2023 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Week 7
A good deal of pretty bad gun bills have been introduced faster than we can respond and are on the move in the legislature. Last week, the so-called NC Constitutional Carry Act was introduced and would get rid of the state’s concealed-carry rules for guns. If it becomes law then anyone who can legally possess a firearm can also carry it concealed, in public, without needing to pass the test that the state currently requires. It would also let people as young as 18 carry concealed handguns, instead of the current cutoff at 21.
North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt presented the Department and Board of Education budget requests to the Legislative Appropriations Committee on Education and did not mention school social workers or the mental health of students despite the North Carolina Board of Education’s request for additional funds for Masters’ Level Pay for school social workers. Please continue to reach out to your legislators to inform them the importance of School Social Workers. Talking points found here.
We are also hearing that abortion ban bills might be introduced this week. Please be on alert.
Action Alerts:
Take Action Now - Oppose HB 10
On January 25, 2023 the NC House filed anti-immigrant bill HB 10 “Require Sheriffs to Cooperate with ICE.” Like SB 101, which was vetoed last session, this bill interferes with communities' and sheriffs' decisions about local resources and priorities, exposes sheriffs and counties to expensive lawsuits for constitutional violations, and erodes community trust in law enforcement. The bill also forces magistrates and judges to rubber stamp ICE’s administrative detainers. For each detainer request, the judicial official would have to determine whether the person listed on the detainer has been properly identified as the person held in the jail. In addition to conflicting with federal law, this process does nothing to consider or address whether the detainer is based on probable cause, leaving the sheriffs open to liability for wrongful imprisonment. For example, this process would not leave any practical way for someone who may in fact be a U.S. Citizen to be released, if their name is on the detainer request.
NASW-NC OPPOSES this bill and we ask you to contact your House member to ask them to vote against HB 10.
Bills on the Move:
- HB 10 - Require Sheriffs to Cooperate with ICE - A bill that will force sheriffs to hand detainees over to ICE for deportations- without trials- is moving forward to committee in the NC House. If passed, resulting deportations will constitute death sentences for those jettisoned back to countries overrun by poverty, war, and state violence. The bill further demands that local law enforcement turn in not only immigrants, but anyone whose immigration status "is unknown." NASW-NC OPPOSES. Take action here.
- HB 50 - Pistol Purchase Permit Repeal - This bill will remove from state law a requirement that anyone buying a handgun first obtain a permit from their local sheriff’s office, passed the House in a 67-48 party line vote. NASW-NC Opposes.
- HB 99 - Wake County Board of Commissioners Elections/Nonpartisan - Filed by the sole Republican member of the Wake delegation, Rep. Erin Paré, would change the law so that residents of each district would vote only in their district’s commissioner’s race. It would also make commissioner races nonpartisan and won by plurality — who ever gets the most votes — rather than requiring a majority. Although the bill deals with elections, it was not given a referral to the House Elections committee. Instead, it was sent to Rules, and it could be on the House floor for a vote later this week.
- HB 123 - Early Voting Constitutional Amendment - will end early voting a full week before election day, four days from the current window. NASW-NC OPPOSES.
- HB 131 - Protect NC Ed. Savings & Investment Accounts - This bill would increase protection from creditors or other judgments for money set aside in 529 education savings accounts and NC ABLE accounts. A 529 plan allows families to save for K-12 and college expenses and an NC ABLE account allows parents to save money for children with disabilities to cover their expenses.
- HB 185 - Clarifying Sex Ed Time Frame - This bill would prevent any reproductive health and safety education provided by local school administrative units before seventh grade.
- HB 187 - Equality in Education - This is the same bill introduced in the 2021 session that would ban teachers’ ability to discuss important social issues such as systemic racism, homophobia or sexism in schools. This bill is intended to prohibit schools and teachers from teaching historical and current realities of racism and other forms of oppression in the United States. NASW-NC OPPOSES.
- HB 189 - Constitutional Carry Act - This bill would enable anyone who can legally possess a firearm to also carry it concealed, in public, without needing to pass the test that the state currently requires. NASW-NC Opposes.
- SB 88 - Election Day Integrity Act - will invalidate absentee ballots that arrive after 7:30 pm on election day (currently they need only be postmarked by election day, but can arrive days afterward). NASW-NC Opposes.
- SB 90 - Searchers of Student’s Person - standardizes procedures for searching students in schools.
State Speech
The State of the State, a biennial speech by Governor Roy Cooper, is being planned for March 6. The State of the State is held in the House chamber, with the Senate joining them for the event. Also invited are the Council of State and N.C. Supreme Court.
Medicaid Expansion
One change that could significantly improve access to health care for justice-involved individuals is Medicaid expansion. The expansion could also take pressure off jails and prisons — which become a revolving door for a substantial number of people who have mental health, substance use and chronic health issues.
Medicaid expansion — a topic under serious consideration by state legislators — would provide health coverage to more than half a million low-income North Carolinians, including thousands of individuals currently cycling in and out of the state’s prisons and jails. Advocates hope that the House and Senate will agree on a plan this legislative session, though the two chambers reached a stalemate last year. The House introduced its new bill last week, and the Senate has yet to take action.
Jails and prisons are constitutionally mandated to provide health care to individuals who are incarcerated. But that care often ends upon people’s release. Because Medicaid has not been expanded in North Carolina, most people reentering society after incarceration are either uninsured or uninsurable. That complicates care and creates a roadblock to successful reentry into society, doctor Evan Ashkin said.
Insufficient health care access is especially problematic for justice-involved people who have high rates of chronic diseases, mental health problems and substance use disorders. During the first two weeks after a person is released from prison, researchers found, their mortality risk is more than 12 times higher than that of the general population. That death rate skyrockets when it comes to drug overdose and illness, with research from UNC Chapel Hill finding that the newly decarcerated are at 40 times the risk of the general population for overdose death.
Gun Legislation
Advocates who oppose legislation that would repeal the state’s permit system for buying handguns said at a virtual press event Monday that the law changes would pose safety risks to North Carolinians and disproportionately affect people of color and rural communities. A handful of bills making their way through the state General Assembly this session would make changes to the state’s gun laws, including getting rid of the state’s permitting system for the sale of handguns and allowing people with concealed carry permits to carry handguns into places of worship that also serve as schools.
Handgun Permits
A proposal to repeal North Carolina’s permit law for buying handguns, which was approved by the Senate last week, passed the House on Wednesday as well. The repeal plans are in two different pieces of legislation, so the Republican-controlled House and Senate would need to negotiate a final version to be sent to Gov. Roy Cooper.
Source: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article272573333.html
Concealed Carry
The so-called Constitutional Carry Act would get rid of the state’s concealed-carry rules for guns. If it becomes law then anyone who can legally possess a firearm can also carry it concealed, in public, without needing to pass the test that the state currently requires. It would also let people as young as 18 carry concealed handguns, instead of the current cutoff at 21. In North Carolina, Kidwell’s bill would also allow state lawmakers and other elected officials to bring concealed weapons with them anywhere in the state — even places where guns are otherwise banned, like schools and the state legislature — if they’re there in an official capacity.
Source: https://www.wral.com/gop-backed-nc-bill-seeks-to-scrap-concealed-carry-rules-for-guns/20733631
Medical Marijuana
Marijuana legalization in North Carolina for medical purposes is advancing again within the state Senate, less than a year after a very similar measure setting a structure for its sale and consumption passed the chamber by a wide margin. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday for the legislation, which was refiled last month as the new two-year General Assembly session began. The measure cleared the panel on a voice vote after the passage of several amendments, one of which is designed to ensure sales access in rural areas. While the new version is likely to clear the full Senate sometime next week, the future of medical marijuana in North Carolina will depend on its level of support in the House.
A handful of Black farmers traveled from Eastern North Carolina to speak with lawmakers and protest the lack of input from local growers. The farmers criticized the bill’s language, which they say opens the door to corporate monopolization and shuts locals out. The bill requires applicants for a supplier license to have been a state resident for at least two years and be the majority owner of each medical cannabis center and production facility under their operation. It also requires first-year suppliers to pay a $50,000 nonrefundable license fee and $5,000 for each facility. For renewal, suppliers must pay at least $10,000, plus $500 per new production facility and $100 for each existing facility.
Abortion Pill Restrictions Lawsuit
North Carolina Republican legislative leaders asked on Tuesday to participate in litigation to defend state restrictions on dispensing abortion pills because Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein has made clear he won’t. The lawsuit in Durham federal court, along with a separate lawsuit challenging limits on abortion pills in West Virginia, are considered the beginning of legal battles over access to the medications.
Abortion Limits
More than 1,000 health care providers across North Carolina have signed a letter urging lawmakers to oppose any additional abortion restrictions beyond the current 20-week limit, which some say already restricts their ability to care for patients. While Republicans in the General Assembly have not yet filed legislation this year to further restrict abortion access, the GOP legislative leaders have repeatedly signaled their intention to do so. While the current law allows some leeway for urgent medical emergencies that threaten the patient’s life or “create serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment,” it does not grant exceptions in cases of rape or incest. GOP leaders have said that they would consider expanding the exceptions.
Durham Resolution
The Durham City Council unanimously passed a resolution declaring support for the LGBTQ community and decrying a pair of bills Republicans are advancing in the state legislature. Monday night’s vote did not come easy, though. Council member Jillian Johnson, who wrote the resolution, and Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton reworked the document’s text after a disagreement over one line when the item was first introduced at a Feb. 9 work session. The newly passed resolution references two pieces of pending legislation: Senate Bill 49, the so-called Parents’ Bill of Rights, and House Bill 43, a bill that would restrict gender-affirming treatment for minors.
Source:https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article272560018.html?
ICE Cooperation:
State lawmakers wanting to crack down on illegal immigration have renewed an effort to require North Carolina sheriffs to inform U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they charge someone with certain high-level offenses and can’t determine their legal status. House Bill 10, a new version of similar legislation filed by GOP lawmakers in recent years and vetoed twice by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, was introduced by top Republican legislators last month and passed by a committee on Wednesday. It could soon get a vote by the full House. Republicans passed a previous version of the bill last year purely along party lines, and did not try to override Cooper’s veto. This year, however, they’re just one vote short of being able to override a veto.
HB 10 would require sheriffs and other administrators of local jails to notify ICE if they can’t determine the legal status of someone charged with certain drug felonies, homicide, rape or other sex offenses, kidnapping and abduction, human trafficking, certain assault offenses, or violations of a domestic violence protective order. The bill would also require sheriffs to temporarily hold people for whom ICE has issued an immigrant detainer. ICE uses detainers to inform local and state law enforcement agencies that it intends to take custody of people it has probable cause to believe are “removable non-citizens,” according to the agency’s website.Under HB 10, sheriffs would be required to take people who are subjects of detainers before a state judge, who would order the person to be held for 48 hours or until ICE either takes custody of them or rescinds the detainer — whichever comes first.
Source: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article272570673.html
Hotel Guests Rules - Housing
Legislation that passed in North Carolina’s House on Wednesday would make clear that longer-term hotel guests cannot receive the stronger legal protections usually reserved for home and apartment renters until they’ve stayed for three months. The measure, approved 84-31, seeks to respond to concerns from hotel and motel operators about guests who have been difficult to remove despite breaking hotel rules or the law, said the bill sponsor, Rep. John Bradford, R-Mecklenburg. The bill states “transient occupancies” that aren’t subject to landlord-tenant rules apply when a person has stayed at a locale for fewer than 90 days.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a similar bill in 2021, saying it wasn’t the right way to provide safety in hotels. An identical bill passed the Senate earlier this month. One of the versions would have to be approved by both chambers for the legislation to head to Cooper’s desk.
Overdose Deaths
North Carolina officials say the state has experienced its highest number of overdoses ever in a single year. Statistics for 2021 show that 4,041 people in North Carolina lost their lives to overdose. According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, that represents an increase of 22%. Health officials say Illegally manufactured fentanyl has been the driving force behind the severe uptick.
The highest increase in overdose death rates was among Black residents. But another troubling statistic shows that when measured as a portion of the population, American Indian and Indigenous people have the highest overdose death rate. NCDHHS has taken steps to counter the epidemic with extended mobile crisis care, treatment programs, and other behavioral health efforts. The agency has established the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and has implemented an action plan to address the issue on multiple fronts. NCDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley released a statement urging the expansion of Medicaid services, calling it “the smartest investment we can make” to fight the epidemic.
Source: https://www.wfdd.org/story/overdose-deaths-increase-22-north-carolina
Bill prohibits teaching history of racism and oppression
North Carolina Republican lawmakers are reviving an effort to pass an anti-Critical Race Theory bill that was vetoed in 2021 by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. House Bill 187, titled “Equality in Education,” was filed on Thursday and says public schools can’t “promote” concepts such as the idea that “one race or sex is
inherently superior to another race or sex” or that “an individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive.” It also says teachers shall not promote that anyone “should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress” based on their race or sex. A bill with nearly identical language to the one introduced Thursday passed both the House and Senate in 2021 along party lines, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats against it. All African American lawmakers voted against the bill.
Source: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article272580510.html
NASW-NC’s opposition statement here: https://www.naswnc.org/news/news.asp?id=574151
Upcoming Advocacy Days
- NAMI NC Advocacy Days:
- February 23 - Virtual Advocacy Day 1 from 10:00 to 11:30 am: We will offer an introduction to the idea behind meeting at the legislature and have legislators, NAMI staff, and supporters testify to the importance of storytelling in moving the legislative process where we want it to be. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82951770329
- March 3 - Virtual Advocacy Day 2 from 10:00 to 11:30 am: We will go through the details of navigating the legislature, where to park, how to speak effectively, and how to schedule meetings with follow-ups. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85059314751
- March 9 – In-Person Advocacy Day 3 (starting at 9 am): An in-person event at the General Assembly in Raleigh. We will meet together beforehand at a rally point where refreshments will be served, people will get packets of information to distribute, and everyone will be told where to go if they don't know the legislature already.
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