2023 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Week 12

NCGA House Budget includes Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers 

RALEIGH —On Wednesday, March 29th, the NC House released its 2023 Budget.  NASW-NC is excited to share that restoring Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers is INCLUDED in the House Budget! This is another step closer to success. However, we still need your help to ensure the NC Senate includes restoring Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers in their version of the budget. 

Find your legislators here: https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators. Be sure to click the option for NC Senate. 

Ask them to PLEASE keep the Restoration of Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers and additional positions for school social workers in the budget! Talking points here.

Click Here to take ACTION!

Please remember to contact your NC House Representatives to say "Thank You!" for including Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers! 

Thank you to all the social workers who have been working on this equitable pay issue, especially during the 2023 Legislative Session! Your visits, calls, letters and emails are making a difference! 

Medicaid Expansion Signed Into Law, Hinges on Budget Being Passed 

The National Association of Social Workers North Carolina (NASW-NC) is thrilled that Medicaid expansion was signed into law by Governor Roy Cooper on Monday, March 27! NASW-NC has worked with social work members, legislators, and many partner organizations for over a decade to get this important legislation passed and to help the people of North Carolina live healthier lives. With the passage of House Bill 76-Access to Healthcare Options, more than 600,000 North Carolinians will now have access to healthcare.

Medicaid Expansion will be implemented only if the 2023-2024 budget is passed into law by the end of 2023.

NASW-NC's Executive Director, Valerie Arendt, was invited to attend the bill signing ceremony at the Governor's Mansion. See a tweet from the historic day here:  NASW-NC Chapter on Twitter: "Thank you @NC_Governor for signing Medicaid Expansion into law in North Carolina! Thank you @KodyKinsley for your leadership and voice in this important effort to bring health insurance to hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians ❤️🤩 #mentalhealth #socialwork @nasw https://t.co/tf0hBiuqpd" / Twitter

House Budget Update 

Lawmakers plan to spend roughly $30 billion in late 2023 and early 2024, and a bit more than that in the following year. The budget provides up to $7.8 million to help schools cover rising meal debts from students being unable to pay for their food. School meals were free last school year as part of a federal pandemic-related waiver. But the waiver ended, so students who are not eligible for subsidized meals have to pay again. School meal debt has already risen to more than $3 million statewide this school year. The budget would take away the State Board of Education’s power to decide on charter school applications and whether to renew or shut down existing charters. Lawmakers would transfer the power over charter schools to the N.C. Charter Schools Advisory Board, which would be renamed the N.C. Charter Schools Review Board.

The budget would restore an expanded version of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program in an effort to attract more teachers. Under the program, students who agree to teach in the state’s schools can get forgivable college loans.

Click Here to see the House Budget Proposal. 

The House Budget Proposal Would 

• Give teachers average raises of 10.2% over two years, including step increases and extra funding for rural-area educators. The raises would be 5.5% the first year, with the rest coming the second year.
• Provide teachers paid parental leave of four to eight weeks. 
• Restore master’s degree pay for teachers AND school social workers.
• Spend $40 million on school safety.
• Require schools to post academic materials online. 
• Cap class sizes in elementary schools at 24 for both fourth and fifth grades.
• State employee raises of 7.5% over two years, with 4.25% the first year and 3.25% the second year. 
• Additional 2% raises over two years for some employees in jobs that are harder to recruit and retain.
• A 2% cost-of-living-adjustment increase for retired state employees over two years.
• Reduce the individual income tax rate to 4.5% in 2024, which is a year earlier than planned. Provide an adoption tax credit. 
• Increase the child tax credit by 20%.
• Between $400 and $500 million expected from expansion implementation has been woven into the House budget proposal.
• The House budget would also eliminate some Department of Environmental Quality greenhouse gas initiatives and an effort to promote “clean trucks.”
• The budget plan funds a new UNC Law School and a proposed UNC School of Civic Life and Leadership. 
• UNC and community college employees would get 7.5% raises over two years, with additional money to be used for recruitment.
• Increase the Innovations waiver slots by 250 (NC Coalition recommended 2,000 additional slots).
• Increase DHHS personal care services to Medicaid beneficiaries to $25 per hour.
• Increase Innovations direct care workers’ wage by an industry average rate of six dollars and $6.50 per hour above the North Carolina industry average hourly wage rate.
• $15M for new adolescent behavioral health facility.

Source: News & Observer

NC House overrides Governor's veto of Senate Bill 41

On Wednesday, March 29th, the House overrode Governor Cooper's veto of Senate Bill 41 - Guarantee 2nd Amendment and Freedoms Act. 

It comes after North Carolina’s Republican-controlled Senate voted Tuesday to override the Democratic governor’s first veto of the session on legislation to loosen gun restrictions, teeing up the House’s first test of party unity under new operating rules.

The bill revives a package of gun access measures that would scrap a requirement that handgun buyers obtain a permit from their county sheriff.

Representative Jon Hardister confirmed the override in a tweet and stated that this is the “first veto override since 2018.  The override took place with no debate allowed, causing some discontent among Democratic representatives.

“We deserve to have a voice heard today on that issue,” said Rep. Robert Rieves (D) of Chatham County.  Rieves said he is a gun owner and grew up in a family of gun owners. However, he said, “but there is a thing called responsibility and that’s our job. “For us to come into this tone deaf about what happened in Nashville and pretend it doesn’t matter, to pretend it wasn’t an issue we might want to bring up is disturbing,” Rieves also said.

Elizabeth Hone, a member of the anti-gun violence group Moms Demand Action, was in the gallery of the General Assembly during the Wednesday morning vote.  “We really need to start doing more to protect our families. This would’ve been one step in that direction,” she said.

NASW-NC OPPOSED THIS BILL. 

Source: WNCN 
 
DHHS North Carolina School Behavioral Health Action Plan Aims to Address Youth Health Crisis

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, today released the North Carolina School Behavioral Health Action Plan to address the urgent mental and behavioral health crisis facing youth through key investments in our schools. In addition to highlighting the critical funding needed to hire more school nurses and social workers throughout the state, the plan describes six investments in evidenced-based strategies and pilot programs to support the behavioral health of students. The strategies are designed to increase access to behavioral health supports, provide flexible resources to address local priorities and build partnerships with community providers to meet student needs. 
The investments outlined in the plan include:

• Increasing capacity of schools to identify and address behavioral health needs through student-focused prevention and support services. 
• Training school personnel to better recognize and respond to emerging behavioral health issues. 
• Establishing school-based telehealth pilot programs to expand behavioral health care access for approximately 10,000 students in high need and rural districts. 
• Flexible funding to local School Health Advisory Councils to support coalitions of parents, school staff and community members investing in behavioral health resources to meet local needs. 
• Connecting schools and families with behavioral health partners in their community. 
• Funding a new statewide electronic health record system to secure student health records and enable records to transfer when students move.

Investments in school behavioral health are a core strategy of Governor Cooper’s roadmap for a $1 billion for behavioral health and resilience announced on March 8, 2023. 

HB 10 - Require Sheriffs to Cooperate with ICE -PASSES HOUSE
The North Carolina House of Representatives passed a Republican-sponsored bill Tuesday that would require all local sheriffs to collaborate with federal immigration officials. The bill, now headed to the state Senate, has immigrant communities on edge. House Bill 10, passed by a partisan vote of 71 to 44, would effectively turn a voluntary federal program, known as 287(g), into a mandatory, statewide policy.

Currently, 15 of North Carolina’s 100 counties have voluntary agreements to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That cooperation might mean verifying the immigration status of certain detained people or holding them an additional 48 hours to transfer to ICE custody.

Democrat Maria Cervania, of Wake County, touched on the risk of encouraging racial profiling and shared a personal experience of immigration scrutiny during a traffic stop. “[The officer] asked me, ‘Ma’am, where were you born?’ I told him ‘Sir, I was born in Oakland, California.’ And he asked me again, ‘No, where were you born?’” she said. “Those three hours were the scariest, and I’ll never get that back again. And what happened to me is not unique, and it happens more than you think.”

More than 120 local, national and regional organizations have publicly opposed H.B. 10. One of those organizations is the Carolina Migrant Network, cofounded by Stefania Arteaga.  “It’s extremely disheartening to see that there is an attempt from state legislators to try to mandate something that's voluntary, that we know in Mecklenburg County has harmed our communities,” Arteaga said.

She added that the bill could damage trust and dissuade immigrants from speaking with law enforcement or seeking essential services like medical care.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed two previous ICE cooperation bills in 2019 and 2022.

NASW-NC OPPOSED THIS BILL. 

Source: WFAE 

Equality NC Advocacy Day

NASW-NC Staff attended Equality NC's 2023 Advocacy Day at the NC General Assembly.  It was a great day with a rally in front of the building, and a press conference with members of the General Assembly.  Valerie Arendt, NASW-NC Executive Director was a speaker at the press conference to speak about the harm of conversion therapy.  Members of the General Assembly introduced five bills to support and protect members of the LGBTQ community. NASW-NC SUPPORTS all five bills.  

HB 355 (SB 401): Ensure Same-Sex Domestic Violence Prot. Order
HB 356 (SB 403): Full  Repeal HB2 (Bathroom Bill)
HB 518 (SB 398): Equality for All 
HB 519 (SB 399): Mental Health Protection Act
HB 520: Prohibit Defense Based on Sex or Gender

You can learn more about NASW-NC support of Broad Protection for LGBTQ+ People in North Carolina by visiting our website here. 

Total Abortion Ban Introduced

HB 533-Human Life Protection Act of 2023. This is a complete and total abortion ban bill. Per our community partner Pro-Choice NC: "Yesterday we learned the first dangerous anti-abortion bill was filed, HB533, which calls for a complete ban on abortion. While complete bans have been introduced in past sessions, this is the first one to be filed since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 Dobbs decision overturned Roe, a ruling that removed the federal protections preventing states from completely banning abortion.

Since that time, 12 states have enacted near total bans, many more states have further restricted abortion access, and other states are introducing more and more extreme bans and restrictions. These political, arbitrary, and medically unnecessary bans and restrictions are causing chaos in healthcare systems around the country, with dangerous impacts reverberating beyond reproductive health care. While it is unlikely HB533 has the support needed to move through the North Carolina legislature, it never should have been filed in the first place. The fact that it was, confirms that we must remain vigilant if we are to protect abortion access in North Carolina. Yesterday’s bill was the first anti-abortion bill this session, and it likely won’t be the last." NASW-NC OPPOSES.

You can take action to ask legislators to support abortion access in NC without restrictions by clicking here.

Source: Pro-Choice NC. 

Bills To Watch:

HB 346 (SB 296) Reorganization & Economic Development Act.  
With lawmakers' support, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) is attempting to push two potentially harmful bills through the N.C. General Assembly: House Bill 346 and Senate Bill 296. Under the bills, BCBSNC would be able to bypass state laws that protect underserved North Carolinians from corporate interests. Specifically, BCBSNC could "restructure" itself by setting up a parent company that is NOT a regulated insurance company. This new parent company could take actions like investing assets out of state or increasing executive salaries, which could lead to higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs as well as diminished quality of care and services for North Carolinians.

Source: NC Justice Center

HB 187- Equality in Education (Anti-CRT bill) PASSES HOUSE, NASW-NC OPPOSES.  House Bill 187—given the misleading name “Equality in Education”—is designed to discourage educators from teaching about the realities of racism and sexism in the United States. Teachers should be able to include in their lessons the lived realities of all Americans—including Native, Black, Latinx, Asian, and white—and provide all students with a full, honest accounting of our nation’s history.

If enacted, the bill’s vague wording would sow confusion and likely scare teachers away from teaching at a time when our schools are already facing unprecedented challenges, including a severe teacher shortage. Legislative policing will harm students, worsen our dire teacher shortage, and move us further away from providing North Carolina’s children the quality education they are owed under our state’s constitution.

Source: NC Justice Center

Other bills of interest: 

• HB 476 - Increase Personal Needs Allowance/Medicaid.  A bill to raise the Personal Needs Allowance (PNA) for nursing home residents from $30.00 a month, where it has been since 1987.  NC increased the PNA for assisted living residents in 2022 from $46 to $70 in 2022. This increase is needed for nursing home residents who have to purchase clothing, toiletries, hairstyling services, and cellphone bills out of pocket. NASW-NC supports this bill with community partners such as Friends of Residents in Long Term Care (FOR), and the NC Coalition on Aging (NCCOA), and AARP-NC.  NASW-NC SUPPORTS
• SB 383- Protect Our Youth in Foster Care.  A bill that recognizes that children both at risk of entering the foster care system as well as those within the system have experienced trauma. Further recognizes that trauma results in those children being at higher risk of needing behavioral or developmental/intellectual disability services. Requires the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop a trauma-based standardized assessment in partnership with several stakeholders.
• HB 439/SB 353 - RBG ACT (Remove Barriers to Gain Access to Abortion) Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday to expand abortion access, and said they wanted to make clear their support for removing barriers that are currently in place even as Republicans prepare to introduce and pass stricter limits. The bill — called the “RBG Act” as a nod to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late U.S. Supreme Court justice (though officially it’s “an Act to Remove Barriers to Gain Access to Abortion”) — would replace North Carolina’s current 20-week abortion ban with the standards set in Roe v. Wade, which was overturned by the court last year. It would also remove a ban on abortion medication being provided through telemedicine, and would get rid of the 72-hour waiting period.
• SB 403- Prohibit Weapons at Voting Places. An act to prohibit the possession or carrying of a dangerous weapon at or within a certain distance of a voting place.
• 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.
• SB 437-Hate Crimes Prevention Act.  An act to increase the scope and punishment of hate crimes by expanding the categories under which a crime will be elevated to a higher level offense as a hate crime to include crimes committed because of the actual or perceived race, ethnicity, color, religion, nationality, country of origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, disability, or sexual orientation of the victim or a person or group associated with the victim. 
• SB 440-Increase NC Minimum Wage/$15.  This bill would increase the state minimum wage to fifteen dollars per hour.

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

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