Hello reader,

The legislative building can be filled with, well… politics. Backroom deals, posturing, jockeying for votes. As we know, much of the budget negotiation took place behind closed doors. 

But this week, I’d like to bring you a story about how lawmakers spent time to transparently identify a problem and draft a measure to try to address it. Such is the story, one could argue, about House Bill 1104, a measure to overhaul North Carolina’s involuntary commitment policies.

The state House assembled a special committee to review those policies last year after the killing of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who was murdered on a light rail train in Charlotte. Then, this year, Raleigh school teacher Zoe Welsh was killed in a home invasion. Both men facing murder charges in their deaths had histories of mental illness.

Over the course of five months, lawmakers heard from psychiatrists, judges, law enforcement officers, and leaders of behavioral health care facilities about how involuntary commitment works and whether it could be better at preventing these tragic deaths.

And when the legislature reconvened in April, state Rep. Timothy Reeder, an emergency medicine doctor and co-chair of the special committee, drafted the bill. It went through six different versions before it went to final votes in the state House and Senate at the end of June. It passed the House 105-10 and the Senate 45-3.

Every lawmaker in Raleigh will tell you that no bill is perfect. But House Bill 1104’s journey is a lesson in how the system is supposed to work.

Gov. Josh Stein signed the bill this week after it got overwhelming bipartisan support in both the state House and Senate, though there are lingering concerns from advocacy groups like Disability Rights NC about whether judges use involuntary commitment too often.

I’ve written about how the bill changes the involuntary commitment process and some of the challenges of implementing it, including the ongoing shortage of psychiatric hospital beds in North Carolina.

Do you have questions about the bill or the legislative process? Send me a note.

As always, thanks for reading! 

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BY THE NUMBERS

• 180: maximum number of days a judge could order someone into outpatient commitment, up from 90 days

• 3: types of programs included in the bill designed to help defendants who are deemed unfit to stand trial understand the judicial process

• 4: maximum number of months a defendant can initially be entered into those programs

• 6: times the House Select Committee on Involuntary Commitment and Public Safety met before writing the bill

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LATEST FROM NC LOCAL

New program provides financial aid for workforce training, but few NC community college courses qualify

A student enrolled in Davidson-Davie Community College’s truck driver training program backs a tractor-trailer into a parking space during a class in June. Credit: Jacob Biba/NC Local

Are you looking for a new career possibility? Perhaps wanting to train in a different field? 

A new federal financial aid program designed to help low- and moderate-income students pay for short-term workforce training programs launched this month with promises to help. The money could be used for shorter-term programs like nurse aide certification and CDL truck driver training.

But our reporting found community colleges in North Carolina are struggling to find courses that meet the program’s strict eligibility requirements for approval.

Less than 1%, or 330, of the approximately 50,000 short-term program sections offered last year across the state’s community colleges met all federal eligibility requirements for Workforce Pell, according to our analysis.

“This is what happens when a program gets rolled out and has a very tight implementation timeline,” said Lee Bray, a member of the system’s Workforce Pell implementation team and head of financial aid at Pitt Community College in Winterville. She said just one program at Pitt — out of about 25 — initially meets program requirements.  

“I’m not exactly sure how beneficial this will be to students, only because I don’t know how many programs are even going to qualify for it,” she added.

This story is the first in our partnership with Open Campus. Do you have questions or ideas about North Carolina's Community Colleges? Let our Community Colleges Reporter Jacob Biba know.

HEARD IN THE HALLS

“We made that difficult decision to [lower our rate request]
in light of the affordability concerns
that we hear from our customers.”

-Kendal Bowman, president of Duke Energy’s utility operations in North Carolina, in testimony before the NC Utilities Commission this week

TAKING SHAPE

Are your power bills going up as the extreme heat in North Carolina continues? A state regulatory body is considering a decision that could make your electricity costs higher. 

The North Carolina Utilities Commission is entering the final stage in its review of Duke Energy’s request to raise home electricity rates. There’s been a lot written about this proposal, but we were also curious about who is making this call and how they function. 

The commission, made up of five members, is holding judicial-style hearings in Raleigh, where Duke Energy and consumer advocates can call witnesses to testify about the company’s finances and ultimately whether their request to raise rates by 11.6% over the next two years is reasonable. Duke Energy recently lowered their request after initially asking for 18%.

Thousands of customers have weighed in via the public comment portal, most of whom have said they fear they won’t be able to pay their bills if the rate hike takes effect next year.

These expert witness hearings can take weeks, so the commission likely won’t make a decision until late August or September. Learn about who’s on the commission and how they make their decisions as well as how you can weigh in on this important topic.

ON THE CALENDAR

• Now through Sunday: The Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in Linville. This annual gathering features Scottish music, dancing, food, competitions, bagpipes and more in MacRae Meadows.

• Today and Saturday: North Carolina Blackberry Festival in Lenoir. Downtown Lenoir celebrates blackberries with music, vendors, kids activities, and a blackberry eating contest.

• Saturday: Raleigh’s All-American Summer Festival. Downtown Raleigh hosts a free America 250-themed celebration at City Plaza with food trucks, live music, and carnival games.

• Today through Saturday: Big Rock Kids Billfish Tournament in Morehead City. Young anglers take part in this annual offshore fishing competition, which also benefits the Boys & Girls Club of the Coastal Plains.

DO YOU KNOW NC?

Last week’s question and answer:

The North Carolina flag has two dates on it tied to the state's push for independence from Great Britain. Which date is associated with the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence?

A. May 20, 1775

This week’s question:

Duke Energy adopted its current name in 1997. What was the utility called when it first started in 1905?

A. Duke Power Company

B. Southern Power Company

C. Carolina Electric Company

D. Piedmont Power & Light

Check next week's email for the answer!

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