---
type: "Bill"
title: "Improving NC Rural Health."
description: "Improving NC Rural Health."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nc"
legislature: "North Carolina General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 998"
citation: "North Carolina HB 998 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["DENTISTRY", "DENTISTS", "DHHS", "ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT", "EDUCATION", "GENERAL ASSEMBLY", "HEALTH SERVICES", "HOSPITALS", "INSURANCE", "INSURANCE", "HEALTH", "LEGISLATIVE SERVICES OFFICE", "MEDICAID", "MEDICARE", "OCCUPATIONS", "PHYSICIANS", "POVERTY", "PRESENTED", "PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION", "PUBLIC", "RATIFIED", "REPORTS", "RURAL DEVELOPMENT", "SALARIES & BENEFITS", "SOCIAL SERVICES", "STATE EMPLOYEES", "STUDIES", "TEACHERS", "TITLE CHANGE", "STATE HEALTH PLAN", "CHAPTERED", "PROGRAM EVALUATION DIVISION"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lewis", "Murphy", "White"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 37
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2018-05-23"
last_action: "2018-06-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f5e5a8cb-d250-47de-888d-6d5545a44ded"
source_url: "http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2017&BillID=H998&votesToView=all"
source_hash: "bb2c97cb5141eb1efca337022c42ee861aee21c64237708e76a974117cd24928"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-nc"]
---

# North Carolina HB 998 (2017) — Improving NC Rural Health.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Filed** (filed) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H998v0.pdf)
2. **A1: ASH-36-V-1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://webservices.ncleg.net/ViewBillDocument/2017/6675/0/H998-ASH-36-V-1)
3. **A3: ASH-40-V-2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://webservices.ncleg.net/ViewBillDocument/2017/6724/0/H998-ASH-40-V-2)
4. **A5: Scanned Document** (committee substitute) — [source](https://webservices.ncleg.net/ViewBillDocument/2017/6722/0/H998-A-NBC-2403)
5. **Edition 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H998v1.pdf)
6. **Edition 2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H998v2.pdf)
7. **Edition 3** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H998v3.pdf)
8. **Edition 4** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H998v4.pdf)
9. **Ratified** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H998v5.pdf)
10. **SL 2018-88** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/House/PDF/H998v6.pdf)

## Votes

- Second Reading — **44–0** (pass) · upper
- M11 Concur — **94–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Lewis — primary (person)
- Murphy — primary (person)
- White — primary (person)
- B. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
- Farmer-Butterfield — cosponsor (person)
- Fisher — cosponsor (person)
- Floyd — cosponsor (person)
- Grange — cosponsor (person)
- Harrison — cosponsor (person)
- Hunter — cosponsor (person)
- Insko — cosponsor (person)
- John — cosponsor (person)
- Lucas — cosponsor (person)
- Muller — cosponsor (person)
- Pierce — cosponsor (person)
- Reives — cosponsor (person)
- Yarborough — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-06-25** Ch. SL 2018-88 `became-law`
- **2018-06-25** Signed by Gov. 6/25/2018 `executive-signature`
- **2018-06-15** Pres. To Gov. 6/15/2018 `executive-receipt`
- **2018-06-15** Ratified
- **2018-06-14** Ordered Enrolled
- **2018-06-14** Concurred In S Com Sub `amendment-passage`
- **2018-06-14** Added to Calendar
- **2018-06-14** Cal Pursuant 36(b)
- **2018-06-14** Special Message Received For Concurrence in S Com Sub
- **2018-06-14** Special Message Sent To House
- **2018-06-14** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-06-14** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2018-06-14** Placed on Today's Calendar
- **2018-06-14** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-13** Re-ref Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-13** Com Substitute Adopted
- **2018-06-13** Reptd Fav Com Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-12** Re-ref to Health Care. If fav, re-ref to Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-12** Withdrawn From Com
- **2018-06-12** Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-12** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2018-06-12** Special Message Received From House
- **2018-06-12** Special Message Sent To Senate
- **2018-06-11** Ordered Engrossed
- **2018-06-11** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-06-11** Amend Adopted A5 `amendment-passage`
- **2018-06-11** Amendment Ruled Out of Order A4
- **2018-06-11** Amend Adopted A3 `amendment-passage`
- **2018-06-07** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2018-06-07** Amend Failed A2 `amendment-failure`
- **2018-06-07** Amend Adopted A1 `amendment-passage`
- **2018-06-06** Placed On Cal For 06/07/2018
- **2018-06-06** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2018-06-06** Reptd Fav Com Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-05-24** Ref To Com On Health `referral-committee`
- **2018-05-24** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2018-05-23** Filed `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f5e5a8cb-d250-47de-888d-6d5545a44ded`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official North Carolina legislature records).