House Bill 349 updates North Carolina law governing health care powers of attorney and advance health care directives, including the statutory forms used for those documents. It revises witness and notary language, clarifies who may serve as a notary or witness, and updates the instructions and form text for both a health care power of attorney and a living will. The bill also authorizes filing these documents electronically with the Secretary of State’s Advance Health Care Directive Registry, while continuing to allow hard-copy filing.
The bill further adds a new requirement in the education code for nursing services provided under a child’s individualized education program (IEP). When a student’s IEP requires nursing services, a local school system must allow the parent’s chosen nurse to provide those services if the nurse was already serving the child before the IEP requirement or before enrollment, is employed by a nursing agency, meets the district’s contract standards, and costs no more than other contracted nurses. The bill states that this does not reduce the school system’s duty to provide a free appropriate public education.
Impact
The bill amends multiple statutes: G.S. 32A-16 and 32A-25.1 on health care powers of attorney, G.S. 90-321 on advance directives for a natural death, G.S. 130A-466 and 130A-468 on registry filing procedures, and G.S. 115C-111.2 on special education contracting for nursing services. It expands filing options to electronic submission, requires notarization for registry submissions even when not otherwise required for validity, and directs the Secretary of State to process and store these documents in the registry database. In schools, it creates a parent-choice option for certain IEP-related nursing services, subject to agency, licensing, and cost conditions.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests broad support for the bill, with the House second reading passing 112-0. No committee transcript excerpts were provided, and there is no recorded opposition in the materials supplied. The overall posture of the bill appears favorable and largely noncontroversial, likely because it combines administrative updates to advance directive law with a parent-choice provision for school nursing services.
Contention
The main policy issue is the new parent-choice requirement for IEP nursing services. Potential concerns would center on whether allowing a parent-selected nurse could complicate school staffing, contracting, or cost control, although the bill limits the option to nurses already familiar with the child, employed by a nursing agency, and no more expensive than other contracted nurses. On the health-care directive side, the changes are mostly technical and procedural, with little apparent controversy in the materials provided, though the requirement that registry filings be notarized could be a point of administrative concern for some users.