Here we go! The NCGA changed the LME Governance bill number from
HB 1075 to
SB 191. You need to care about this because NEW LANGUAGE WAS ADDED ABOUT GUARDIANS AND FAMILY MEMBERS WHO ARE ALLOWED TO BE PAID TO PROVIDE SERVICES. My comments are inserted in blue, after the sentence in question.
What this says is that after January 1st, 2013, NO FAMILY MEMBER WHO IS NOT A PARENT, BUT WHO IS A GUARDIAN WILL BE ALLOWED TO BE PAID TO PERFORM ANY SERVICES. Going forward, if you, the parent, falls over dead after January 1st, 2013, any family member you have ready to become the Guardian, WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO BE PAID TO PERFORM SERVICES. As long as the family member is NOT A GUARDIAN, they may be paid to perform services.
(f) An individual who contracts with or is employed by an entity that contracts with a local management entity (LME) for the delivery of mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services may not serve as a guardian for a ward for whom the individual or entity is providing these services, unless the individual is a parent of that ward. (That first sentence is fine.) The prohibition provided in this subsection shall not apply to a member of the ward's immediate family who is under contract with a local management entity (LME) for the delivery of mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services and is serving as a guardian as of January 1, 2013. (This is vague. It should have the same language as the first sentence: ... immediate family who contract with or is employed by an entity who contracts with a local management entity (LME) ...) For the purposes of this subsection, the term "immediate family" is defined as a spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, or grandchild. The term also includes stepparents, stepchildren, stepsiblings, and adoptive relationships."
I urge you to listen to the NCGA House Floor debate from yesterday afternoon, 06262012. Go to
http://ncleg.net/ and under House of Representatives, it lists these two tabs for audio:
Chamber Audio | (
Archive). Click on the Archive tab as shown and go to 06-26-2012 date and click it on. Or this link takes you there:
Once the audio player comes up. Hit the start button. You can move the audio forward to any point by moving the "slide tab" at the bottom. The recording is almost 4 hours. So, move it forward until the counter reads: 3:30:28 . That is where the discussion begins. It lasts about 11 minutes. (There is only about 10 minutes left in that 4 hour session.) IT IS IN THIS DISCUSSION THAT THEY DISCUSS THAT A "STUDY" OF GUARDIANSHIP ISSUES WILL BE DONE BEFORE THE NEXT SESSION CONVENES IN 2013. That study will generate MORE changes to be introduced in 2013.
TAKE ACTION TODAY! THIS WILL BE ON THE NC SENATE CALENDAR TODAY AND IF PASSED, WILL GO TO THE GOVERNOR FOR SIGNATURE! You must call or write the members of the NC Senate! Tell them you DO NOT AGREE with the proposed language. Tell them they should simply delete it ALL. Tell them that you AGREE with there being a "study" to determine what should happen going forward, but that they should leave well enough alone UNTIL AFTER THE STUDY! This is all too rushed and not heard or debated in committee.
p.s. If you would like, I have copied all of the changes in this language as it happened in the order it happened. It is a simple comparison if you want to copy and email it:
(f) An individual that contracts with a local management entity (LME) for the delivery18 of mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services may not serve as a 19 guardian for a ward for whom the individual is providing such services."
Page 12 House Bill 1075* H1075-PCS80378-SQ-80
6/5 House HHS Cmt
(f) An individual employed by an entity that contracts with a local management entity 49 (LME) for the delivery of mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse 50
services may not serve as a guardian for a ward for whom the individual is providing such 1 services."
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2011
H1075-PCS80384-SQ-83 House Bill 1075* Page 9
6/11 Senate MH & Y Cmt
(f) An individual who contracts with or is employed by an entity that contracts with a 43 local management entity (LME) for the delivery of mental health, developmental disabilities, 44 and substance abuse services may not serve as a guardian for a ward for whom the individual or 45 entity is providing these services, unless the individual is a parent of that ward."
Page 8 Senate Bill 191 S191-PCS15258-SQ-95
6/26 House HHS Cmt
6/26 House FLOOR Amend Adopted 1 (A1) is a scanned pdf of DOLLAR Amend:
| Vote History |
|---|
| Date | Subject | RCS # | Aye | No | N/V | Exc. Abs. | Exc. Vote | Total | Result |
|---|
| 06/26/2012 5:47PM | A1 Dollar\Second Reading | [H] - 1677 | 112 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 112 | PASSED |
| 06/26/2012 5:48PM | Second Reading | [H] - 1678 | 113 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 113 | PASSED |
Then there is the language in the pdf Dave Richard sent 6/27 that incorporates the DOLLAR Amendment:
(f) An individual who contracts with or is employed by an entity that contracts with a 43 local management entity (LME) for the delivery of mental health, developmental disabilities, 44 and substance abuse services may not serve as a guardian for a ward for whom the individual or 45 entity is providing these services, unless the individual is a parent of that ward. The prohibition 46 provided in this subsection shall not apply to a member of the ward's immediate family who is 47 under contract with a local management entity (LME) for the delivery of mental health, 48 developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services and is serving as a guardian as of 49 January 1, 2013. For the purposes of this subsection, the term "immediate family" is defined as 50
a spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, or grandchild. The term also includes stepparents, 1 stepchildren, stepsiblings, and adoptive relationships."
Senate Bill 191-Fourth Edition Page 9
6/26 House HHS Cmt (w/Dollar A1)
