Thanks to a pointer from Daniel Goldberg, here is the current version of the North Carolina bill to provide compensation for sterilization victims.
A key part of the bill is that each "qualified recipient" shall receive $50,000. A "qualified recipient" is: "An individual who was asexualized or sterilized under the authority of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina in accordance with Chapter 224 of the Public Laws of 1933 or Chapter 221 of the Public Laws of 1937, and who was living on March 1, 2010." So anyone -- without distinction regarding the circumstances -- who was sterilized by order of the Eugenics Board and surived until March 2010 is entitled to compensation.
The trusts and estates professor in me is particularly interested in this part of the bill, which excludes compensation as available assets for determination of eligibility for government assistance programs:
§ 143B‑426.56. Compensation excluded as income, resources, or assets.
(a) Any payment made under this section is not subject to income tax as provided in G.S. 105‑134.6(b)(23), nor to be considered income or assets for purposes of determining the eligibility for, or the amount of, any benefits or assistance under any State or local program financed in whole or in part with State funds.
(b) Pursuant to G.S. 108A‑26.1, the Department of Health and Human Services shall do the following:
(1) Provide income, resource, and asset disregard to an applicant for or recipient of public assistance who receives compensation under this Part. The amount of the income, resource, and asset disregard shall be equal to the total compensation paid to the individual from the Eugenics Sterilization Compensation Fund.
(2) Provide resource protection by reducing any subsequent recovery by the State under G.S. 108A‑70.5 from a deceased recipient's estate for payment of Medicaid‑paid services by the amount of resource disregard given under subdivision (1) of this subsection.
(3) Adopt rules to implement the provisions of subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection.
The historian in me is interested in the fact that records where identifying information has been redcated may be released to the public:
Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, an individual impacted by the program, or a guardian or authorized agent of that individual, may obtain that individual's records under the program upon execution of a proper release authorization.
There will be a public hearing on this next Tuesday afternoon in Raleigh. I'm going to be there.
For some brief background, take a look at this chapter from Moya Woodside's 1950 book Sterilization in North Carolina: A Sociological and Psychological Study, which details the basics of the sterilization law and its implementation. Woodside was quite sympathetic to eugenics, so the book needs to be read with that in mind, but this gives a good introduction from someone who studied the public health officials who were implementing the statute and those who were subject to it.
Previous discussion of steriliziation in North Carolina is here:
The Administrative Law of Sterilization
The Presumption of Constitutionality and Sterilization Legislation
Gauging Attitudes from Law Reviews: The Case of Sterilization
Designing Compensation for Sterilization Victims, part I
Thanks, Al. I'll still be here across the pond, but will look forward to your account of the hearing!
Posted by: Daniel S. Goldberg | May 19, 2012 at 01:55 PM
Well, the bill passed the House Judiciary Committee. So it's chugging along well now, it seems.
Posted by: Alfred Brophy | May 22, 2012 at 04:51 PM