§ 143C‑9‑2.  Trust Fund for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services and Bridge Funding Needs.

(a) The Trust Fund for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services and Bridge Funding Needs is established as an interest‑bearing, nonreverting special trust fund in the Office of State Budget and Management. Moneys in the Trust Fund shall be held in trust and used solely to increase community‑based services that meet the mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services needs of the State. The Trust Fund shall be used to supplement and not to supplant or replace existing State and local funding available to meet the mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services needs of the State.

The State Treasurer shall hold the Trust Fund separate and apart from all other moneys, funds, and accounts. The State Treasurer shall be the custodian of the Trust Fund and shall invest its assets in accordance with G.S. 147‑69.2 and G.S. 147‑69.3. Investment earnings credited to the assets of the Trust Fund shall become part of the Trust Fund. Any balance remaining in the Trust Fund at the end of any fiscal year shall be carried forward in the Trust Fund for the next succeeding fiscal year.

Moneys in the Trust Fund shall be expended only in accordance with subsection (b) of this section and in accordance with limitations and directions enacted by the General Assembly.

(b) Moneys in the Trust Fund for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services and Bridge Funding Needs shall be allocated to area programs to be used only to:

(1) Provide start‑up funds and operating support for programs and services that provide more appropriate and cost‑effective community treatment alternatives for individuals currently residing in the State's mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services institutions.

(2) Repealed by Session Laws 2007‑323, s. 10.49(w1), effective July 1, 2007.

(3) Facilitate reform of the mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services system and expand and enhance treatment and prevention services in these program areas to remove waiting lists and provide appropriate and safe services for clients.

(4) Provide bridge funding to maintain appropriate client services during transitional periods as a result of facility closings, including departmental restructuring of services.

(5) Repealed by Session Laws 2007‑323, s. 10.49(w1), effective July 1, 2007.

(b1) The Dorothea Dix Hospital Property Fund is established as a separate fund within the Trust Fund. The Fund is established to receive the net proceeds from the sale of the Dorothea Dix Hospital property. Moneys in the Dorothea Dix Hospital Property Fund shall be allocated or expended only upon an act of appropriation by the General Assembly and shall not be subject to the limitations of the moneys in the Trust Fund for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services and Bridge Funding Needs as described in subsection (b) of this section.

(c) Notwithstanding G.S. 143C‑1‑2, any nonrecurring savings in State appropriations realized from the closure of any State psychiatric hospitals that are in excess of the cost of operating and maintaining a new State psychiatric hospital shall not revert to the General Fund but shall be placed in the Trust Fund and shall be used for the purposes authorized in this section. Notwithstanding G.S. 143C‑1‑2, recurring savings realized from the closure of any State psychiatric hospitals shall not revert to the General Fund but shall be credited to the Department of Health and Human Services to be used only for the purposes of subsections (b)(1) and (b)(3) of this section.

(d) Beginning July 1, 2007, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services shall report annually to the Fiscal Research Division on the expenditures made during the preceding fiscal year from the Trust Fund. The report shall identify each expenditure by recipient and purpose and shall indicate the authority under subsection (b) of this section for the expenditure. (2006‑203, s. 3; 2007‑323, s. 10.49(w1); 2015‑241, s. 12F.7(b).)