GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

1983 SESSION

CHAPTER 715

HOUSE BILL 1130

AN ACT TO CLARIFY THE RAPE VICTIM ASSISTANCE PROGRAM BY SPECIFYING THAT AMBULANCE AND MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING COSTS ARE COVERED AND TO PROVIDE APPROVED KITS FOR THE COLLECTION OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE IN RAPE CASES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 143B-480.2(a) is amended by rewriting the second sentence to read as follows:

"Assistance is limited to immediate and short-term medical expenses, ambulance services, and mental health services provided by a professional licensed or certified by the State to provide such services, not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) incurred by the victim for the medical examination, medical procedures to collect evidence, or counseling treatment which follow the attack, or ambulance services from the place of the attack to a place where medical treatment is provided."

Sec. 2.  143B-480.2(b) is rewritten to read as follows:

"Assistance for expenses authorized under this section is to be paid directly to any hospital, ambulance service, attending physicians, or mental health professionals providing counseling, upon the filing of proper forms."

Sec. 3.  G.S. 143B-480.3 is amended by adding a new subsection (d) to read:

"(d)      Funds appropriated to the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety for this program may be used to purchase and distribute rape evidence collection kits approved by the State Bureau of Investigation."

Sec. 4.  This act is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 11th day of July, 1983.