Bill Summaries: H398 (2019-2020 Session)

Tracking:
  • Summary date: Nov 13 2019 - View summary

    The Governor vetoed the act on 11/08/19. The Governor's objections and veto message are available here: https://webservices.ncleg.net/ViewBillDocument/2019/6874/0/H398-BD-NBC-8370


  • Summary date: Oct 23 2019 - View summary

    House committee substitute deletes the provisions of the 2nd edition and now provides the following.

    Part I.

    States that the act's appropriations, appropriations made in SL 2019-230, and appropriations made by and other legislation enacted during the 2019 Regular Session expressly appropriated funds to the Department of Information Technology (DIT), are for maximum amounts necessary for services and purposes of DIT pursuant to the State Budget Act. Requires any savings to revert to the appropriate fund at the end of each fiscal year, except as otherwise provided by law.

    Appropriates from the General Fund for the DIT fiscal biennium budget $67,422,458 and $68,947,104 for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 fiscal years. 

    Deems state funds appropriated for each year of the 2019-21 fiscal biennium up to the specified amounts for all DIT budget codes listed in the Governor's Recommended Budget and the identified Budget Support Document, as adjusted in this act, and departmental receipts up to the amounts needed to implement the legislatively mandated salary increases and employee benefit increases provided in the act for each year of the fiscal biennium. Provides for overrealized receipts. Restricts expenditures to those legislatively authorized. 

    Details parameters for nonrecurring funds appropriated as directed grants, including that directed grants of more than $100,000 must be made in quarterly or monthly payments at the discretion of the Director of the Budget; directed grants do not revert until June 30, 2021; and directed grants are limited to nonsectarian, nonreligious purposes only. Sunsets these provisions on June 30, 2021.

    Part II.

    Allocates the following amounts of the funds appropriated to DIT from the General Fund: $3,903,912 in recurring funds and $10 million in nonrecurring funds for the 2019-20 fiscal year; and $5,428,558 in recurring funds and $10 million in nonrecurring funds for the 2020-21 fiscal year. Restricts use of the funds to seven specified purposes and amounts, including funding NC HealthConnex, the Criminal Justice Information Network, cybersecurity upgrades, Office of Administrative Hearings information technology support, data analytics positions, the state's integrated criminal justice data system (CJLEADS), and Montreat College's Cybersecuirty Regional Training Center.

    Makes reductions for each fiscal year of the biennium to the DIT requirements, including a $144,679 reduction in recurring funds and eliminating an IT Project Manager II position, effective July 1, 2019.

    Increases the requirements of the IT Reserve Fund, Government Data Analytics Center by $750,000 in nonrecurring funds for each year of the fiscal biennium for the NC Outcomes Longitudinal Data System.

    Part III.

    Amends Section 6A.4 of SL 2011-145, as amended, to transfer the specified administration and reporting duties of the Office of the State Controller concerning the Criminal Justice Law Enforcement Automated Data Services (CJLEADS) to the State Chief Information Office (State CIO). Makes conforming changes.

    Amends GS 143B-1350 to expand the exceptions set forth regarding competitive bidding requirements to include procurements of cybersecurity and infrastructure security products, consistent with Best Value procurement principles provided by existing State law.

    Amends GS 66-58.12 to exempt any electronic payments established by agencies for services from the statewide accounts receivable program requirements set out in GS 147-86.22. Further amends the statute to require prior approval of an agency's fee for electronic transactions by the State CIO, rather than the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM). Makes conforming changes.

    Part IV.

    Appropriates from the General Fund to OSBM, Statewide Enterprise Resource Planning, $7,636,694 and $42,363,306 for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 fiscal years to be transferred to the Office of State Controller to complete the development of the Statewide ERP information technology project.

    Appropriates from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) $12 million and $35,066,618 in nonrecurring funds for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 fiscal years to provide funding for the implementation of the School Business System Modernization Plan (Plan) as directed by SL 2017-57 (Appropriations Act of 2017). Of these funds, requires DPI to transfer $2.09 million for the 2019-20 fiscal year to the Government Data Analytics Center (GDAC) to leverage existing public-private partnerships to incorporate annual school report card data into the School Finance page of DPI's website. Also requires grade level and subject level EVAAS growth data for local school administrative units and individual schools to be made public on the page as well. Makes conforming increases to the School Business System Modernization budget.

    Directs GDAC to execute contracts and interagency data-sharing agreements necessary to accomplish the Plan required by SL 2017-57 by December 1, 2019. Directs DPI and GDAC to continue partnering to accomplish the continued development, deployment, and ongoing provision of a data integration service, as specified. Requires implementation to include development and deployment of a modern analytic platform and reporting environment. Also requires student projection data for future assessments and college readiness assessments to be made available to local school administrative units and individual schools through the EVAAS page of the DPI website, with hard copies also available to parents and guardians upon request.

    Part V.

    Reenacts and incorporates the provisions of GS Chapter 143C, the State Budget Act.

    Provides for parameters and application of the DIT biennial budget provided and adjusted by the act. Establishes that the legislative budget supersedes the budget certified by the Director of the Budget in the event line-items conflict. 

    Repeals Sections 37.1, 37.2, and 37.4 of HB 966 if that act becomes law.

    Specifies that SL 2019-209 (Pay Increases/State Employees), SL 2019-224 (Disaster Recovery - 2019 Budget Provisions), and any other enactments affecting the State budget during the 2019 Regular Session remain effective except where expressly repealed or amended.

    Defines the scope of the act to funds appropriated for and activities occurring during the 2019-21 fiscal biennium unless clearly indicated otherwise.

    Clarifies the effect of the act's headings.

    Includes a severability clause.

    Part VI.

    Effective July 1, 2019.

    Makes conforming changes to the act's titles.


  • Summary date: Apr 9 2019 - View summary

    House committee substitute to the 1st edition makes a clarifying change.


  • Summary date: Mar 19 2019 - View summary

    Amends GS 143B-1373 by adding an appropriation each fiscal year of $15 million from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund to the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology Fund for administering the GREAT program (Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology program). Expires on June 30, 2029.

    Amends GS 143B-1373 concerning the GREAT program, as follows. Amends the definition of an eligible project to specify that if a project area is within more than one county, the project is deemed to be located in the county where the greatest number of unserved households will be served. Current law provides that project areas comprised of census blocks, or portions thereof, within which a broadband provider is receiving State or federal matching funds to deploy technologically neutral scalable broadband service within the next 18 months are ineligible for the GREAT program. Adds that upon the expiration of the 18-month period a private provider receiving state or federal matching funds to deploy broadband service must submit written documentation that the deployment has begun or been completed in the census blocks, or portions thereof, that have been deemed ineligible due to the existence of a federally funded project area. Amends the grant application requirements to require submitting any publicly available addresses for any homes, businesses, community anchor points, agricultural operations, or agricultural processing facilities that will have broadband access as a result of the project. Specifies that a wireless provider submitting an application  bears that burden of proof that the proposed service area can in fact be served using wireless technology; sets out ways the burden may be satisfied. Adds that upon submission of satisfactory evidence that the proposed project area includes households with a minimum upload and download speed of 10:1, the Broadband Infrastructure Office may amend an application to reduce the number of unserved households in the project area to reflect an accurate level of current service. Amends the base speed multiplier used when scoring project applications by adding in a multiplier for minimum download:minimum upload ratios of 100:10 Mbps. or greater.

    Makes conforming changes to the Use of funds in the State Capital and Infrastructure Funds in GS 143C-4-3.1.