Spread the love

The North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 1043 and Senate Bill 704 on Saturday. NC Governor Roy Cooper signed both the relief bills in to law on Monday, May 4 2020. The bills provide $1.6 billion in COVID-19 relief funding.

“I am signing into law two critical relief bills that will provide assistance to families, schools, hospitals and small businesses as our state battles COVID-19,” said Governor Cooper. “There is more work ahead of us, and I hope the spirit of consensus behind these bills will continue.”

NC House Speaker Tim Moore joined Gov. Cooper in the announcement. “North Carolina is leading the nation’s recovery through bipartisan consensus for swift action to assist every community in our state affected by this pandemic. I appreciate the successful collaboration among our legislative colleagues and the Governor to provide this powerful support for North Carolinians,” said Speaker of the House Tim Moore

The 70 pages of SB 704, includes an extensive section concerning schools.

Starting on page, SB 704 notes school calendars, which must be adopted by each local school administration. Following are some important dates.

An opening date for students of Aug. 17.
A closing date for students no later than June 11.
No remote instruction day shall be scheduled prior to Aug. 24.
School districts are required to submit their remote instruction plan to the State Board of Education no later than June 30, and that the state board submit a copy of each of these plans to a Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee by Sept. 15.

The relief package, which was passed unanimously, includes almost $1.6 billion in relief measures for critical expenditures related to public health and safety, educational needs, small business assistance, and continuity of state government operations. Of this amount, $1.4 billion has been appropriated and $150 million is set aside in a reserve fund for future local government needs.

The package also contains key policy changes to support North Carolinians as the state battles COVID-19.

HB 1043, the spending package, allocates federal funding sent to the state from the CARES Act. It includes:

$50 million to provide personal protective equipment and sanitation supplies
$25 million to support enhanced COVID-19 testing and tracing
$125 million in small business loans administered through the Golden LEAF Foundation
$50 million in health support for underserved communities including rural areas and minority communities
$95 million to support North Carolina hospitals
$20 million to support local health departments and the State Health Lab
$75 million for school nutrition programs
$70 million for summer learning programs
$30 million for local schools to purchase computers and other devices for students
$6 million for food banks
$9 million for rural broadband
$85 million for vaccine development, antibody testing, community testing, and other COVID-19-related research at Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, East Carolina University, Campbell University, and Wake Forest University.