Office of State Human Resources/Various State Human Resources Act Changes.

This amendment to House Bill 223 allows the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to permanently hire certain temporary employees without going through the standard state hiring process. To qualify for this streamlined hiring, a temporary worker must have held a substantially equivalent role for at least six months with satisfactory performance and must have been hired through the Office of State Human Resources Temporary Solutions Program. The provision applies only to positions with an annual salary of $80,000 or less and exempts the hiring from most requirements like public job postings and interviews, though it still mandates background checks and other standard pre-employment conditions. This authority is set to expire 180 days after the law is enacted, and the department must report on the number and types of positions filled under this program by July 1, 2025.