March 24, 2023

Notable Activity

House Bill 76 Access to Healthcare Options, which would expand Medicaid in North Carolina, is one step closer to becoming law. The House voted to concur on the Senate version of the bill, and it now heads to Governor Cooper for his signature. Expansion is still contingent on the passage of the state budget.  

NCACC expects the House to release its two-year budget next week and approve it by the first week in April, indicating the General Assembly is on track to complete its budget process by the start of the fiscal year, July 1. General Assembly leaders have already agreed to a spending plan which includes a 6.5% increase in spending to $29.7 billion in year one and an additional 3.75% increase to $30.8 billion in year two.  

Legislation to Know

House Bill 205 Transparency Governance & Integrity Act – Makes changes to the open meetings laws related to the Council of State. Section 12 of the legislation contains the same provisions as House Bill 273, as previously reported. NCACC opposed these provisions and expects them to be removed when the bill has its next hearing in the House Finance Committee.  

The legislation also:  

1. Encourages financial management education for members of municipal and county governing boards and requires financial management education for members of these boards if the Local Government Commission (LGC) has assumed control of the unit’s financial management or if the unit is on the most recently published unit assistance list.  
2. Prohibits the LGC from disclosing personal identifiable information of individuals who have reported “improper governmental activity”  
3. Designates the capital reserve funds serve as capital reserve accounts and may only be amended by resolution.  
4. Provides that a local government or public authority by resolution, may establish by and maintain a fund balance reserve account in the general fund or in any public enterprise fund for the purpose of maintaining appropriate cash reserves and an adequate fund balance and limits the appropriations to the fund balance reserve account to no more than 5% of the total of all other appropriations for the same fund for which the fund balance reserve account has been established. 
5. Limits the security pledged by a county or municipality for a USDA loan to only that collateral being financed by that county or municipality and prohibits the prohibit a county or municipality from pledging a security interest for repayment of, or be liable for, loans entered into by any other county or municipality. 

House Bill 332 – Streamline Comm./Multifam.Bldg.Plan Review - Requires local governments to perform initial plan reviews and issue building permit decisions for commercial and multifamily building plans submitted within 21 days, or within 15 days from the receipt of additional requested information or a resubmitted plan. Provides third-party plan review alternatives. Upon issuance of applicable permits, releases the local government and inspection department from any liabilities, duties, and responsibilities imposed by statute, or in common law, from any claim arising out of, or attributed to, plans reviewed by third parties. The bill gained approval in the House Local Government – Land Use, Planning, and Development committee and now heads to the House Finance committee for further consideration. 

House Bill 428 Volunteer Firefighters Property Tax Exclusion – Expands property tax homestead exclusion relief to volunteer firefighters. Provides a hold harmless provision requiring county reimbursement by the state for the property excluded from taxation. The bill was filed this week. 

Counties Continue to Sign on to Receive Second Wave of National Opioid Settlement Funds Ahead of April Deadline

Counties across North Carolina continue to sign on to receive funds from a new wave of recently announced opioid litigation settlements with CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Allergan, and Teva. The NC Department of Justice announced these five new national opioid settlements last month, and the funds will total an additional $600 million to North Carolina state and local governments. This is in addition to the first round of settlements, which resulted in $750 million being distributed to the state and local governments – with 85 percent going to local governments. 

The distribution formula will mirror the original NC Memorandum of Agreement allocation model counties signed in 2021. To receive the settlement funds, counties need to take the following actions: 

• Each board of county commissioners must approve a resolution (sample available here) joining the settlements. Approving the resolution will authorize county staff to sign the settlement paperwork. 
• County staff need to sign all five settlements and the Supplemental Agreement for Additional Funds (SAAF). Docu-sign links will be provided to county staff (manager or attorney) to sign the agreements. Counties have until April 18 to join and sign the settlement agreements. 

We’re more than halfway there! 

At least 60 counties have signed on to the wave two agreements so far. To see a map of counties that have signed on, along with materials and resources, click here. Resources are also available on the More Powerful NC website. For more information and additional support, send a message to opioidsettlement@ncacc.org. 

March 27 'Opioid Strategies' Webinar Focuses on Early Intervention Programs 

The NCACC and NC Department of Health and Human Services are co-hosting a series of webinars on evidence-based, high-impact strategies that local governments may pursue to address the opioid overdose epidemic utilizing funds from the national litigation settlement. 

Registration is available for the Monday, March 27 session (3 – 4:30 p.m.), which will overview early intervention programs. Save the date for the April 24 session (also 3 – 4:30 p.m.) on recovery support services.

The most recent session, held February 27, provided an overview of reentry programs. The session and others are available within the library of on-demand webinars from the “Strategies to Address the Opioid Epidemic” series available at ncopioidsettlement.org. 

Apply by May 8: CDC Overdose 'Data to Action' Funding

On March 7, 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) announced a new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for drug overdose surveillance and prevention efforts. This funding opportunity, designed specifically for localities and territories, will help ensure broad resources and support to combat the evolving overdose crisis at all levels of government. This award will support a five-year cooperative agreement to expand and strengthen overdose surveillance and prevention efforts to reduce fatal and non-fatal overdoses involving opioids and/or stimulants and polysubstance use. Applications are due May 8, 2023. Visit CDC’s OD2A funding announcement webpage to access funding opportunities, webinar links and meeting passcodes, archived materials, and frequently asked questions. 

National Drinking Water Advisory Council: Request for Nominations

The  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking nominations to its federal advisory committee, the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC), particularly those individuals from the general public, state or local agencies concerned with public water supply, or private organizations or groups with an active interest in public water supply, including members associated with small, rural public water systems. Self-nominations are permitted. Nominate through the procedure described in the Federal Register notice. The deadline to apply is April 12, 2023. 

Update to Sales and Use Tax Distributions

The Department of Revenue recently notified NCACC, the NC League of Municipalities, and local governments about a temporary change in sales and use tax distributions. Due to a technical problem, DOR did not issue any sales and use tax refunds in February 2023; refunds resumed in early March. The delay in refunds means that counties’ April sales tax distributions will likely be higher than usual and May distributions lower than usual. As counties work on revenue projections through the end of the year and for the upcoming fiscal year, please take this disruption in distribution into account. As always, NCACC is here to help with county tax, budget, and finance issues; reach out to David Baker, Director of Tax and Finance Outreach, or Denise Canada, Fiscal and Policy Research Director. 

Sales Tax Update — March 2023

ARPA Resource Roundup — March 22, 2023

May 12 – Use of Social Media for Local Elected Officials 
The rules and practicalities of social media use for local elected officials can be confusing and confounding. In this 75-minute online class, you’ll learn about some bright lines of good and bad practices and improve your awareness of some of the murky areas around free speech.

May 16 – Working Together: Counties, School Boards, and Local Funding for Public Schools 
This one-day course provides an overview of the governance and funding structures of public schools in North Carolina. It focuses particularly on the relationship between counties and local school administrative units.

May 25 – Ethics for Elected Officials 
This online training will satisfy the two clock hours of local ethics training required by state law for elected and appointed officials. This training MUST be completed within 12 months of election day and is required every time they are re-elected or appointed and reappointed to a local office. 

Visit the NCACC Job Board for County Career Opportunities

Visit www.NCACC.org/jobs to view the NCACC online jobs board to view current openings or post a job opportunity. North Carolina counties can post positions for a discounted rate and may upgrade their position to a premium job posting to have their listing included here in the Weekly Update. 

• Town Manager — Town of Purcellville, VA 
• Emergency Medical Services Division Head — Onslow County 
• Vehicle Maintenance Director — Onslow County 
• Departmental IT Manager - Human Resources — Mecklenburg County Government 

Application Period for ReBuild NC Homeowner Recovery Program Closing April 21

The application period for the ReBuild NC Homeowner Recovery Program will close at 5 p.m. Friday, April 21, with available federal funding committed to applications currently in process and those expected in the weeks ahead. This is the last opportunity for eligible North Carolinians who have not yet submitted an application to apply for aid through the state’s HUD Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding for Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence. Click here for more information. 

Local Government Officials Invited to EV Demonstrations

In support of Governor Cooper's Executive Orders 246, 271, and the NC Clean Transportation Plan, NC State's Clean Energy Technology Center (CETC) works with fleet owners (including local governments) to educate, train, and provide technical assistance grant-seeking assistance for advanced cleaner transportation technologies. 

CETC is hosting two April events exclusively for local government staff and officials. Last year, Clean Transportation Demonstration Days represented the largest gathering of medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles in North Carolina history. Two separate events are scheduled for: 

• April 11 at the NC State Highway Patrol Training Facility in Garner (south Raleigh); and 
• April 12 at Coastal Plains Raceway Park in Jacksonville. 

Participation is free of charge; click here for details. Register here, making sure to advance to both pages of the form.