§ 111-29.  Expenditure of equalizing funds; grants affording maximum federal aid; lending North Carolina reports.

In addition to the powers and duties imposed upon the Department of Health and Human Services, the said Department shall be and hereby is charged with the powers and duties hereinafter enumerated; that is to say:

(1) The Department of Health and Human Services is hereby authorized to expend such funds as are appropriated to it as an equalizing fund for aid to the needy blind for the purpose of equalizing the financial burden of providing relief to the needy blind in the several counties of the State, and equalizing the grants received by the needy blind recipients. Such amount shall be expended and disbursed solely for the use of the needy blind coming within the eligibility provisions outlined in Chapter 124 of the Public Laws of 1937. Said amount shall be distributed to the counties according to the needs therein in conformity with the rules and regulations adopted by the Commission for the Blind, producing as far as possible a just and fair distribution thereof.

(2) The Department of Health and Human Services is hereby authorized to make such grants to the needy blind of the State as will enable said Department to receive the maximum grants from the federal government for such purpose.

(3) The Department of Health and Human Services is hereby authorized to work out plans with the Secretary of State for lending to needy blind lawyers volumes of the North Carolina reports in his custody that are unused or have become damaged. The Secretary of State is hereby authorized to lend such reports to the Department of Health and Human Services for relending to needy blind lawyers. Such reports may be recalled at any time by the Secretary of State upon giving 15 days' written notice to the Department of Health and Human Services which shall remain responsible for said reports until they are returned. The Department shall relend such reports only to blind lawyers, who, after an investigation by the Department, are determined to have no income, or an income insufficient to purchase such reports. (1943, c. 600; 1973, c. 476, s. 143; 1997-443, s. 11A.118(a).)