Millions for new nonprofit, video game company in NC coronavirus bill

The two appropriations are part of a 16-page bill directing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal coronavirus stimulus funds, mostly to state and local government agencies. Both projects were proposed in other bills that failed to get traction in the General Assembly this year, and House and Senate budget writers tacked them into a bill that's sure to pass.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Harry Brown, R-Onslow, said both measures were House requests.

"The House got a little pot to spend, and we got a little pot of money to spend, and the House chose to spend it this way," Brown said.

Caitlyn's Courage is a nonprofit in Greenville named for Caitlyn Whitehurst, whose ex-boyfriend shot and killed her last year. Her family started the group to fight domestic violence, and the group held a gala to raise money last fall.

Under House Bill 1023, Caitlyn's Courage would get a $3.5 million grant to run a pilot project in at least nine North Carolina judicial districts. The effort would use GPS tracking devices to monitor people awaiting trial on stalking, sexual assault and domestic abuse charges.

The basics of the proposal have floated around the Legislative Building for several years. The bill calls for a 24-hour monitoring center that would contact victims if defendants violate domestic violence protection orders.

Advocates and lawmakers who've worked on domestic violence issues in the past at the statehouse said Tuesday that they weren't familiar with Caitlyn's Courage. Some noted that the funding would total more than the state puts in a year toward every rape crisis center in the state.

When Brown presented the bill in committee Tuesday, neither he nor staff could answer questions about the group.

"This was a House provision," he told state Sen. Valerie Foushee, D-Orange.

"That's a lot of money," Foushee replied, but the bill went through committee easily.

Rep. Perrin Jones, R-Pitt, filed a bill last month seeking funding for the project, but it asked only for $100,000 and would have been confined to one judicial district.

Jones didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. An interview request sent to an email address on the Caitlyn's Courage website and a phone message left for the group's registered agent also didn't get an immediate response.

State Sen. Don Davis, D-Pitt, said Tuesday he wasn't familiar with the group. By Wednesday morning he said he'd spoken to several people about it, including Caitlyn's father, Judson Whitehurst, who promised "every ounce" of state funding would go towards the monitoring project in 35 counties.

"Not one cent will go towards administration," Davis said Wednesday.

Asked on Tuesday whether the group could handle a project of this size, House Appropriations Co-Chairman Jason Saine, R-Lincoln, said he believed it could.

Saine also supported a line item in the bill that would fund a pilot program for Plasma Games, a Raleigh company that makes educational software. The bill earmarks $2.5 million to buy Plasma software to teach high school students about chemistry and physical science.

The company makes a video game that requires players to grasp various concepts to advance in the game. Saine, along with Rep. Craig Horn, R-Union, and late state Rep. Linda Johnson, backed a bill last year to fund the same project. The measure didn't get out of committee.

Asked why funding for Caitlyn's Courage and Plasma Games was added to a coronavirus bill instead of having to pass on their own, Saine said, "It’s the legislative process, and it’s where we’re at in the year."

This legislative session is expected to adjourn in the coming days. The bill justifies using coronavirus funding for the projects by noting the educational challenges students face from missing class time and the increased risk for domestic violence incidents due to various stay-at-home orders.