2023 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Week 10
Urgent School Social Worker Action Alert! NASW-NC Needs Your Voice!
Last week, Governor Cooper released his FY 2024-2025 Budget which included SIGNIFICANT funding for school social workers and student mental health. HOWEVER, House Speaker Tim Moore called this budget “reckless spending”. Despite YEARS of advocacy, we are NOT confident legislative leaders will include Masters-Level pay for school social workers or funding for additional positions in the budget.
SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS NEED TO CALL AND MEET WITH YOUR LEGISLATORS NOW!! Legislators are almost done writing their budget and this is your last chance to make your voice heard! Legislators are in Raleigh at the North Carolina General Assembly Tuesday-Thursday but back in their districts Friday-Monday. Invite them to come to your school to meet with you! This HAS to be done by March 30!
Find your legislators here: https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators
Ask them to PLEASE fund Masters-Level Pay for school social workers and additional positions for school social workers in the budget! Talking points here.
We need school social workers from across North Carolina to contact their legislators, ESPECIALLY if they serve on the House or Senate Appropriations for Education! These are the legislators who will or will NOT include funding for school social workers!!!
Even if you do not live in these districts, please contact your legislators and tell them to include school social workers in the North Carolina budget! You are CRITICAL to the mental health and well-being of your students and school districts!
PLEASE ACT NOW and don’t give up! Call, email and come to the legislature!
Click Here to take ACTION!
NASW-NC State Health Plan Provider Survey
In January 2025, Aetna will begin to serve as the Third Party Administrator (TPA) for the self-funded North Carolina State Health Plan (SHP). At this time, the National Association of Social Workers North Carolina (NASW-NC) does not know whether the SHP will use an Aetna network, or will maintain a separate network (currently the Clear Pricing Project, or CPP) to serve the clinical needs of their employees. NASW-NC asks that current and potential SHP providers please take this survey. NASW-NC plans to use the results of this survey to 1) inform Aetna and the State Health Plan Board about how behavioral health providers are thinking about their participation in the networks and 2) advocate for providers and their patients.
Please take survey:
https://forms.gle/AF8ffSgwUmLgtCvH6
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 have secured a bill sponsor in the NC Senate and are waiting for the bill to be introduced. Please look out for information in the coming days from NASW-NC with more information.
Updates from the Office of the Governor
Governor Cooper signs Executive Order Establishing State Office of Violence Prevention
Governor Cooper announced the creation of a statewide Office of Violence Prevention on March 14 that will be located in the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. By coordinating efforts across state agencies, including NCDHHS, and partnering with local leaders, the new office will focus on public health approaches to reduce violence and firearm misuse in North Carolina.
"All of us deserve to feel safe in our homes, our schools and our communities,” Governor Cooper said. “This new office will help coordinate the efforts to reduce violent crime, tackle both intentional and careless gun injuries and deaths, and work to keep people safe.”
The Office of Violence Prevention will offer training and technical assistance, issue best practice guidance and model processes, facilitate information sharing with state and local leaders working to reduce violence, conduct public awareness campaigns, share data, collaborate with research institutions, and identify and apply for funding from federal and philanthropic sources. Read more about the new office in a Governor's office news release.
Source: NCDHHS (news@dhhs.nc.gov)
Governor Cooper Lets Two Bills Become Law without his signature
On Friday, March 17, Governor Roy Cooper let the following bills become law without his signature:
- Senate Bill 53: Hotel Safety Issues
- House Bill 40: Prevent Rioting and Civil Disorder
Governor Cooper made the following statement on SB 53:
"This bill was given broad support in the legislature and there are potential positive modifications being discussed by legislators. However safe housing is sometimes only available from temporary shelter such as hotels, and I remain concerned that this bill will legalize unfair treatment for those who need protection, and this will prevent me from signing it."
Governor Cooper made the following statement on HB 40:
"I acknowledge that changes were made to modify this legislation's effect after my veto of a similar bill last year. Property damage and violence are already illegal and my continuing concerns about the erosion of the First Amendment and the disparate impacts on communities of color will prevent me from signing this legislation."
Source: Office of Governor Roy Cooper (govpress@nc.gov)
Medicaid Expansion is one vote away from becoming NC Law!
Medicaid Expansion in NC is one step closer to becoming law with the passage of House Bill 76 (HB 76) Access to Healthcare Options. On Wednesday, March 15, the NC Senate passed HB 76 with a vote of 44-2. HB 76 has been calendared for concurrence votes (final vote) on Wednesday, March 22. Governor Cooper is expected to sign it into legislation shortly thereafter. If it becomes law, it will not go into effect until after the 2023 state budget is passed.
Please take a moment today, to email or call your lawmakers to ask them to support final passage of HB 76.
Source: Care4Carolina
Gun violence prevention and safety advocates disappointed
On Wednesday March 15th, Senate Bill 41 (SB41) - Guarantee 2nd Amend Freedom passed the House by a vote of 70-44. This was after a contentious debate and protests by Democrats over a decision by House Speaker Tim Moore not to consider any amendments to the bill. It now heads to desk of Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, who has previously vetoed two of the main gun rights proposals in the bill, including the repeal of the permit requirement.
Apart from repealing the state’s pistol permit requirement, which Republicans say is antiquated and unnecessary, SB 41 would also allow people attending religious services at places of worship that also serve as schools, or have attached schools, to carry concealed handguns for their protection. The bill also authorizes a two-year statewide awareness initiative to promote safe gun storage.
Originally filed as three separate proposals, the measures were combined into a single bill before advancing to the Senate floor last month.
Governor Cooper is expected to veto the bill. However, Republicans are expected to overrule this action.
Source: MSN
Bills to watch:
- 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 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.
Read more about this bill here:
NC House committee takes on anti-CRT bill - EducationNC (ednc.org) NASW-NC OPPOSES. - HB 188 - Standards of Student Conduct. This act will allow public school administrators to use their own discretion regarding what constitutes a serious conduct violation. This policy will increase the total number of long-term suspensions in addition to disproportionately impacting students based on race and disability. NASW-NC OPPOSES.
- HB 289 (SB 210): - Gun Violence Prevention Act -This bill would require a permit for the purchase of an assault weapon; require a 72-hour waiting period; prohibit the sale of assault weapons to minors; require safe storage and many other gun safety policies.
- HB 303: Reduce Early One-Stop Voting Days -This bill reduces the number of early one-stop voting days during an election.
- HB 633-Restore Master's Pay for Teachers & ISP. This act would restore education-based salary supplements for teachers and instructional support personnel. This would restore Master’s Level Pay for School Social Workers. It was introduced by Representative Jule von Haefen, a friend to NASW-NC. NASW-NC SUPPORTS THIS BILL; however, without bipartisan support, it is not expected to pass.
- HB 336: Healthy Students - A Nurse in Every School -This bill would require at least one school nurse in a public school beginning in the 2023-2024 school year.
- HB 398 -Child Care Act. This bill seeks to reinstate the child care tax credit to support several initiatives such as expanding NC Pre-K and increasing child care subsidies.
NC Supreme Court rehears arguments in controversial redistricting case
Republicans gerrymandered the state's political maps so much that it violated the constitutional guarantee of free elections, the NC Supreme Court ruled last year. But the court has since shifted from Democratic to Republican control, and that case is getting a do-over.
North Carolina Supreme Court justices met Tuesday in a rare rehearing of a case that was already decided. It concerns the fairness of voting districts drawn by Republican lawmakers — and a reversal in the court’s opinion could have major ramifications on the 2024 elections, shifting political power to the right on the state and national levels.
Last year the court's Democratic majority struck down new voting districts drawn by Republican lawmakers as unconstitutional gerrymanders. The lines denied North Carolinians the guarantee of free elections by allowing one political party to remain in power, the court’s majority wrote in a first-of-its-kind ruling. The decision to rehear that case came soon after Republicans flipped control of the Supreme Court in the 2022 elections, which has led critics to say the rehearing is based more on politics than any legal grounds.
Before Tuesday's proceedings, hundreds of people gathered across the street from the court in downtown Raleigh Tuesday, protesting the decision to rehear the case. Their chants could be heard from inside the courtroom at times. Meanwhile, the North Carolina Republican Party came to the defense of its new court majority, saying the justices only acting to correct the wrongs from the original ruling in the case, which came last year when the court had a Democratic majority.
Source: WRAL
Social Workers for Reproductive Justice
NASW-NC will continue to oppose any and all efforts to restrict access to abortion and reproductive health care in North Carolina. Below is an op-ed that we ask you to share widely within your networks to continue to amplify the danger these new laws will cause.
From our community partner, Pro-Choice North Carolina Foundation:
"This was written by a Duke Family Medicine Resident sharing why restrictions on abortion access and gender affirming care may drive providers out of the state, as well as the lack of Medicaid expansion. "
Family doctor: NC politicians making health care landscape toxic (fayobserver.com)
Recently Walgreen's made the decision to not distribute abortion medication in 20 states. Walgreen's received a letter from the 20 Republican attorneys generals threatening legal action. “We intend to be a certified pharmacy and will distribute Mifepristone only in those jurisdictions where it is legal and operationally feasible,” the company said in a statement. A federal judge in Texas is expected to rule any day on a lawsuit seeking to block the use of medication abortion nationwide, in the biggest abortion-related case since the Supreme Court overturned Roe. NASW-NC understands that Walgreen's is the only pharmacy available for many of our members and the clients we serve. However, if you would like to advocate that Walgreen's ensure abortion medication is readily available to all customers, here is their corporate headquarters information:
Walgreens Corporate Address:
200 Wilmot Road
Deerfield, Illinois 60015 USA
Corporate Phone Number: 1-847-914-2500
Corporate Fax Number: 1-847-914-2804
Corporate Email: info@walgreens.com
Stock Symbol: WAG
Customer Service Phone Number: 1-877-250-5823
Official Walgreens Website: Walgreen Co
Source: CNN
Upcoming Advocacy Days
Equality North Carolina's 2023 Advocacy Day will take place on March 29th at 9am to about 4pm. We will be gathering at a location in Raleigh in the morning near the Legislative Office Building to prepare for the day. The morning meeting location will be shared before the event. No experience is required to participate. Our staff will provide an overview of current relevant state policies and a training.
Click Here to Register.
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