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State
Government News
Other stories below:
State
revenues are up, but not enough
Utah
continues fighting North Carolina for extra seat in Congress
Judge
refuses to delay start of candidate filing period
BCBSNC’s
conversion to for-profit status moving forward
The
N.C. Department of Insurance returned as incomplete a filing
by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) for
conversion to a for-profit status. The plan, filed with the
department on Jan. 2, was returned Jan. 18. Specific areas of
concern listed by the department point to the business plan, a
confidential document under North Carolina insurance law.
Specifically, the department said the plan failed to include a
statutorily mandated premium rate analysis or a description of
how current BCBSNC subscribers would be protected.
In 1998, the North Carolina General Assembly adopted
legislation creating the procedure for a non-profit medical,
hospital or dental service corporation to convert to a public
company. The state insurance commissioner and attorney general
were given authority to approve a plan only if it is found to
be in the public's best interest.
The Department of Insurance has asked BCBSNC to proceed with
certain substantive negotiations while waiting for the filing
to be updated. Once a complete filing is submitted, the
statute gives the Department of Insurance 90 days to hold
public hearings on the potential conversion. The department
anticipates convening those hearings in Charlotte, Raleigh and
Wilmington.
Meanwhile, the state has begun the
process to create a health care foundation funded by BCBSNC’s
conversion to a for-profit company. Blue Cross must issue 100
percent of its stock to an independent, charitable foundation
that would be dedicated to promoting the health of North
Carolinians. Articles of incorporation and bylaws for such a
foundation, called the Health Care Foundation for North
Carolina, were filed N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper. It’s
estimated that the foundation will have initial holdings worth
an estimated $1 billion, essentially the market value of
BCBSNC at the time of conversion
A committee has been formed to find 11 board members for the
foundation. Attorney General Cooper will select the 11 initial
foundation board members from a list of 22 candidates
submitted by a nominating committee. The nominating committee
includes the following:
Appointed by NCCBI: Leslie Bevacqua, NCCBI vice
president of governmental affairs; Carla DuPuy, chair
of NCCBI’s Health Care Committee and an employee of Crescent
Resources; Smedes York, the president of York
Properties in Raleigh and a former NCCBI chairman.
Appointed by the N.C. Center for Nonprofits: Mary
Mountcastle, president of the Center for Community
Self-Help; Patricia Smith, executive director of the
Community Foundation of Western North Carolina; Jane
Kendall, president of the N.C. Center for Nonprofits.
Appointed by the UNC Board of Governors: Bert Collins,
president and CEO of N.C. Mutual Life Insurance Co.; Dr. Nancy
Chescheir of UNC-Chapel Hill; Craig Souza,
president of the N.C. Health Care Facilities Association.
Appointed by the N.C. Medical Society: Robert Seligson,
executive vice president and CEO of the N.C. Medical Society.
Appointed by the N.C. Hospital Association: Bill Pully,
president of the N.C. Hospital Association.
Anderson & Associates, an executive search firm based in
Charlotte, will assist the committee in its search for
nominees to serve on the board.
In selecting the board, consideration will be given to
ensuring that it represents the diversity of North
Carolina’s population. Members of the board will not be
compensated for their services except for a stipend to prepare
for and attend meetings. Applicants must be North Carolina
residents who have experience, education and expertise in one
or more of the following areas: health care, public health or
social welfare, asset management and investment, corporate
securities transactions, nonprofit organizations or
grantmaking foundations, or organization development or
management.
Those interested in serving on the board or in nominating
someone would submit a resume and a one-page cover letter to
Attorney General Roy Cooper, c/o Board Search-Health
Foundation for NC, 201 South Tryon Street Suite 130, P.M.B.
141, Charlotte, N.C. 28202.
State
revenues are up, but not enough
After
five months of its fiscal year, state revenue collections are
3 percent higher than at this time a year ago, but that’s
not enough to support the roughly 5 percent revenue growth
rate anticipated in the current budget. According to the
November revenue report supplied NCCBI by the State
Controller’s Office, total tax collections for the fiscal
year to date are $149 million greater than at this point last
fiscal year, paced by a 6 percent rise in individual income
tax collections (see chart above). Corporate income
taxes also are up substantially from last year. Gov. Mike
Easley has said he fears the state is headed for a revenue
shortfall of perhaps $900 million by the end of the fiscal
year and that drastic cuts in spending may be needed to
balance the budget.
Easley particularly pointed to sharply higher costs in the
Medicaid program. As the economy weakened, greater numbers of
people were seeking care under the program, he said. The
Medicaid shortfall currently is $108 million and is expected
to rise to $250 million by the end of the year.
The governor said options he is considering for balancing the
budget include:
 Borrowing $150
million from the $400 million remaining in the Hurricane Floyd
relief fund.
Taking some or
all of the $357 million now in the state's Rainy Day Fund.
Taking some or
all of the $125 million the state set aside in the Repairs and
Renovation Fund.
Applying to
current expenses some or all of the $250 million resulting
from the 4 percent across-the-board spending cut he ordered
state agencies to take last fall.
Observers noted that most states are facing similar budget
crises. Virginia and Georgia both are confronting
billion-dollar deficit and South Carolina is $300 million in
the red.
Utah continues fighting North
Carolina for extra seat in Congress
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Utah's
challenge to a statistical method used by the 2000 census that
gave North Carolina a 13th seat in Congress at the
expense of Utah. Utah is challenging the Census Bureau’s use
of imputation in which addresses on the bureau's master list
where no one has been contacted after multiple attempts are
assigned a number of occupants, based on the number of people
known to be living at similar addresses. Utah fell 857 people
short of qualifying for a new fourth seat in the House, a seat
that under the formula used to allocate representatives then
became a new 13th seat for North Carolina.
Judge refuses to delay start of
candidate filing period
Superior Court Judge Knox Jenkins has denied a bid by
state Republicans to delay the date when legislative
candidates can begin filing for office until a lawsuit is
considered which challenges the redistricting plan adopted by
the General Assembly. The Republicans’ lawsuit contends the
maps for House and Senate districts divide counties in
violation of the state constitution. They don’t want the
State Board of Elections to use the disputed maps when the
candidate filing period opens. Candidates will begin filing to
run for office Feb. 18 if the U.S. Justice Department decides
by then that the maps of new legislative and congressional
districts comply with the federal Voting Rights Act. The
state's primaries are currently scheduled for May 7.
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