2023 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Week 20
On Memorial Day, we honor and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. We also send our support to those mourning a loved one. Let’s come together and remember that there is always hope and help. Support is out there. Get started at FindSupport.gov. #Together4MH #MHAM2023
As we close Mental Health Awareness Month, if you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. To learn how to get support for mental health, drug, and alcohol issues, visit FindSupport.gov. If you are ready to locate a treatment facility or provider, you can also go directly to FindTreatment.gov or call 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Governor Cooper Issues State of Emergency for Public Education
In a special address, Governor Roy Cooper declared that public education in North Carolina is facing a state of emergency. In his address, the Governor outlined extreme legislation in the NC General Assembly that would cripple the state’s public education system and urged North Carolinians to contact their legislators.
In recent weeks, a series of sweeping legislation has passed that would cause public schools to lose hundreds of millions of dollars, exacerbate the state’s teacher shortage and bring political culture wars into the classrooms.
• A Devastating School Voucher Scheme: Legislative leaders propose pouring billions of dollars in taxpayer money into private schools that are unaccountable to the public and can decide which students they want to admit. Their plan would expand private school vouchers so anyone – even a millionaire – can get taxpayer money for their children’s private school tuition.
• A Worsening Teacher Shortage: North Carolina schools currently have more than 5,000 teacher vacancies. Recruiting and retaining quality teachers to the classroom is harder than ever and low pay is a big reason why. Governor Cooper’s budget proposed an 18% pay raise over two years. But last week Senate Republicans proposed increasing veteran teachers’ salaries by just $250 spread over two years.
• Injecting Culture Wars into the Classroom: Legislative leaders want to inject their political culture wars into classrooms across North Carolina with bills that would put politicians in charge of curriculum setting, micromanage what teachers can teach, and target LGBTQ+ students.
Governor Cooper traveled across the state to meet with business leaders, educators and parents to raise awareness about the dangers of the bills in the NC General Assembly and ask them to demand better and join the fight to protect public education in North Carolina.
Watch the Governor’s address or read the Governor’s full remarks.
Learn more about North Carolina’s public education emergency.
NASW ACTION ALERT
The Community Mental Wellness and Resilience Act has been introduced in the House & Senate. Urge your members of Congress to support S. 1452/H.R. 3073 to address mental health issues raised by climate change & disasters.
S. 1452/H.R. 3073 would fund and provide technical assistance to support the formation and operation of broad and diverse coalitions across the nation that build mental wellness and resilience for adversities and implement local climate solutions. Social workers and other health and behavioral health professionals will be critical to these efforts.
You can let your members of Congress know how the psychological and emotional effects of climate change impact you and your clients.
Please personalize the editable email to reflect your experience and perspective.
Click here to take action!
Bills of Interest:
HB 855 - Strengthening Care for Families and Children. This bill would allocate about $1 billion in one-time money to make much-needed improvements in the state’s mental health system including increasing Medicaid provider rates and funding training for behavioral health providers in schools. This bill would use close to two-thirds of the money that will come to North Carolina as part of a federal incentive for states that expand Medicaid. See NC DHHS video urging leaders to invest in behavioral health here. NASW-NC Supports.
HB 346 - Reorganization & Economic Development Act (Blue Cross NC bill). This bill would allow Blue Cross NC, classified as a non-profit medical service corporation to transfer assets into a holding company. The holding company would be exempt from many regulations. It passed the Senate Commerce and Insurance Committee on May 24th on a voice vote. The bill has bipartisan support. State Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey spoke against the bill again during public comments. NASW-NC Opposes.
Read more about the harm to policy holders from the NC Justice Center.
HB 237 - Criminal Law Revisions (Mask bill). This bill would create a sentencing enhancement for committing a crime while wearing a mask, hood, or other device to conceal identity.
A bill in North Carolina would impose stricter penalties for suspects who wear hoods or masks while committing a crime. Advocates with the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina say the bill is broad and discriminatory, and say it would disproportionately impact people of color.
Senior Policy Council for the ACLU of NC, Elizabeth Barber, said in an interview with The Charlotte Observer the bill could lead to racially biased enforcement. She said in locations where hoodies are already banned, such as some shopping malls, enforcement of those rules mainly target people of color.
“This enhancement will be used against people of color more than it will be against white people,” Barber said. The bill also takes discretion away from judges to give an offender probation instead of jail time, if they are caught while concealing their identity, Barber said. “It’s really troubling, because it completely removes the penalty for a crime from the severity of a crime, two people convicted of the exact same thing can face vastly different punishments simply based on what they put on that morning,” Barber said.
The bill passed its third reading in the House, and passed its first reading in the Senate earlier this month.
Source: NCInsider
The North Carolina General Assembly recently voted to override Governor Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 20 - Care for Women, Children and Families Act. This bill bans abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy with narrow exceptions and implements harsh new restrictions on abortion even before 12 weeks. The main takeaway is that abortion access is still available and will not be changed in North Carolina until July 1st.
There are many questions and concerns about what will change to abortion access once the law goes into effect. ACLU of NC has put together a blog that provides additional information. NASW-NC encourages you to read this and share it widely with others.
What Will Change Under SB20? | ACLU of North Carolina
You can read NASW-NC's full statement on the passing of the monster abortion ban here:
Social Work Opposes Monster Abortion Ban - National Association of Social Workers NC Chapter (naswnc.org)
Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact Update
SB 718 was not subjected to the final bill crossover deadline of May 4th. This means we still have the rest of the 2023 Legislative Session to get the bill passed in both chambers and signed into law by Governor Cooper. We are optimistic the bill will pass. Since only Republican-sponsored bills have moved this session, we are pitching the Compact as primarily a bill to support military spouses. The Social Work Compact creation was initiated by the Department of Defense to promote licensure portability for military spouses. You can read about that here: Interstate Licensure Compact for Social Work (socialworkers.org) A large number of Republican lawmakers, who have the supermajority in both the House and Senate, are very supportive of bills that support military populations and NASW-NC is working on getting support to advance the bill before session ends. Please be on the lookout for action alerts to contact your legislators to support the Social Work Licensure Compact.
More information about the Social Work Licensure Compact can be found here: https://swcompact.org
Thank you to the members of NASW-NC for supporting the advocacy work we do. We would not be able to advocate for the social work profession or social justice issues in North Carolina without a robust and engaged NASW membership. If you are a social worker and not a member, we ask that you join NASW today. Our voice is louder with your membership.
Learn more about NASW-NC membership here.
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