2023 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Week 8

North Carolina Social Work Advocacy Day a Success!

Thank you to the HUNDREDS of social workers and social work students from across North Carolina who showed up and activated their advocacy voices at Social Work Advocacy Day on March 1. The day was a huge success! Thank you for being a part of our amazing profession!

Medicaid Expansion is ALMOST HERE! 

After years of advocacy from countless groups, including NASW-NC, on Thursday March 2nd, House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger held a joint press conference to announce a compromise between both Republican-majority chambers to pass Medicaid expansion in North Carolina. NC has been one of only 11 states in the country that to date has not adopted Medicaid Expansion. 

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has been supporting expansion since he took office in 2017,  wrote that it was “a monumental step” and that he wants it to be written to take effect immediately.

“Expanding Medicaid will improve the health of our people, our economy and our entire health care system,” said Abby Emanuelson, executive director of Care4Carolina, a coalition of over 165 groups that has worked for expansion since 2014.

Medicaid expansion under a House-passed plan would take effect on Jan. 1, but Berger indicated that timing is up in the air. . With expansion, eligibility would increase for all adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level. According to an estimate by the state Department of Health and Human Services, expansion would make 600,000 low-income North Carolinians eligible for the program. Currently, North Carolina has 2.9 million Medicaid recipients. The state Department of Health and Human Services has said up to 300,000 current beneficiaries could lose full coverage as states soon must conduct annual eligibility verifications again following the COVID-19 pandemic. Many being removed would requalify through Medicaid expansion, DHHS said.

Source: SpectrumNews 
 

2023 NASW-NC Legislative Updates at NCGA 

NASW-NC will be leading the charge for the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact Bill in NC General Assembly

On February 27, 2023, the final version of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact was released. You can find the language and background information here. https://swcompact.org/. This website will also track which states ratify it going forward, and share other developments about the process.

See NASW’s statement on the Compact: https://www.socialworkers.org/News/News-Releases/ID/2622/Social-Work-Profession-One-Step-Closer-to-Interstate-Licensure-Compact

It’s important to highlight that the compact does not go into effect until after seven states ratify it through legislation. This activates the creation of the Compact Commission, which will oversee the central database, administrative processes and other details related to social work practice through the compact. That’s likely going to be a multi-year process in itself.

NASW North Carolina is taking the lead on introducing and passing the Social Work Licensure Compact in North Carolina. We are working to secure the right sponsors, develop an advocacy strategy that includes social workers from across the state, link our advocacy strategy with our social work associations and groups, and have you all highlight the benefits of the compact to the social work landscape here in North Carolina and across the country.

NASW-NC will provide its members with talking points, opportunities to reach out to legislators, and ways you can highlight the value of the compact to your work.

Restoring Master's Pay Level for NC's School Social Workers 

On Advocacy Day, social workers shared policy briefs with legislators around the critical need to restore Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers.  As it currently stands:

• Masters-level SSWs are not paid for their master’s degrees and skill set
• Masters level SSWs are currently being paid on the Bachelor Level Teacher pay scale.
• Masters level SSW are providing mental health services in the school system but are not financially compensated for these advanced skills, like school psychologists and school counselors are

NASW-NC is working with legislators as the NC State Board of Education recommended an additional $100 million in funding for SSS and Nurses and specifically $10 million for Master's Level Pay.  This issue is critical as School Social Workers are on the front line in addressing the severe mental health crisis impacting our school children.  School Social Workers are needed every day to ensure the emotional and mental wellbeing of students and the school at-large.  Just this week, both the Center for Safe Schools and the Child Fatality Task Force released reports with alarming information regarding students' mental health.  

The NC Department of Public Instruction sent out a press release in response to student misconduct which specifically calls to:
"Employ a social worker at each school (elementary, middle and high) to focus on prevention, intervention and referral." 
You can read the entire brief here. 

The Child Fatality Task Force report shared with Governor Cooper and the NC General Assembly reports:
• The 2021 suicide rate (ages 10 – 17) represents the highest rate in two decades, and firearm-related suicides in particular have increased. A 2021 CDC student survey showed 22% of NC high school students had seriously considered attempting suicide and 43% of high school students said they felt sad or hopeless. The Task Force is recommending funds to increase numbers of school nurses, social workers, counselors and psychologists, as the numbers of these professionals in NC is far below national recommendations.

The entire NC Child Fatality Task Force Annual Report can be found by clicking here. 

This highlights the critical need for restoring Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers.  Please stay tuned as we hope to have a bill sponsor soon. 

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 on a 67-48 party line vote. NASW-NC Opposes.
• 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 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.
• HB 218 - The Save Act - to modernize outdated and restrictive regulations on Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs). The SAVE is designed to remove superfluous red tape and would allow APRNs to practice to the full extent of their training and education, bringing the state in line with national standards that at least 26 other states have already successfully adopted.
• HB 253 - Prevent Students From Harm Act - this bill incorporates character education in addressing bullying and harrassing behavior.  It also authorizes non-profits to provide child sex abuse and sex trafficking training to educators; and age-appropriate resources on prevention of suicide, abuse and neglect as part of the health education curriculum . 
• 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 156 - Medicaid Children & Families Specialty Plan. The changes are designed to ensure that a child in foster care retains access to Medicaid-covered physical and behavioral health services if they are moved to another county. NASW-NC member Glenn Osborne, Director of Wilson County Department of Social Services spoke in favor of the bill in Senate Health Committee on March 2. NASW-NC Supports. 
• SB 168: North Carolina Crown Act - The bill is meant to shield natural and protective hairstyles from prejudice at work. The C.R.O.W.N. stands for "Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair." NASW-NC Supports. 
• SB 184: Restore Master’s Pay for Teachers & ISP -this bill would reinstate education-based salary supplements for teachers and instructional support personnel, funded by an $8 million appropriation from the General Fund. This would bring back master's and longevity pay, which has been eliminated in NC since 2015. 
   

State Speech

The State of the State, a biennial speech by Governor Roy Cooper, will be 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 the N.C. Supreme Court. 

The speech takes place every two years, and the state House and Senate have taken turns giving the response. This time, it’s the Senate’s turn. However, instead of Senate leader Phil Berger, the Eden Republican who serves as president pro tempore of the Senate, it will be Robinson, who as lieutenant governor is also the president of the Senate.

Governor Cooper's last State of the State was in April 2021.  This will be his final one as he is in his second term and can't run again in 2024.

Source: MSN
 

Medical Marijuana Passes NC Senate with Bipartisan Support 

The North Carolina Senate agreed Tuesday to legalize marijuana for medical use, casting an initial vote to make the drug available for patients under tight restrictions. Senate Bill 3, the “Compassionate Care Act,” would allow medical marijuana use statewide for people who have cancer, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments. Those do not include chronic pain, and the drug would not be allowed for recreational use. The bill passed a preliminary vote 36-10, with broad bipartisan support, and would need to receive one more vote before it can be sent to the House, where it died last year after not being allowed a vote, and could face resistance again.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/medical-marijuana-passes-nc-senate-with-broad-bipartisan-support-on-initial-vote/ar-AA183YnP

Abortion Limits

A Republican-backed bill to further limit abortion access will likely be filed in the state legislature as soon as next week, House Speaker Tim Moore told WRAL News. Moore said he expects a bill to reduce the number of weeks at the start of a pregnancy when abortion will be legal. He just doesn’t know yet what that proposed cutoff will actually be, he said in an interview. “I’d say there’s support at six [weeks], there’s support at 12,” Moore said. “There’s a varied opinion in the [Republican] caucus. There’s some who’d probably say, ‘Leave it at 20.’” State law currently bans abortions after 20 weeks, unless needed later on to save the mother’s life.
Source: WRAL
 

Gun Deaths in NC's Children 

The state commission that studies child deaths released its annual report Monday, and the numbers are grim. Homicides and suicides in 2021 were both up sharply over the year before – higher than ever - and most of them involved guns. According to the report, in 2021, children in NC were 51% more likely to die from gun violence than children in the U.S. as a whole. A CDC student survey found 30% of kids in North Carolina said they could obtain and be ready to fire a loaded gun within an hour – without a parent’s permission. A North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force report found the overall child death rate in the state for ages 0-17 was 59.1 per 100,000 resident children. It’s the highest rate since 2016, according to the report. House and Senate lawmakers have filed several safe storage bills already this session. The Senate put theirs into another bill that would also repeal the pistol purchase permit requirement. The Senate passed that measure earlier this month, but the House hasn’t taken it up yet.
Source: WRAL

SNAP Benefits

People receiving food stamp — or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — benefits in North Carolina will see a significant drop in their monthly allotment beginning in March. No longer will households receive a second payment on their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card toward the end of the month, as they have been since March 2020, when the federal government approved the emergency allotments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Households received either an extra $95 each month or the maximum amount allowed for their household size, whichever was greater.
Source: WFAE

Medicaid’s Managed Care Plans
People who use Medicaid and have severe mental illness, substance-use disorders or developmental disabilities soon might have to switch doctors if their health care providers don’t sign on with new managed care plans. These providers include many of the state’s large health systems, major hospitals and their physicians’ offices. They have been slow to sign on to Medicaid managed care networks that the state calls “tailored plans.” These plans are supposed to cover both the physical and mental health needs of people with behavioral health or cognitive disorders.  If their doctors don’t join these new managed care networks, patients could soon be forced to change doctors or pay out of pocket. 
Source: NC Policy Watch

Foster Care

A group of N.C. Senate Republicans advocating for healthcare reform legislation have re-filed a bill that would make major changes to statewide foster-care services. Those changes are designed foremost to ensure that a child in foster care retains access to Medicaid-covered physical and behavioral health services if they are moved to another county. Currently, Medicaid services are handled by counties. That means when a child in foster care is moved to another county, a new application for services must be filed on their behalf with that county’s Department of Social Services. Please see information on SB 156 above.
Source: Journal Now

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:
  • 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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