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Read. Follow. Verify.North Carolina Omnibus Bill Expands IDD Services, Direct Care Wages, Housing Vouchers, and School Restraint Rules
Last action · April 14, 2025: Ref to the Com on Appropriations, if favorable, Finance, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House (House action)Sponsors: Zack Hawkins and 21 others
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What This Bill Would Do
North Carolina House Bill 933 implements recommendations from the Legislative Joint Caucus for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities by increasing Medicaid wage rates for direct care workers to a minimum of $18 per hour, funding 1,000 additional slots, updating Medicaid buy-in rules, banning prone physical restraints in public schools, and establishing grants and housing programs starting July 1, 2025.
The measure commits hundreds of millions in state and federal funds over the biennium to raise wages for home and community-based service workers, adds new housing rental vouchers and Medicaid waiver slots for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and alters disciplinary policies across public school units.
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.
Direct care workers
Direct care workers stand to receive increased hourly wages through Medicaid rate adjustments implemented by providers.
Medicaid beneficiaries with intellectual or developmental disabilities
Individuals with developmental disabilities are affected by increased waiver slots, proposed new community activity services, and state rental assistance vouchers.
Public school students and teachers
Public school students and staff are subject to new prohibitions on prone restraint, updated parental notification rules, and mandatory continuing education credits for teachers regarding seclusion and restraint.
Key Facts
- The Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health Benefits (DHB), shall provide a Medicaid rate increase to home- and community-based providers, ICF/IIDs, and Innovations waiver providers to assist in raising direct care hourly wages to a minimum of $18.00.
- There is appropriated from the General Fund to DHB the sum of $183,000,000 in recurring funds for each year of the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium, matching $335,000,000 in recurring federal funds, to support direct care wage increases.
- DHB must amend the North Carolina Innovations waiver to increase available slots by a minimum of 1,000 slots, supported by an appropriation of $36,000,000 in state recurring funds and $65,000,000 in federal funds annually for the 2025-2027 biennium.
- DHB shall submit documentation to CMS to remove the unearned income limit and resource limit from eligibility requirements for the Health Coverage for Workers with Disabilities Medicaid category.
Show all 10 facts
- Physically restraining a student in a prone position is prohibited in public schools under amendments to G.S. 115C-391.1.
- Teachers must complete at least one continuing education credit on the use of seclusion and restraint, including State policies, safe techniques, and trauma-informed practices.
- The State Board of Education must report suspension, expulsion, and alternative placement rates via a publicly accessible electronic dashboard by March 15 of each year.
- The University of North Carolina Board of Governors receives an appropriation of $25,000,000 in recurring funds for each year of the 2025-2027 biennium for the Personal Education Student Accounts for Children with Disabilities Program.
- The Department of Public Instruction shall establish a grant program for local school administrative units to cover extraordinary costs of certain students with disabilities from the Special State Reserve Fund, backed by a $1,000,000 recurring appropriation for the 2025-2026 school year.
- The Secretary of the Department of Transportation shall create and administer the Office of Accessible Transportation and Mobility.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the target minimum wage for direct care workers under this bill?
How many new slots will be added to the North Carolina Innovations waiver?
Are prone physical restraints banned in North Carolina public schools under this legislation?
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- Apr 14, 2025HouseRef to the Com on Appropriations, if favorable, Finance, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
- Apr 14, 2025HousePassed 1st Reading
- Apr 10, 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 17 more sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Comprehensive Omnibus Approach for IDD Services
The bill coordinates multi-agency funding and regulatory shifts across Medicaid, education, housing, and transportation simultaneously to implement recommendations from the Legislative Joint Caucus for IDD.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.ncleg.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance90How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy25Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz60Current news / social attention level
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