2023 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Week 13

Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact is Filed in Senate!

The NC Senate introduced and filed SB 718 - Social Work Licensure Compact on Thursday 4/6 at 3PM, one hour before the bill deadline for the 2023 session at 4pm on 4/6/23! The bill's primary sponsors are Senator Kraweic, Senator Burgin, and Senator Corbin.  Senator Sydney Batch, who is also a social worker, has also signed on as a sponsor.  NASW-NC has been advocating for SB 718 as a top 20223 legislative agenda item. You can read more about what the compact does to protect and strengthen the social work profession by clicking here. 

Restoring Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers is Introduced in Senate 

The NC Senate introduced Senate Bill 524 - School Social Workers/Master's Pay during session on Tuesday 4/4.  Senator Waddell is the primary sponsor of this bill, which would provide eligible school social workers with education-based salary supplements, regardless of whether a master’s degree is needed for licensure. Senator Adcock, Meyer (social worker), Mohammed, Murdock and Robinson are all co-sponsors. NASW-NC is grateful to see members of the NC Senate are supporting restoration of Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers.  Please call or email their offices to thank them as a social worker for sponsoring SB 524!  

Please call your state senator and ask them to support Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers.  Find your legislators here: https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators. Be sure to click the option for NC Senate. Talking points here.

Click Here to take ACTION!

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 to ensure the NC Senate includes restoring Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers in their version of the budget. 

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! 

2023 Budget Update- NC House 
The House passed its $29.7 billion budget on Wednesday, $3 billion less than Governor Cooper’s proposal.  The two-year spending plan — which proposes pay raises for teachers and long-awaited Medicaid expansion reforms — would determine state spending through the next biennium. It includes salary increases for government and state-wide employees, policies that would become law and funding plans for government-sponsored projects. The House Republicans’ budget proposal includes a 10.2% average raise for public school teachers over the next two years, and a 9.5% raise for school bus drivers to help improve driver shortages across the state. Some other hard-to-fill roles would get extra raises to incentivize prospective applicants.

It is critical to remember that Medicaid Expansion will be implemented only if the 2023-2024 budget is passed into law by the end of 2023. From the NC Insider, "“The House will vote on its budget bill this week, which is just one step on the way to a final budget for the state. In May, the Senate is expected to release its version of the budget. The two chambers must then pass a compromise budget to send to Cooper, who will sign it, veto it or let it become law without his signature after 10 days". 

Click Here to see the House Bill 259-2023 Approritations Act (NC House Budget Proposal). 

Representative Tricia Cotham's Party Switch gives NC Republicans Supermajority 

State Rep. Tricia Cotham, a Mecklenburg Democrat, from District #112, formally switched parties and joined the House Republican caucus on Wednesday 4/5.  She held a press conference at the NC GOP Headquarters in Raleigh flanked by House Speaker Tim Moore. 

Cotham had campaigned as a Democrat and someone who supported abortion rights, health care, public education, gun safety and civil rights, and that voters in her district “elected her to serve as that person and overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates up and down the ballot.”

A party switch by Cotham will mean Republicans control 72 out of 120 House seats, giving them enough seats to override vetoes by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper without any Democratic votes. Republicans in the Senate already have a supermajority in that chamber, controlling 30 out of 50 seats.

Cotham’s decision to become a Republican would have major ramifications for the last two years of Cooper’s final term, since GOP leaders, having come within one seat of total legislative control, have promised to revisit bills the governor successfully vetoed in the past, and pass contentious bills on their own.

Source: News & Observer 

Protect LGBTQ people in NC - from Equality NC 

On Wednesday, 4/5, the Republican-led NCGA introduced five harmful bills targetting trans youth.  Kendra R. Johnson, executive director of Equality NC, said the health care bills will prevent parents from making decisions on their child’s healthcare. Johnson said the bills are harmful and life-threatening. “These bills do nothing to address the real issues facing our youth, like gun violence in schools or the mental health crisis, Johnson said in a statement. “Instead of working to make schools safe environments, our lawmakers are bullying queer and trans kids.” 

The Bills are:

• SB 560: Medical Treatment for Minors Act; would establish governing provisions for the treatment of gender dysphoria for persons under eighteen. NASW-NC Opposes
• SB 631: Fairness in Women’s Sports Act; would require each team player to be designated by the biological sex of the team participants as one of the following males, mens, or boys, females, women, or girls, or coed or mixed. NASW-NC Opposes
• SB 636: The Sports Transparency Act states athletic eligibility will be based on “biological participation requirements”. NASW-NC Opposes
• SB 639: Youth Health Protection Act; an act to protect minors from the administration of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and other related actions, procedures, and treatments. NASW-NC Opposes
• SB 641: Medical Ethics Defense Act; allows a medical practitioner, health care institution, or health  care payer “not to participate in or pay for any health care services which violate his, her, or its conscience. NASW-NC Opposes

Equality NC has provided an action alert to send a letter to tell NC lawmakers to stop bullying young people and to protect trans youth.

TAKE ACTION NOW! 

Children’s Mental Health  

North Carolina is getting failing grades for meeting the mental health needs of the state’s children, according to the 2023 Child Health Report Card released Tuesday. The state received" F "grades in mental health, school-based health, housing and economic security, and birth outcomes in the report released by NC Child and the North Carolina Institute of Medicine. Mental health is a major focus in the new report card, which is issued every two years. The report notes that an “unprecedented” 67 children ages 0-18 died by suicide in North Carolina in 2020.

Other alarming statistics include:

• One in five North Carolina high school students reported seriously considering attempting suicide in 2021, up from 16% in 2017.
• One in 10 North Carolina high school students reported actually making a suicide attempt.
• LGBTQ+ students are more than three times more likely to consider or attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers.

Source: News & Observer

SB 567-School Mental Health Support Act; appropriates funds for a school mental health grant program and to establish a mental health worker loan repayment program.

SB 570- Modernize Reg/Master’s Level Psychologists; an act to reduce the unnecessary regulatory buried on master’s level psychologists and to increase quality mental health care services for North Carolinians

SB 598-Healthy Schools - A Nurse in Every School; would require at least one school nurse in every school in a local school administrative unit beginning in the 2023-2024 school year and to appropriate funds to meet that requirement

Social Workers support free and fair elections 

HB 304 - Election Day Integrity Act 

House Bill 304, would eliminate the state’s three-day grace period for mail-in ballots to arrive after the election. In the 2020 election, more than 11,000 valid ballots came in during that period. Under current law, as long as someone’s mail-in ballot is postmarked on Election Day or before, it will be counted as long as it arrives within three days of the election. That lets people wait until the last minute to make up their mind — or simply remember to put their ballot in the mail — and still have it counted, since the U.S. Postal Service typically takes a few days to deliver mail. NC also has one of the largest groups of enlisted military members who are mailing in votes from different states or even overseas.  Passed first house reading and re-ref to the rules committee. 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.

Appointment Power
SB 512 - Greater Accountability for Boards/Commissions
North Carolina Republicans redoubled their efforts on Tuesday to erode the powers of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and future governors by advancing a measure that would reduce the number of appointments he makes to several key state commissions. On a party-line vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would rejuggle the makeup of panels that, among other duties, approve electricity rates and road-building projects and adopt environmental regulations. The bill would let the General Assembly pick appointees on these panels for the first time, or appoint more than they already get to. And the state treasurer or agriculture commissioner, both of whom lead executive branch departments but are elected separately from the governor, also would get to pick some members. Critics warned the measure, if enacted into law, would set up yet another costly legal showdown between the governor and the legislature over the division of their powers.

The governor’s press secretary, Sam Chan, called the bill “another massive, unconstitutional power grab by Republican legislators who have a track record of right-wing partisan appointees” that don’t reflect the state’s demographic or political diversity.”

Source: AP News
 
Total Abortion Ban Introduced

HB 533-Human Life Protection Act of 2023 (Abortion Ban). 
A group of Republicans has filed a new bill in the North Carolina House that could potentially ban legal abortion in the state except as necessary to save a mother’s life. If this bill, deemed House Bill 533, goes through it would ban abortion processes except in cases of spontaneous abortion of the fetus or an ectopic pregnancy. And anyone who would receive or perform an abortion in the state except for those reasons would face felony criminal charges along with a hefty fine.

House Bill 533, also known as “The Human Life Protection Act of 2023”, would ban all abortion starting at conception except for spontaneous abortion or an ectopic pregnancy. And even then there are specifications on how these exceptions are carried out. If not followed in the bill, a person could face a Class B2 felony charge for any action prohibited in the bill that “results in the death of an unborn child.” Along with civil penalties of at least $100,000 per violation and disciplinary action that includes the removal of medical licenses.

Source: WRAL
NASW-NC OPPOSES.  You can take action to ask legislators to support abortion access in NC without restrictions by clicking here.

HB 439/SB 353 - RBG ACT (Remove Barriers to Gain Access to Abortion) Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation 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.

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. NASW-NC Opposes. 

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.
• 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. NASW-NC SUPPORTS
• 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.
• HB 552 (SB 467)-MOMnibus Act; an act that would entitle every person giving birth to be treated with dignity and respect during pregnancy and childbirth 
• SB 471-Automatic Voter Registration; an act to provide automatic voter registration at driver’s license offices, public agencies, community colleges, and colleges and universities
• SB 555- Working Families Act; to reduce parent copayments for subsidized child care, reenact the child tax credit, increase state minimum wage to $15, grant local governments to set higher minimum wage, increase income eligibility limit for property tax homestead circuit breaker, create a homebuyers’ an assistance program with NCFA for first-time homebuyers, and enact the NC paid family leave insurance. 
• SB 565-Removing Barriers to Jobs and Housing; an act to improve the second chance act by revising the laws governing the automatic expunction of records and the availability of expunged records
• SB 576- Shared Parenting; An act to establish a presumption of joint custody and shared parenting
• SB 625-Child Welfare, Safety, and Permanence Reforms; would change laws affecting juveniles and associated services
• SB 650-Gun Violence Prevention Act; an act to create the offense of possessing a firearm or weapon of mass death and destruction by a felon during the commission or attempted commission of a felony

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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