2023 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Week 3
Last week at the North Carolina Legislature was met with abortion protections and a medication abortion lawsuit, transgender healthcare arguments, medical marijuana legalization legislation, and school social work salary advocacy in Wake County. Democrats in both chambers filed bills (SB 12) (HB19) to codify Roe v. Wade into North Carolina law. A federal appeals court began hearing oral arguments on a federal judge’s order to require the State Health Plan to cover medical treatment for transgender individuals. In New Hanover County, two school board members voted to remove language from policies protecting transgender athletes from participating in sports that align with their gender identity. Members from both parties pushed to legalize medical marijuana by introducing the Compassionate Care Act (SB 3) into the Senate. School social workers in Wake County advocate for increased pay in front of the Wake County School Board. See more below.
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SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED! North Carolina Social Work Advocacy Day!
After two years of an entirely virtual program, the 2023 North Carolina Social Work Advocacy Day will be in-person in Raleigh on Wednesday, March 1, 2023! We are so excited to share in-person space with you and collectively advocate for issues that affect social work, our clients and our communities.
Space is limited so be sure to register TODAY: https://www.naswnc.org/event/2023SocialWorkAdvocacyDay
Attendees are HIGHLY encouraged to attend the Free Webinar: 2023 NASW-NC Legislative Agenda and Advocacy 101: Advocating for Social Work and Social Justice in 2023 on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at noon Eastern. This will be a live webinar open to everyone. This webinar will be recorded for later viewing. 1 hour of CE is available to attendees of the webinar. Registration is separate for this webinar.
School Social Worker Pay
Wake County school social workers who help struggling families say they’re the ones now who are struggling financially and need a pay raise. Multiple school social workers have spoken at Wake County school board meetings since December about how low pay is causing some colleagues to go to food pantries or quit the district.
The social workers say one way to help is to restore the extra pay that used to be provided to all school social workers who held master’s degrees. “Please consider the financial struggles that our dedicated, highly trained school social workers of Wake County have expressed to you,” Megan Pohl, a school social worker, said at a school board meeting this month. Wake County school leaders say they’re looking into the issue. A question for Wake is whether to fund the extra pay itself or instead hope the state will restore the benefit it used to provide.
“We anticipate that the board will request additional information about the status of master’s pay during the upcoming budget season for all educators who were impacted by the state’s change in 2013,” Lisa Luten, a district spokesperson, said in an email. School social workers help identify the barriers that are keeping students from succeeding academically. This includes mental health referrals, suicide risk assessments and helping families with needs such as food and housing.
Source: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article271377982.html
Abortion Protections
Democrats in both chambers of the General Assembly filed a bill Wednesday to codify Roe v. Wade into North Carolina law. House Bill 19 and Senate Bill 19, both called the Codify Roe and Casey Protections Act, would reinstate the main holdings from the landmark Supreme Court case, which prevented states from restricting abortion before fetal viability, which generally occurs around 24 weeks into a pregnancy.
Republican leaders have pledged to pass further abortion restrictions this session, lowering the cutoff from the current 20-week ban. Republicans still haven’t released a proposal for restricting abortion, though during last year’s campaign several candidates called for a fetal heartbeat bill, which would ban abortion after about six weeks.
Sen. Sydney Batch, D-Wake, a primary sponsor of the bill, said Democrats are willing to negotiate with Republicans, but are not interested in supporting any cutoff point before the standard set in Roe v. Wade. “This is our baseline,” she said. “If Republicans want to negotiate with us, they can come to our doors, they’re always open, and we can talk about this being on the floor and then us improving it. But going down is not what we’re here for. That’s the reason why we filed this bill.”
Source: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article271687577.html
Pro-Choice North Carolina Action Alert
Email and call your legislators now to ask them to add their names as co-sponsors! Legislators have a short window to sign on to newly filed bills, so reach out to your lawmakers TODAY. The deadline to sponsor the bill is Tuesday, January 31 at 5pm. Find who is sponsoring the bills here: HB19 and SB19. If you don’t see your legislators here, please email them:
Call your legislators (find them here) and use the below phone script as a guide. Make sure you sound like you! “My name is ___________, I live in (CITY), and I am a constituent of (Name of legislator). I am calling today to urge (Name of legislator) to protect reproductive rights and abortion access in North Carolina and sign on as a cosponsor of the newly filed companion bills Senate Bill 19 / House Bill 19.
This is the first legislative session since the U.S. Supreme Court’sDobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, and these bills are a necessary first step to protect abortion access in North Carolina. I urge you to cosponsor these bills and ensure they get a hearing in the NCGA this session!” Take action now!
Lawsuit Against Medication Abortion
On Wednesday, January 25th, a North Carolina doctor filed a lawsuit against the state's restrictions on medication abortion, which are in conflict with the FDA's protocol on mifepristone. Please see here for the full release. More background on the case is available here.
Health Plan Coverage for Transgender Individuals
RICHARD CRAVER, WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 1/25/23
A federal appeals court was scheduled to begin hearing oral argument Wednesday on a federal judge’s order that required the State Health Plan to pay for medical treatments, including hormone therapy and surgeries, for transgender individuals. Judge Loretta Biggs of the Middle District of N.C. ruled on June 10 in favor of the plaintiffs, who included several transgender people and their parents. Biggs’ order required the state’s health plan to resume coverage that day. The case Kadel v. Folwell was filed by Lambda Legal and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund in March 2019 on behalf of several current and former state employees and their children who were denied coverage for medically necessary care under the SHP. “This lawsuit is about requiring taxpayers to fund sex transition procedures. The facts are on our side, and we hope the Fourth Circuit will apply the law and reverse Judge Biggs’ decision.”
According to a statement from Folwell, the state health plan’s refusal to cover surgical and hormonal treatments related to the diagnosis of gender dysphoria dates back to the 1990s.
Transgender Restrictions in Public Schools
Two New Hanover school board members voted Monday in a committee meeting to remove policy language that would affect transgender athletes. Republican Josie Barnhart and Pat Bradford proposed striking language granting the latitude to middle schoolers (which still required parent approval) to participate in the sport that aligns with their gender identity. The third committee member, Stephanie Kraybill, disagreed with the action.
The committee was charged with reviewing the policy after Bradford brought it up in a surprise move at the Jan. 10 board of education meeting. She claimed the previous board was in the wrong when it voted to waive the amendment’s first reading in June 2021, even though the waiving of first readings is allowed. At the regular meeting, Kraybill characterized the move as a “backdoor attempt” to take away the rights of transgender students.
Medical Marijuana
A top Republican lawmaker is yet again pushing to legalize medical marijuana in North Carolina. The new legislative session began Wednesday morning and the very first bill filed in the N.C. Senate was Sen. Bill Rabon’s “Compassionate Care Act”. It would allow medical — but not recreational — marijuana use statewide. He and other supporters say there is reason to believe marijuana, which is not addictive, could replace addictive-yet-legal opioids for some patients. North Carolina is one of an increasingly small number of states that still fully outlaws marijuana. Most states have legalized medical marijuana, and a growing number have made the plant fully legal, even for purely recreational use. Public polling shows the vast majority of North Carolina residents support legalizing medical marijuana, including a majority of Republicans. A majority of the state also supports fully legal pot, even for recreational use, although support for that is smaller and doesn’t include a majority of Republican voters, The N&O has reported.
Source: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article271633152.html
