NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Senate Bill Filing Deadline Produces Bad Bills

Despite the North Carolina Legislature taking a "Spring Break" last week, Senate members had their bill filing deadline on April 7th. From Monday, April 5 through April 7th, Senators filed 213 bills after having filed 131 bills the week before.

House members' bill filing deadline is early May. Additionally, bills have to "Crossover" by passing either the House or the Senate by May 13th to be considered for the remainder of the legislative session. While many bills were filed recently and many more will be filed, not many will make it through to become law. Despite this, NASW-NC will continue to communicate our Legislative Agenda priorities to legislators. We are also working in Coalitions to ensure social workers and behavioral health provider voices are heard.

With that, here are some bills of interest to social workers:

• SB 416 "Ban the Box": This legislation would eliminate the requirement of disclosure of one's criminal record or history as a requirement for employment and removes the provision of needing a physical address for employment. NASW-NC supports this legislation.
• SB 445 Domestic Violence Victims' Separation Waiver: This legislation would allow victims of domestic violence to seek a divorce without having to meet the one-year period of separation. It would also appropriate $30,000 from the General Fund to the Governor's Crime Commission for the 2021-2022 fiscal year in order to implement an awareness campaign about domestic violence victims' separation waivers. NASW-NC supports this legislation.
• SB 457 Healthy Families and Workplaces/Paid Sick Leave: This legislation would provide paid or earned sick leave days for workers to address the physical or mental health of themselves or their families. NASW-NC supports this legislation.
• SB 471 Increase Veterans Access to Health Care: This legislation would expand Medicaid provisions to military veterans who have a modified gross income that is below 100% of the federal poverty level. As an estimated 30,000 veterans and additional 23,000 military spouses and children are uninsured, this bill would provide coverage for those who are not currently eligible for Medicaid. NASW-NC supports this legislation.
• SB 514 Youth Health Protection Act: Like legislation we have see advance in other states, this legislation would make it unlawful for providers to treat minors aged 21 or younger from having (1) sterilizing surgeries, (2) mastectomies, (3) puberty-blocking medications, and (4) surgery to remove any healthy or nondiseased body part or tissue. Any medical professional who engages in these practices will have their license revoked and be subject to additional discipline by their professional licensing or certifying board. In addition, parental guardians may withhold consent for treatment, activity, or mental health care services that are intended to influence their child's conceptions of sex and gender or treat gender dysphoria/gender nonconformity. NASW-NC opposes this legislation.
• SB 515 Health Care Heroes Conscience Protection Act: This legislation seeks to protect the religious, moral, and/or ethical beliefs of medical practitioners, health care institutions, and health care payers. These entities are not required to participate in any health care service that violates their conscience and cannot be held liable for choosing to not participate. This bill would also make it unlawful for anyone to discriminate against any medical provider that that refuses to participate in or pay for a health care service that goes against their personal beliefs. NASW-NC opposes this legislation. See NASW-NC Statement on the NCGA Anti-LGBTQ Bills here.
• SB 530 Medicaid for Twelve Months Postpartum would expand Medicaid for postpartum women to twelve months postpartum. Additionally, the bill would provide funds for a waiver of tuition and registration fees at a North Carolina Community College. NASW-NC supports this legislation.
• SB 545 Universal Licensure Recognition Act would allow anyone that establishes residency in North Carolina and holds a license for at least one year in another state to become licensed in North Carolina.
• SB 607 Substance Use Disorder Safety Act: This harmful legislation makes many changes to our state's current syringe exchange laws. The bill sets up a lot of roadblocks for programs to operate a syringe program. It includes a requirement that syringe programs engrave or mark all program supplies to identify the program, prohibits programs from being located within a 3-mile radius of schools, and allows neighboring homeowners to approve any program. Further, it would disallow mobile programs and require background checks for people running programs. NASW-NC is opposed to this legislation.
• HB 482 Animal Support/Enrichment Program for Students: This legislation would allow the Outdoor Heritage Advisory Council to establish a grant program to integrate the use of animals into schools as an outlet for positive mental health and learning opportunities. A total of $300,000 would be appropriated from the General Fund to the Outdoor Heritage Advisory Council for the 2021-2022 fiscal year in order to provide grants to local school administrative units. These grants will allow schools to offer animal support programs for at-risk students and students with disabilities in an effort to enhance school-based services and increase overall student engagement.

Last week, we alerted members to these bills having been filed the last week of March:

Bills that support the NASW-NC Legislative Agenda: 

• HB 450/SB 396 Equality for All would expand North Carolina's protected status definition to include a person's race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, sex, martial status, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military or veteran status, or genetic information.
• HB 451/SB 438 Full Repeal of HB2 would fully repeal North Carolina's discriminatory HB2 law signed by Governor Pat McCrory in 2017.
• HB 452/SB 392 Mental Health Protection Act would prohibit licensed behavioral health providers from practicing conversion therapy on minors and disabled adults. It would also prohibit state funds from going to any organization that practices conversion therapy.
• HB 449/SB 409 Prohibit Defense Based on Sex or Gender would ban defense to homicide or assault based on a person's sex or gender identity.
• SB 402 Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap would expand Medicaid in North Carolina. Similarly, a House bill was filed last week, HB 470 also sees to expand Medicaid.
• SB 439 Hate Crimes Prevention Act would increase penalties for any crimes committed based on a victim's race, ethnicity, color, religion, nationality, or country of origin, origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, disability, or sexual orientation of the victim or a person or group associated with the victim.
• SB 443 2021 Safe Drinking Water Act was filed by social worker and state Senator Sydney Batch. The legislation would require the Commission for Public Health to establish maximum contaminant levels for chemicals that are known carcinogens or toxic.

Bills that are in opposition to the NASW-NC Legislative Agenda:

• HB 453 Human Life Non-discrimination Act/No Eugenics would prohibit abortion if the parent is seeking an abortion due to race, sex, or the presence or presumed presence of Down syndrome.
• SB 404 A Second Chance for Life would direct physicians who perform drug induced abortions to provide patients with written information about reversing abortions after the first dose of medication. It would fine any provider that violates this law.
• SB 405 Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act targets health care providers who provide safe and legal abortion care with the threat of a serious criminal penalty for not providing care to an infant.

NASW-NC's Legislative Committee is working to develop talking points and communicate with lawmakers. We will share action alerts as bills are discussed in committee.

Please remember, NASW-NC is the only organization that lobbies on behalf of the entire social work profession in North Carolina. Your membership matters! Not a member of NASW? Join today!