2023 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Week 42- 2023 NC General Assembly Long Session Adjourns
Monday, October 30, 2023
(0 Comments)
Posted by: Lauren Zingraff
2023 NC General Assembly Long Session Adjourns
On Wednesday October 25, following the passage of new gerrymandered voting maps, SB 760 - Adjournment Resolution was passed by the NC General Assembly.
This was after the NC General Assembly started the 2023 Long Session back on January 11, 2023. The state budget was due on July 1, 2023 and if passed on time would have meant a session that ended weeks earlier. However, due to a stalemate over
if casinos would be included in the final version, the state budget was passed by the NC House on September 22, 2023 - 84 days late.
Legislators will return to Raleigh once a month beginning on November 29th to consider specific items before the short session. However, Senate President Phil Berger told reporters he does not expect the legislature to vote on any bills until the 2024
Short Session begins on April 24, 2024. Berger stated the monthly meeting dates will be no-vote sessions in case legislators need to address the multiple lawsuits the NC General Assembly is facing or other specific measures such as election laws.
Here are the dates the NC General Assembly can meet per SB 760-Adjournment Resolution:
- Nov. 29-30, 2023
- Dec. 20-21, 2023
- Jan. 17-18, 2024
- Feb. 14-15, 2024
- March 13-14, 2024
- April 10-11, 2024
Read More: NC legislators use new power to make key appointments as session wraps up
North Carolina legislature passes new congressional map that favors Republicans-Voting groups have signaled they will file legal challenges to the new lines
The Republican-led North Carolina legislature passed a new congressional map Wednesday that experts said likely heavily favors their party, which is expected to face a legal challenge before the 2024 election.
The redrawing of the state’s 14
congressional districts follows years of litigation in state and federal courts over the partisan balance of the map for the state. Under the court-approved map in 2020, voters sent seven Democrats and seven Republicans to Congress.
The
new map passed Wednesday would allow Republicans to win as many as 11 of the 14 seats, according to an analysis published by redistricting expert Jonathan Mattingly, a mathematics professor at Duke University.
“The maps the legislature have proposed essentially negate the need to have elections for the U.S. House of Representatives.”
Duke math professor Jonathan Mattingly, who leads a research team on redistricting, on the newest political maps from the legislature.
Mattingly’s analysis said the new map would end up with fewer Democrats in Congress than the previous overturned map. It also said the results would be less “responsive” to changes in the statewide result — sending only four Democrats to Congress even
if they won as much as 53 percent of the statewide vote.
Democrats offered an amendment Wednesday that would have kept the state’s current map which has a 7-7 partisan split and the Republican majority voted against the amendment 40-64.
North Carolina’s governor does not have veto power over the
state’s map, so Wednesday’s vote in the state General Assembly effectively makes the map law following state Senate passage earlier this week.
A group of North Carolina-based voting groups met outside the state Capitol Wednesday to protest the map and hint at potential challenges. Kyle Brazile, the director of civic engagement at the NC Counts Coalition, called the changes in the map “a clear
instance of discrimination.” "This is minority rule fighting to preserve a political gerrymander on the back of Black communities, poor communities and rural communities,” Brazile said.
During the assembly’s rules committee debate, Democratic
state Rep. Allison Dahle questioned the changes to the map that reduced the Black voting-age population of the 1st District, currently held by Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., and whether that may violate the Voting Rights Act. “It just feels to me that we
are trying to get rid of three Democrats to get more Republican folks in Congress,” Dahle said. “I kind of feel like the people of North Carolina are getting shafted.”
After the maps were unveiled last week, attorney Marc Elias, whose
law group successfully challenged the state’s last map, floated the possibility of a Voting Rights Act lawsuit in response.
North Carolina’s first map based on the 2020 census results was challenged on partisan gerrymandering grounds.
Eventually, the state courts approved a new map for the 2022 elections, finding that the state constitution banned partisan gerrymandering.
State officials challenged that result in the Supreme Court, where the legislators ultimately lost.
However, while that case was going on, the state Supreme Court overturned the precedent that the case was based on, which paved the way for partisan gerrymandering in a new map.
Last week, legislators unveiled the new plan and passed it
through both chambers this week.
Source: Roll Call
Read More: North Carolina Republicans put exclamation mark on pivotal annual session with redistricting maps - The
North Carolina General Assembly gave final approval Wednesday to new redistricting maps poised to empower the state GOP for years to come.
NASW ACTION ALERTS
#NASW Action Alert: The Connecting Our Medical Providers with Links to Expand Tailored and Effective Care Act (S. 1378/
H.R. 5819)has been introduced in the US House and Senate. Make your voice heard. Urge
your members of Congress to support S.1378/ H.R. 5819 which would enhance Medicare payment rates for behavioral health integration services to help with the startup costs of implementing integrated care models. https://www.votervoice.net/NASW/campaigns/108582/respond #CompleteCareActNow
#NASW Action Alert Urge CMS to Upgrade Nursing Home Social Service & Nursing Staffing
Social workers and nursing staff strive to enhance the quality of life and quality of care for nursing home residents. Yet, their efforts are often hindered by exceedingly high workloads.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is requesting public comments by Monday, November 6, regarding proposed federal regulations (also known as a proposed rule) for nursing homes that receive funding from Medicaid, Medicare, or both.
2023 NASW-NC Fall Conference
Registration Fees: Members $125 Not yet a member? $250
The National Association of Social Workers North Carolina (NASW-NC) Fall Conference is a meeting for the entire profession! Everyone from the social work student to the LCSW in private practice can benefit from the presentation offerings. After the conference,
attendees will take away new ideas, knowledge, and skills to implement them. Past attendees have shared that the workshops offered enhance their practice and area of specialization.
Each attendee who participates in the entire Fall Conference webinar live will receive a transcript of attendance reflecting 13 LIVE contact hours of Continuing Education (4 of which are Ethics CE). The conference will also be recorded,
and for the other sessions you don’t select to attend live, you could receive up to 18 additional hours of asynchronous CE (for a total of 31 hours of Continuing Education possible, including Ethics CE).
From NC Budget & Tax Center:
Let’s face it: The final state budget does not align with the needs of the people in North Carolina. After witnessing a chaotic budget process that failed to include the public in policy discussions, what steps can we take to prevent this from happening
again?
Join the NC Budget & Tax Center and partners at noon on Nov. 8 for our next Making Connections webinar to learn how we can collectively mitigate the harm of the 2023 budget and work toward a democratic state
budget process next year! REGISTER NOW
Voting Information - EARLY VOTING IS HAPPENING NOW!
In 2023, there are three municipal election dates in North Carolina:
- Thursday, Oct. 19: One-stop, in-person early voting begins for November municipal elections.
- Saturday, Nov. 4: One-stop, in-person early voting ends for November municipal elections.
- Tuesday, Nov. 7 ELECTION DAY (various municipalities)
Check out our NASW-NC's Election Page HERE.
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.
Want this information sent directly to your inbox? Sign up for weekly NASW-NC legislative updates: https://votervoice.net/NASWNC/home
|
Print Page
Email to a Friend
