AN ACT to appropriate funds to the NOrth Carolina area health education centers program to improve recruitment, training, and retention of medical students and medical professionals in rural areas.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina for the 2025‑2026 fiscal year the sum of seven hundred fifty thousand dollars ($750,000) in recurring funds to be allocated to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers Program (NC AHEC). NC AHEC shall use these funds to improve recruitment, training, and retention of medical students and medical professionals in rural areas of North Carolina by doing all of the following:

(1)        Regularly convening all area health education centers and other relevant stakeholders to share information and establish best practices.

(2)        Establishing a statewide, publicly accessible database of the information shared and established pursuant to subdivision (1) of this section.

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2025.