NASW-NC Legislative Session: Governor’s Budget and Bills of Interest

On Wednesday, Governor Roy Cooper released his vision for state funding for the next two years. Among his priorities:

• Recommends expanding Medicaid eligibility beginning October 1, 2021 to provide healthcare access for more than 600,000 North Carolinians.
• Provides $80 million to allow school districts to hire more nurses, counselors, psychologists, and social workers to support student physical and mental health. 
• Provides funds for social workers serving in community corrections.
• Provides 5% raises for state employees over the next two years, including two bonuses in October 2021 and 2022.
• Increases funding by over $15 million to expand housing and employment supports for individuals at risk of institutionalization

Find out more priorities in Governor Cooper’s budget on our website, including links to the Governor’s budget documents.

What’s next for the budget? Now that the Governor has outlined his priorities, the North Carolina Senate will introduce their own budget in the coming weeks and the North Carolina House will introduce their own as well. From there, Senate and House leadership will work to draft one statewide budget that they will pass on to Governor Cooper to sign into law or veto. Our state fiscal year ends June 30th so we will likely see a state budget around that time.

Bills of Interest to Social Workers

• HB 354 Hate Crimes Prevention Act: This legislation adds ethnicity, gender identity, gender expression, disability, and sexual orientation to our state’s hate crime laws. By doing this, North Carolinians are better protected in our state from hate crimes involving race, gender, and sexual orientation. Further, the bill increases punishment for acts against these protected classes. NASW-NC supports this legislation.
• HB 358 Save Women’s Sports Act: This legislation would prohibit transgender individuals from joining sports teams. It defines sex as being based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth. NASW-NC is opposed to this legislation. We join our colleagues at Equality NC in asking social workers to contact their legislators and let them know they are opposed to the legislation.
• HB 351 Clifford’s Law: This legislation directs Health and Human Services to establish visitation protocols for nursing homes and other facilities to implement during declared disasters and emergencies.
• HB 389/SB 350 North Carolina Innovations Waiver Act of 2021: This legislation would provide funds for 1,000 new Innovations Waiver slots. The Innovations Waiver supports individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities through community supports rather than institutional settings. However, there is a large waiting list for services. The bill also creates a workgroup to make a ten-year plan to address the registry of unmet needs for the North Carolina Innovations Waiver.
• HB 382 Hospital ED Care/Medicaid Behavioral Health Services: This bill would direct the state to cover behavioral health services through Medicaid in emergency departments while a patient waits for discharge or transfer.
• HB 395 Extend Deadlines for Mandatory HIE Participation: This bill moves the deadline that providers must be connected to the Health Information Exchange. The new connection for most social workers would be October 1, 2022. NASW-NC supports this legislation.
• HB 424 Juveniles/Eliminate Life Without Parole: This legislation updates sentencing for juveniles. Under the bill, if a youth is convicted of first-degree murder, and the youth was under the age of 18 at the time of the offense, the sentence shall be life imprisonment with parole and shall be eligible for parole consideration after serving 25 years imprisonment. If (i) convicted of a crime other than first degree murder, (ii) under the age of 18 at the time of the offense, and (iii) sentenced to more than 15 years imprisonment, the youth shall be eligible for parole consideration after serving 15 years imprisonment. A prisoner who is sentenced under the Fair Sentencing Act, and who was under the age of 18 at the time of the offense, shall be eligible for parole consideration after completion of 20 years imprisonment.