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Read. Follow. Verify.North Carolina appropriates $7.5 million annually to expand child care mental health services and establishes special fund
Last action · March 27, 2025: Ref to the Com on Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House (House action)Sponsors: Donny Lambeth and 17 others
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What This Bill Would Do
North Carolina appropriates $7,500,000 in for each of the 2025-2027 biennium to the Department of Health and Human Services to expand mental and behavioral health services in child care and out-of-school programs through the North Carolina Partnership for Children, Inc. The measure also establishes a special fund for the Partnership, exempts the new allocations from certain administrative and match requirements, and sets reporting deadlines for March 2026 and November 2027.
Child care facilities, local partnerships, and out-of-school programs receive state funding explicitly dedicated to mental and behavioral health initiatives for children, families, and staff, with specific reporting obligations and exemptions from standard administrative cost caps.
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
North Carolina Partnership for Children, Inc.
Receives $7,500,000 annually for the 2025-2027 biennium, is required to submit progress and final reports, and manages the newly established special fund.
Department of Health and Human Services
Receives the appropriations, oversees the special fund, and receives annual financial status reports from the NCPC.
Children, families, and staff in child care facility settings and out-of-school programs
Eligible to receive expanded mental and behavioral health services provided by local partnerships using the appropriated funds.
Key Facts
- Appropriates $7,500,000 in nonrecurring funds from the ARPA Temporary Savings Fund for each fiscal year of the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium.
- Allocates funds to the North Carolina Partnership for Children, Inc. (NCPC) via the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Child Development and Early Education.
- Requires NCPC to spend funds in specific budget codes: PSC 5415 Health Care Access and Support, PSC 5505 Parent Education, PSC 3125 Quality Child Care, and PSC 5509 Parents as Teachers.
- Mandates that funds supplement and not supplant existing Smart Start partnership behavioral health spending.
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- Provides that appropriated funds do not revert at the end of the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium but remain available until expended.
- Requires NCPC to submit a progress report by March 15, 2026, and a final report by November 15, 2027, to legislative oversight and DHHS.
- Exempts additional allocated funds from specific administrative cost requirements, child care services funding requirements, child care subsidy expansion requirements, and match requirements.
- Establishes the North Carolina Partnership for Children, Inc., Special Fund as an interest-bearing, nonreverting special fund in DHHS.
- Allows NCPC to hold cash in excess of incurred expenditures at the end of each fiscal year up to five million dollars ($5,000,000), notwithstanding G.S. 147-86.11.
- Requires NCPC to provide an annual financial status report to DHHS by August 1 of each year.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much money does the bill appropriate for child care mental and behavioral services?
Who receives the distributed funds to administer the services?
What reporting requirements are mandated by the measure?
What is the newly established special fund?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
3 actions- Mar 27, 2025HouseRef to the Com on Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
- Mar 27, 2025HousePassed 1st Reading
- Mar 26, 2025HouseIntroducedFiled
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Show 13 more sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Use of ARPA Temporary Savings Fund
Funding is sourced from the ARPA Temporary Savings Fund established in S.L. 2023-7 rather than general recurring revenues.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.ncleg.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance65How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy15Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz25Current news / social attention level
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