A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA TO DEVELOP STANDARDS FOR STATE AGENCIES TO USE WHEN DESIGNING AND IMPLEMENTING PILOT PROJECTS MANDATED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, to require the office of state budget and management to adopt rules implementing those standards, and to require all pilot projects mandated by the general assembly to use those standards, as recommended by the joint legislative program evaluation oversight committee.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  The School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (SOG) shall conduct research on existing evaluation standards and identify approaches for designing projects that collect appropriate and adequate data for sound evaluation of pilot projects. The SOG shall submit a preliminary report summarizing the research findings to the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee, the Director of the Program Evaluation Division, and the Office of State Budget and Management by December 1, 2017. The Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee shall provide feedback to the SOG on the preliminary report.
SECTION 1.(b)  The SOG shall coordinate a working group charged with developing standards for State agencies to use when designing and implementing pilot projects mandated by the General Assembly. The working group shall include representatives from State agencies and the constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina. The working group shall submit a report describing the proposed standards to the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee, the Director of the Program Evaluation Division, and the Office of State Budget and Management by December 1, 2018.
SECTION 1.(c)  The Legislative Services Commission, through the Legislative Services Officer, may allow the working group to hold meetings in the State Legislative Building or the Legislative Office Building.
SECTION 2.  Article 10 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 143‑162.3.  Pilot project standards.
(a)	Pilot Project Standards. – The Office of State Budget and Management shall adopt rules to implement standards proposed by the School of Government to guide evaluation of State agency pilot projects and shall report to the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee upon adoption of the rules as provided in this subsection. The standards proposed by the School of Government shall, at a minimum, offer a range of options for designing evaluations of pilot projects that take into consideration the agency's available resources and time.
(b)	Requirement. – Beginning June 1, 2019, and unless specifically exempted by law, all departments, agencies, bureaus, divisions, and institutions of the State shall conduct and complete pilot projects required by law by the General Assembly, in accordance with the rules adopted by the Office of State Budget and Management in subsection (a) of this section.
(c)	Updates. – The School of Government may prepare proposed updates to the rules established for pilot projects in subsection (a) of this section as it deems necessary. Proposed updates shall be presented to the Office of State Budget and Management for review and adoption. The Office of State Budget and Management shall report to the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee on any changes to the rules as provided in this subsection. The School of Government shall publish proposed updates to the rules on its Web site at least 90 days before the proposed rules are submitted to the Office of State Budget and Management.
(d)	As used in this section, "School of Government" shall mean the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.