AN ACT to require the veterans' affairs commission to adopt a comprehensive strategic plan to enhance benefits for veterans and their dependents AND to require the department of military and veterans affairs to study program outcomes for military veterans and their families.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Article 14 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 143B‑1221.1.  Strategic plan.
(a)	Strategic Plan. – The Veterans' Affairs Commission shall adopt a comprehensive strategic plan to enhance benefits for veterans and their dependents. The strategic plan shall include specific objectives related to the following topics:
(1)	Improving accessibility of health, education, training, counseling, financial, and burial benefits and services to veterans and their dependents.
(2)	Increasing the satisfaction of veterans and their dependents with benefits and services by meeting their expectations for availability, quality, timeliness, and responsiveness.
(3)	Educating and empowering veterans and their dependents through proactive outreach and effective advocacy.
(4)	Any other topic related to enhancing benefits for veterans and their dependents.
(b)	Update, Review, and Report. – The Commission shall update this plan every four years. The Commission shall annually review the State's performance based on this plan and shall annually report the results of its review to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on General Government."
SECTION 2.  The Veterans' Affairs Commission shall adopt a strategic plan by November 1, 2018. The Veterans' Affairs Commission shall complete its first annual review and its first annual report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on General Government by November 1, 2019. The Veterans' Affairs Commission shall complete its first update of the strategic plan by November 1, 2022.
SECTION 3.  The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs shall study potential methods for documenting, collecting, and analyzing the outcomes for individual military veterans and their families in this State of the various programs designed to serve them and shall report its findings and recommendation to the chairs of the Senate and House of Representatives appropriations subcommittees on general government no later than December 1, 2017.
SECTION 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 31st day of May, 2017.

	s/	 Bill Rabon
	 Presiding Officer of the Senate

	s/	 Tim Moore
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Roy Cooper
	 Governor

Approved 11:14 a.m. this 8th day of June, 2017