

• $6 million to the Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine; and

• $20 million to Wake Forest University Health Services

Full Bill Text