News & Press

NASW-NC Resources for Government Shutdown and Loss of SNAP Benefits

Thu, 6 Nov 2025 16:35:00 GMT

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ran out of funds on November 1. SNAP provides food purchasing assistance to low-income families in communities across America and is the largest nutrition assistance program in the nation with an average of 41.7 million participants a month in FY 2024.

On October 30, 2025, Governor Josh Stein announced that the State of North Carolina will grant $10 million to local food banks across the state. The State is joined by AmeriHealth Caritas, which will give $5 million, The David & Nicole Tepper Foundation, which will accelerate $2.5 million from a previously announced $10 million gift, and other donors. These announcements come as food banks prepare for an influx of need following the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s decision to suspend the distribution of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for November.
“With the help of generous partners, North Carolina is taking action to keep families fed,” said Governor Josh Stein. “Shoring up our state’s food banks will serve as a critical, but fleeting, lifeline for families in need, and I hope other North Carolina organizations will also step up in this time of need. Whether it’s paying our military, ensuring no child goes hungry, or lowering health care costs, leaders in Washington need to come together immediately to find a bipartisan solution that provides long-term stability for millions of Americans.”

More than 1.4 million North Carolinians, including hundreds of thousands of children, veterans, people with disabilities, and working families, rely on SNAP benefits to afford the rising cost of groceries. For every one meal a food bank provides to families, SNAP provides nine.

Click here to read the full press release from Governor Stein.

NASW-NC is committed to helping those effected by the 2025 Government Shutdown, which has lead to the loss of SNAP benefits to many North Carolinians across the state. We have compiled a list of resources for those in need including food pantries, hot meal locations, pet food pantries and more!

Click here to read NASW's Policy Statement on Snap Benefits.

Please click here to view the resources page!

NASW-NC Statement on NC General Assembly's Partisan Gerrymandering

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 15:30:00 GMT

For our democracy to function, states must be able to hold free and fair elections. Because of our strong belief in this principle, NASW-NC adamantly opposes the North Carolina General Assembly’s passage of Senate Bill 249 – Realign Congressional Districts 2025.

North Carolina’s previous congressional map had already been rated as an “F” for partisan fairness by the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. This new map is somehow even worse.

The Republican-controlled legislature has openly admitted that its intent in redrawing the map was to eliminate the state’s only competitive U.S. House District, the 1st District. "The motivation behind this redraw is simple, and singular," Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, a top redistricting leader, said. "We're drawing a map that will bring an additional Republican seat to the North Carolina congressional delegation.

But this is not only partisan gerrymandering - the seat that it targeted, the 1st District, in located in the historic Black Belt of northeastern NC. This district has elected a Black representative since 1992.

Here are action steps you can take:

1. Confirm how your legislator voted on the bill in the House and Senate on this harmful bill, and let them know how you feel about their vote.

2. Sign up for NASW-NC Advocacy Alerts to stay up to date on news from the NCGA.

3. Consider supporting a coalition partner of NASW-NC’s: Sign up to be part of the ACLU’s Vote Protector team, where you’ll learn to fight back against these kinds of power grabs all over the country and how to keep our elections safe.

4. Now, more than ever: GET OUT THE VOTE! We know that these partisan gerrymanders can make voting feel hopeless. But the only way we are likely to see real, sustainable change around this (and many other issues) is if we vote in larger numbers than ever before.

91 out of 100 counties in North Carolina are holding municipal elections in 2025. Early voting has already begun, and Election Day is Tuesday, November 4, 2025. Click here for NASW-NC’s updated voting page.

And NASW-NC is already looking forward to the 2026 midterm elections… when it is more important than ever that you GET OUT THE VOTE! NASW-NC will be sending out a great deal of information about midterms very soon, but in the meantime, please keep these dates in mind:

• 2026 primary election is Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
• 2026 general election is Tuesday, November 3, 2026

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: NCGA to gerrymander U.S. Congressional map & more

Sat, 18 Oct 2025 21:45:00 GMT

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In this week's update:

NCGA to gerrymander U.S. Congressional map
Act Now - Tell NCGA no new maps
NC Medicaid Day of Action 10/21
Governor Stein highlights NC impacts of Impasse in Washington
November 2025 Municipal Voting Dates
Register Now! 2025 NASW-NC Fall Conference
In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law
Note: Advocacy Alerts are scheduled weekly when the NCGA is in session. They may be reduced during the remainder of the 2025 Legislative Session.

NCGA to gerrymander U.S. Congressional map

NC lawmakers unveil proposed congressional map in effort to maintain GOP control

Republican North Carolina lawmakers released newly proposed congressional districts Thursday — a move that seeks to protect or expand the GOP’s control of the U.S. House of Representatives. The newly proposed map would do just that, by turning the state’s only competitive district — won by a Democrat in 2024 — into a district that’s more likely to elect a Republican in 2026.

Republican legislative leaders plan to vote on the map when they return to session next week. It’s part of a nationwide effort by lawmakers in states run by both major political parties to maximize their advantage heading into the 2026 midterms, when Democrats are seeking to break Republicans’ control of Congress.

North Carolina is represented by 14 members in the U.S. House — 10 Republicans and four Democrats. Leaders in the state legislature plan to return to Raleigh next week to approve new lines that could favor more GOP candidates, creating an 11-3 split instead.

Their target is Rep. Don Davis, a Democrat who represents the northeastern corner of the state. Davis told WRAL Thursday that politicians should be focused on fixing bigger problems.

"Families across eastern North Carolina are struggling and feel that Washington, D.C., is broken," Davis said. "I understand these concerns all too well. As we look at new congressional districts, I am considering every option, drawing on my local roots, experience in the military, and commitment to education."

The move to draw new maps comes as President Donald Trump has called on Republicans across the nation to redraw congressional districts to help the GOP in next year’s midterm elections.

Republican legislative leaders have pointed to Trump’s history of carrying North Carolina in presidential elections as a reason legislative leaders should gerrymander the state further to help protect Republican control of Congress.

“President Trump earned a clear mandate from the voters of North Carolina and the rest of the country, and we intend to defend it by drawing an additional Republican Congressional seat,” North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said in a statement on Monday. A spokesperson for Hall didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Trump won the 2024 presidential election with 49.8% of the vote nationwide, including 50.9% in North Carolina. This new map would be expected to give Republicans 79% of the state’s U.S. House seats.

Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, has said legislative leaders are abusing their power with the new proposal. “The General Assembly works for North Carolina, not Donald Trump,” Stein said in a statement on Monday, when Republican lawmakers said they would release a new map. “The Republican leadership in the General Assembly has failed to pass a budget, failed to pay our teachers and law enforcement what they deserve, and failed to fully fund Medicaid. Now they are failing you, the voters.”

The governor is banned from vetoing any redistricting plans. So whatever Republican leaders ultimately approve will likely become law, given statements in support of the effort from multiple top Republicans in both the state Senate and the state House.

Democrats will have to turn to the courts to try to stop any new maps, as they have multiple times in past years. Once lawmakers approve a new map it’ll be the seventh congressional map since 2016. Many of those various maps have been drawn, struck down as unconstitutional, and drawn again, due to gerrymandering lawsuits against the legislature in state and federal court.

Act now- Tell NCGA no new maps

From ACLU-NC

The legislature is pushing partisan gerrymandering forward with no meaningful public hearings, effectively silencing the very communities most affected by these changes but we don’t need to bow to their plans. Click here to tell your legislator you don’t approve of their trying to rig election outcomes and undermine our regular democratic process.

Instead of picking their voters and changing the maps to avoid accountability, lawmakers should be changing their policies to reflect what voters in their district want. When voters are unhappy with their representatives, they need to be able to change who represents them. If instead politicians can rig the next election to stay in power, they’ll serve their own interests, not what voters want.

Contact your legislator now and make your voice heard .

Thank you for helping us work towards a safer North Carolina we all deserve.

NC Medicaid Day of Action -10/21

NASW-NC is a coaltion partner of this event.

What: A coalition of over 18 state-wide associations representing home and community organizations, mental health, developmental disabilities, substance use services, advocates, and the professionals who support seniors, children and individuals with disabilities will unite for a Medicaid Day of Action in Raleigh. These voices come from across North Carolina to demand full funding for the Medicaid rebase—protecting access to essential care at home and in the community.

As of October 1, Medicaid funding for all programs has been reduced by 3-10%. These cuts are devastating seniors and individuals with living disabilities/medical needs and their families who rely on these services. Fully funding North Carolina’s Medicaid rebase is essential to maintaining access to care for the state’s most vulnerable residents. Without full funding, services face severe disruptions, families and caregivers could lose critical support for loved ones with complex needs, and healthcare providers across the state could struggle to remain viable.

Advocates are gathering in Raleigh to ask the House, Senate, and the Governor to work together to find a solution to fully fund Medicaid. The event will kick off with a press gathering at the North Carolina Nature Research Center from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., where media can hear directly from advocates. Advocates will then proceed to the NC General Assembly to meet with their constituent legislators.

Where: North Carolina Nature Research Center
121 W. Jones St., Raleigh, NC (Corner of W. Jones and N. McDowell Streets)

When: Tuesday, October 21 11:00 a.m. – 12:00

If you cannot attend in-person, there is a virtual option to participate on Tuesday, October 21st. Please contact your legislators and amplify on social media. We’re asking state leaders to work together to protect access, ensure stability, and support the workforce that makes care possible by funding the agreed upon Medicaid rebase.

This isn’t about politics — it’s about people. Funding the Medicaid rebase keeps care available statewide. Without it, families lose access, providers
lose stability, and the workforce crisis worsens. #FUNDNCMEDICAID

Governor Stein highlights NC impacts of Impasse in Washington

Today Governor Josh Stein released a statement highlighting the impacts of the federal government shutdown across North Carolina and urging leaders in Washington to return to the negotiating table.

“The longer the federal government remains shut down, the more North Carolinians will be hurt – military and federal workers who deserve stable paychecks, millions of families and children who are struggling to put food on the table, and folks in western North Carolina who are counting on us for their recovery from Hurricane Helene. Leaders in Washington must come back to the negotiating table to reopen the government, stop health care premiums from skyrocketing, and ensure stability for hardworking people across the state and the country.

“Here in North Carolina, it’s similar story. Republicans in Raleigh have yet to pass a comprehensive budget, leaving Medicaid recipients and providers, teachers, law enforcement, and state employees in the lurch. People are tired of federal and state government dysfunction disrupting their lives and causing chaos. It’s time for all elected officials to do their jobs and get government working like it should – for the people.”

The federal shutdown and impasse in Washington are impacting North Carolinians in every corner of the state:

Military & Veterans: The state’s U.S.servicemembers, who have sacrificed so much on behalf of this nation, depend on receiving stable paychecks like everyone else who is an employee. This week, 841 personnel in the North Carolina National Guard missed their paychecks, and paychecks for all the approximately 90,000 active-duty servicemembers and National Guardsmen in North Carolina are at risk on October 31 if Congress does not act. Community college military tuition assistance may also be revoked at the end of the month.
Families & Children: Without government action, North Carolina families may struggle to feed their children. SNAP and WIC benefits are potentially in jeopardy at the end of October. NCDHHS does not currently have funding to continue WIC benefits past early November, and there is no certainty that more funding is coming. The department also received a letter from the USDA warning that SNAP benefits could be disrupted in November if the federal shutdown continues. More than 1.4 million people in North Carolina rely on SNAP to help put nutritious and healthy food on the table, and WIC supports about 262,000 North Carolina women, infants, and children who rely on the program for access to nutritious food.
Federal Employees: Approximately 80,000 federal workers living in North Carolina are facing lost pay and uncertainty about when their next paychecks will come. North Carolina state agencies have worked to minimize furloughs and program disruptions for federally funded positions, but that will become more difficult as the shutdown persists.
Western North Carolina Recovery: An ongoing shutdown threatens North Carolina’s strong progress in recovery from Hurricane Helene. Western North Carolina farmers are not receiving expected USDA disaster aid reimbursements. Recovery programs that rebuild homes, cover flood insurance, and offer mental health care are at risk.
Affordable Health Care: Without congressional action to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies, 157,000 North Carolinians will become uninsured and another 888,000 will see their health care premiums double. The average Marketplace enrollee in North Carolina is expected to pay $672 more per year for the same health insurance. Rural residents will be hit even harder, paying $703 more per year. In rural eastern and western North Carolina, the counties of Dare, Hyde, Brunswick, Pamlico, and Transylvania would face the highest average loss of premium tax credits, paying more than $1,000 more per year.

For people impacted by the shutdown, there are resources available:

The State of North Carolina has launched a new website to welcome talented and dedicated people to apply to work for the state. Interested public servants can apply on www.nc.gov/joinNC, where applicants will be connected with employment recruiters from the North Carolina Office of State Human Resources (OSHR) to help match their skills to job opportunities. Registration is open for the 2025 State of North Carolina Career Expo.
Furloughed employees can explore temporary employment opportunities through Temporary Solutions and find support at OSHR’s Furlough Resource Center.
Furloughed employees and their families may also access the Employee Assistance Program to seek guidance through the many challenges the shutdown causes.
Federal workers affected by the shutdown can apply for unemployment benefits online or by calling 855-435-6969. (Source: Governor.nc.gov)

November 2025 Municipal Voting Dates

Oct. 3 — County boards begin sending absentee ballots to voters who requested them.
Oct. 10: 5 p.m. — Voter registration deadline.
Oct. 16–Nov. 1 — In-person early voting period. Ends at 3 p.m. the last day.
- Find early voting sites and schedules in your county with the Early Voting Site Search.
- Locations and voting hours are also available here: Early Voting Sites for the Nov. 4, 2025 Municipal Elections (PDF).
Oct. 21: 5 p.m. — Absentee ballot request deadline.
Nov. 4: 6:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. — Polls open on Election Day.
Nov. 4: 7:30 p.m. — Absentee ballot return deadline.
Nov. 7: Noon — Deadline to show acceptable ID for voters who voted a provisional ballot because they did not have their ID with them when they checked in to vote.
- Does not apply to voters who completed the ID Exception Form instead of showing photo ID.
Nov. 7: Noon — Deadline for voters who voted a provisional ballot and still need to show HAVA ID or provide other missing information to their county board.
Nov. 14: 11 a.m. — County boards of elections meet to certify election results.

Voting in Municipal Elections

To be eligible to vote in a municipal election, the voter must live in that municipality for at least 30 days before Election Day. North Carolina residents who live outside the boundaries of a municipality, such as an unincorporated part of a county, are not eligible to vote in a municipal election.

With the Voter Search tool, registered voters can determine if they live in an area that conducts municipal elections by finding a municipality under “Your Jurisdictions.”

All registered and eligible voters will find their sample ballot(s) in the “Your Sample Ballot” section of their Voter Search profile as they become available.

The voter registration deadline is 25 days before Election Day. Find out how to register.

For information on how to vote in municipal elections, see the following pages:

Vote By Mail (Note: Not all municipalities offer absentee-by-mail voting.)
Vote Early in Person (Note: Not all municipalities offer in-person early voting.)
Vote in Person on Election Day

For more information about municipal elections in your area, contact your county board of elections.

Register Now! 2025 NASW-NC Fall Conference!

Get ready for the 2025 Virtual NASW-NC Fall Conference on November 17-18! This is a dynamic event designed for the entire social work profession. Whether you’re a student just starting out or an experienced LCSW running your own practice, this conference is packed with engaging sessions to spark fresh ideas, expand your knowledge, and give you practical tools you can use in your professional journey. Year after year, attendees rave about how the workshops offered in this conference transform their practice and strengthen their expertise. Don’t miss your chance to be part of it!

Here’s a preview of some of the engaging sessions you’ll experience:

Coordinating Social Services for Refugees: Improving Integration Outcomes
Multistate Licensure and the Future of the Social Work Compact
Having the Hard Conversations: Death and the Dying Process
Measuring Program Success with Outcome & Summative Evaluations with Cultural Humility
Healing Through Connection: The Theraplay Approach to Attachment-Based Therapy

…and many more, covering everything from advanced clinical tools to macro-level advocacy.

Secure your spot today and be part of the conversations shaping the future of social work!

You Get ALL the CE!

Because we are in a virtual setting, you benefit by getting MORE CE! Each attendee who participates in the entire Fall Conference live will receive a CE transcript of attendance reflecting 13 LIVE contact hours of Continuing Education (up to 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).

CLICK HERE to View More Information & Register TODAY!

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

On Friday, June 13th, HB 231 -Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact was signed into law by Governor Josh Stein. Because of our significant advocacy and lobbying efforts to introduce and pass this bill, the National Association of Social Workers North Carolina (NASW-NC) staff and members were invited to join the Governor for this historic bill signing ceremony. Earlier in the week, HB231 was heard on the Senate floor for its final vote in the NC Senate, where it passed unanimously 44-0.North Carolina is now the 29th state to become a member of the Social Work Licensure Compact.

The Social Work Licensure Compact was activated in fall 2024, upon the passage of the bill in 7 states, however, multistate licenses are NOT yet being issued. The implementation period for the Compact is expected to take 12-24 months from when it was activated; it is only after the implementation period that multistate licenses will be issued. You can learn more details about the Social Work Licensure Compact and the Compact Commission by going to the Compact website here.

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions has been the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact.

NASW-NC is also the ONLY organization lobbying and advocating for the entire Social Work Profession at the North Carolina Legislature. The NASW-NC lobbying team would not exist without the incredible support of NASW-NC membership. If you are already a member of NASW-NC, THANK YOU. Our members are the only reason that we have been able to do this work!

NASW-NC is not federally funded; we are not state-funded. We are funded by the members of NASW and will not exist to advocate for you and the social work profession without YOU! We are able to do more if we have a large voice and robust membership. If you are not yet a member, please join NASW and join us in our advocacy efforts.

Read the Social Work compact press release here.

Watch the Governor's bill signing ceremony with NASW-NC staff and members 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

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Governor Stein Takes Action on Three Bills

Fri, 8 Aug 2025 19:58:00 GMT

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In this week's update:

Governor Stein Takes Action on Three Bills
Act now to Improve Telehealth Access for Mental Health Services
NCDHHS Secretary Dev Sangvai Releases Statement on NCGA Plan
NC elections board settles voter ID lawsuit, extends deadline for 2025 early voting
August is Civic Health Month
NCGA adjourns until August
In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

Governor Stein Takes Action on Three Bills

Today Governor Josh Stein signed two bills into law and vetoed one bill.

Governor Stein made the following statement on signing House Bill 125:

“This Band-Aid budget fails to invest in our teachers and students, fails to keep families safe, fails to value hardworking state employees, and fails to fully fund health care. With federal cuts on the horizon, the legislature’s forced $319 million cut to Medicaid will be particularly painful. Despite these serious reservations, I am signing this bill into law because it keeps the lights on.

“We have so much going for us here in North Carolina, but we cannot just rest on our laurels, do the bare minimum, and expect to continue to thrive. The General Assembly needs to get serious about investing in the people who make this state great.”

Governor Stein made the following statement signing on Senate Bill 55:

“I’m pleased the legislature has improved this bill by removing the problematic puppy mill provision and concentrating on protecting property owners from squatters.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on vetoing House Bill 87:

“School choice is good for students and parents, and I have long supported magnet and accountable charter schools because public schools open doors of opportunity for kids in every county of the state. Congress and the Administration should strengthen our public schools, not hollow them out. Cutting public education funding by billions of dollars while providing billions in tax giveaways to wealthy parents already sending their kids to private schools is the wrong choice.

“However, I see opportunities for the federal scholarship donation tax credit program to benefit North Carolina’s public school kids. Once the federal government issues sound guidance, I intend to opt North Carolina in so we can invest in the public school students most in need of after school programs, tutoring, and other resources. Therefore, HB 87 is unnecessary, and I veto it."

Act now to Improve Telehealth Access for Mental Health Services

Urge your Members of Congress to Remove Barriers to Telemental Health Services

The Telemental Health Care Access Act (S. 2011/H.R. 3884)

The Telemental Health Care Access Act is much-needed bipartisan, bicameral legislation that will permanently remove a problematic requirement that Medicare beneficiaries be seen in person as a prerequisite to receiving telemental health services. It also requires Medicare beneficiaries to have an in-person visit annually thereafter.

Mental health conditions remain the top telehealth diagnosis since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, rising from 34% to 67% of diagnoses. Starting in October 2025, Medicare will require that beneficiaries have an in-person visit within the last 6 months prior to accessing telemental health care, irrespective of whether this visit is feasible, desired, or warranted. This requirement only applies to telemental health care, thereby perpetuating inequities in accessing these desperately needed services.

Fortunately, NASW has successfully advocated that Congress delay the effective date of this requirement for the past several years; however, we need your help in ensuring Congress prevents it from taking effect on October 1st and permanently removes it such that it never takes effect.

S. 2011/H.R. 3884 will increase access to telemental health care services for Medicare beneficiaries by permanently removing the 6-month in-person requirement.

Contact your Senators and Representative TODAY and urge them to co-sponsor the Telemental Health Care Access Act. Help them understand the mental health needs of Medicare beneficiaries in your community and why this requirement creates unnecessary burdens and barriers to care. Personalized communication goes a long way with a member of Congress.

ACT NOW

NCDHHS Secretary Dev Sangvai Releases Statement on NCGA Spending Plan

North Carolina lawmakers passed a stopgap spending plan also known as a "mini budget" which was signed by Governor Josh Stein today. $600 million was included to support both the Medicaid rebase and the Medicaid Oversight Fund, however, this appropriation equates to a shortfall of $319 million for the Medicaid rebase. Despite careful efforts by NCDHHS to avoid disruptions to service, fully funding the rebase is necessary to maintain the current level of care across the state. To remain within budget, NCDHHS now has two options to address a shortfall from an insufficient rebase; reduce optional services and/or reduce provider rates.

In response, NC Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai released the following statement.

"More than three million people in North Carolina depend on Medicaid for comprehensive care that is life-changing and in many cases lifesaving. Underfunding NC Medicaid now after years of building a nationally recognized program that delivers real outcomes for the people we serve is a serious setback. The forced cuts from the budget shortfall threaten care for those who need it most and include some of North Carolina’s most vulnerable populations.

Over time, the combination of underfunding, the loss of key initiatives like the Healthy Opportunities Pilots, and administrative budget shortfalls risks a fundamental erosion of the NC Medicaid program.

Despite these challenges, the mission of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services remains unchanged – we will continue to work to improve the health and well-being of all North Carolinians. We will continue the essential work that NCDHHS does every day with determination, compassion, and a focus on the people we serve."

NC elections board settles voter ID lawsuit, extends deadline for 2025 early voting plans

The 2025 municipal elections are fast-approaching in North Carolina, and the State Board of Elections is working to iron out issues before voting starts.

Digital IDs could now be banned from use as voter photo identification in North Carolina elections, after state officials settled a Republican Paty lawsuit over the issue Friday.

The settlement allows for digital IDs to be used only if the state legislature passes a new law for it. The elections board itself will no longer be able to make those decisions in the future.

It stems from the Republican National Committee's attempt to make it harder for UNC-Chapel Hill students and employees to vote in the 2024 elections. The university issues digital IDs by default. The State Board of Elections had originally approved those digital IDs for use as voter ID, but the GOP lawsuit was successful in stopping the use of those IDs in 2024 after a ruling from the state's Republican-majority Court of Appeals. The new settlement applies to future elections, starting with the fast-approaching 2025 municipal races, and more broadly bans any forms of digital IDs from being used without specific legislative approval.

Complicating matters is a new state law that allows the Department of Motor Vehicles to begin issuing digital driver's licenses to North Carolina voters. A driver's license is by far the most common form of photo ID that people have, and it wasn't immediately clear whether the settlement would ban digital driver's licenses from counting as voter ID in the future. One of the Democratic members on the State Board of Elections, Jeff Carmon, said he's anticipating future lawsuits once digital driver's licenses go into use.

Early voting plan

Also on Friday the State Board of Elections approved early voting plans for some counties around the state while extending the deadline for other counties to submit their plans.

The 2025 municipal elections are staggered. Some people will vote in September, some in October and some in November. Some cities and counties have multiple election dates. On Friday the board approved early voting plans for Mecklenburg, Forsyth and Lee counties — the only places in the state with September elections — and extended the deadline for the state's other 97 counties to get in their October or November early voting plans.

Some counties have experienced disagreement on how to handle early voting, including Cumberland County. Any such county-level disagreements will need to be sorted out by the State Board of Elections later this year.

Early voting plans are often approved unanimously by local officials and don't need state intervention. But there are sometimes disputes — typically rooted in political concerns — over issues such as when to offer early voting, or over which areas should or shouldn't be given an early voting site.

The Cumberland County dispute, for instance, was rooted in Republicans' concerns that it's unfair to have an early voting site in a heavily Black part of Fayetteville without also opening another site in a heavily white part of town, something the board's Democratic members didn't agree with.

Read entire article here.

August is Civic Health Month

August is Civic Health Month—a time to showcase the link between voting and health and celebrate efforts that ensure each and every voter has the opportunity to support their community’s health at the ballot box.

For social workers, Civic Health Month is more than a celebration—it is a call to action. It aligns directly with our NASW Code of Ethics, reinforcing our responsibility to promote social justice, dismantle systemic barriers, and empower our clients and communities to participate meaningfully in the decisions that impact their lives.

Civic health is the current capacity of a community to address issues that impact the well-being of its members. Research shows better overall community health occurs when civic health is high—when every citizen has a voice in the public policy decisions that affect their well-being.
(NASW-NJ)

#SocialWorkers know that strong communities start with engaged citizens. This Civic Health Month, we’re highlighting the link between civic participation and community well-being. #CivicHealthMonth #SocialWork #CommunityPower #NASW

NCGA adjourns until August

The NC General Assembly passed SJR 772: A Joint Resolution Adjourning the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly to a date certain and limiting the matters that may be considered upon reconvening.

There were changes to the dates for the remainder of 2025. These dates are critical for if/when a state budget may be passed. If the NC House decides to take on additional Governor vetoes, they could happen during these dates.

The NC General Assembly is scheduled to be in Raleigh:

August 26-28, 2025
September 23-25, 2025
October 21, 2025 (was October 7 and 28-30)
November 18, 2025 (was November 5)
December 16, 2025

Note: Advocacy Alerts are scheduled weekly when the NCGA is in session. They may be reduced during the remainder of the 2025 Legislative Session.

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

On Friday, June 13th, HB 231 -Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact was signed into law by Governor Josh Stein. Because of our significant advocacy and lobbying efforts to introduce and pass this bill, the National Association of Social Workers North Carolina (NASW-NC) staff and members were invited to join the Governor for this historic bill signing ceremony. Earlier in the week, HB231 was heard on the Senate floor for its final vote in the NC Senate, where it passed unanimously 44-0.

North Carolina is now the 29th state to become a member of the Social Work Licensure Compact.

The Social Work Licensure Compact was activated in fall 2024, upon the passage of the bill in 7 states, however, multistate licenses are NOT yet being issued. The implementation period for the Compact is expected to take 12-24 months from when it was activated; it is only after the implementation period that multistate licenses will be issued.

You can learn more details about the Social Work Licensure Compact and the Compact Commission by going to the Compact website here.

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions has been the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact.

Read the Social Work compact press release here.

Watch the Governor's bill signing ceremony with NASW-NC staff and members here.

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

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: NCGA Overrides Governor's Vetoes

Mon, 4 Aug 2025 14:21:00 GMT

In this week's update:

NCGA overrides Governor's vetoes
NC lawmakers send 'mini budget' and DOGE-style plan to Stein
NCGA adjourns until August
Former Governor Roy Cooper running for U.S. Senate
Trump administration freezes $108 million for Duke Health
In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law
LAST CHANCE! Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

NCGA Overrides Governor's Vetoes

The General Assembly successfully overrode eight of Gov. Josh Stein’s vetoes on Tuesday upon their return to Raleigh, exploiting a GOP supermajority in the Senate and picking up a few Democratic votes in the House.

It was the first major test between the Republican-controlled Legislature and Stein, a Democrat who took office in January. Stein vetoed a total of 14 bills. Successfully overridden and now law are:

House Bill 193: Permits certain employees and volunteers at private schools to carry a concealed firearm with valid concealed carry permit
House Bill 805: Defines two sexes in state law and sets regulations to ensure that adult content posted online without an individual's consent is removed
House Bill 402: Requires the General Assembly to approve any proposed rules that come with substantial financial costs
House Bill 549: Clarifies the powers of the state auditor and grants the auditor access to databases, datasets and digital records necessary for any purpose within the authority of the position
House Bill 318: Requires notification of release to Immigration and Customs Enforcement when a prisoner is subject to an immigration detainer and administrative warrant
Senate Bill 266: Eliminates the interim date for carbon reduction by certain electric public utilities and modifies construction work in progress for baseload electric generating facilities
Senate Bill 416: Prohibits state agencies from accessing or disclosing the member, supporter, and volunteer lists of nonprofits unless provided otherwise in law
Senate Bill 254: Amends charter school laws and grants the North Carolina Charter Schools Review Board the ability to propose, recommend and approve rules and policies

Also passed by both chambers was Senate Bill 55, a bill seeking to deter people from squatting on private property. A previous version of the bill garnered a Stein veto because of a late, unrelated amendment that would have limited the ability of cities to regulate pet stores. SB-55 now goes to Stein.

Senate Republicans overrode all seven of the vetoes on bills originating in that chamber, as well as the overrides sent over by the House. The House overrode five of the seven vetoes of House bills. The House did not tackle veto overrides on eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in higher education and public schools, requiring state law enforcement agencies to cooperate with ICE or making North Carolina the 30th constitutional carry state, or eliminating DEI initiatives in state and local governments.

House Speaker Destin Hall said he is optimistic about taking up the remaining overrides either later this year or in the short session. “The ones that we took up today were the ones that with the time we had and confidence I had in attendance … those were the ones I felt sure of,” Hall said.

Earlier this year, Hall said House Republicans had a working supermajority in its chamber. The House Republican Caucus has 71 members, one shy of the necessary three-fifths majority to override the governor without relying on an absent Democratic lawmaker or garnering a vote from across the aisle.

All eight override attempts in the House were successful, with the Republicans earning votes from Democratic Reps. Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed, both of Mecklenburg, Shelly Willingham, of Edgecombe, and Cecil Brockman, of Guilford, at various points throughout the day.

Read the entire article here.

NC Lawmakers Send 'Mini Budget' and DOGE-Style Plan to Stein

Public schools, universities and the State Health Plan would get funding for continuing operations under a mini budget, while lawmakers remain at an impasse over a full state budget plan. The bill also contained a provision to create a government efficiency program to be run by the state auditor.

North Carolina lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a spending plan that would allow for continued operations at some state institutions while legislative leaders continue to debate over a full state spending plan. The bill also included a plan to create a division that would examine state government operations with an eye toward cuts.

House lawmakers voted 91 to 23 on Wednesday to send the legislation to Gov. Josh Stein. Lawmakers reached a deal on the spending plan this week. The state Senate approved it Tuesday with a vote of 47 to 2. Stein can approve it, veto it or let it become law without his signature.

The bill is intended to fund the more basic functions of state government that are needed since the new fiscal year began earlier this month without a new budget.

Public schools, colleges and universities are funded largely based on their enrollment numbers, and addressing that was one of the main reasons behind the new mini budget deal. Without its updated numbers, any growing schools would be forced to kick off the new school year with last year’s smaller, outdated budget — while the state would likewise find itself sending too much money to shrinking schools.

The mini budget will also fully fund the state pension plan and pump an additional $100 million into the State Health Plan. The State Health Plan is facing a $500 million shortfall and plans to raise premiums on members next year.

The new spending bill doesn't contain most of the large projects proposed in either the House or Senate versions of budget proposals that passed those respective chambers earlier this year, nor does it contain tax cuts or raises for teachers and other state workers — issues that have deeply divided Republican leaders in the House and Senate. The Senate wants to give small raises in order to afford large tax cuts, while the House wants to do bigger raises and cut taxes by some, but not as much as the Senate wants.

The legislature took most of the past month off. The legislature plans to adjourn again and then continue meeting just once a month for the rest of the year.

DOGE-Style Division

As part of the budget, lawmakers also approved policy instructing the state auditor, Republican Dave Boliek, to find state government jobs that could be cut — an undertaking similar to that conducted by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, in the federal government.

What had been introduced as the so-called DAVE Act — which creates the Division of Accountability, Value, and Efficiency — was rolled into the mini budget. The bill includes $6 million to fund auditor activities included in the DAVE Act, which has been a priority for Senate Leader Phil Berger. House Republicans agreed to include the DAVE Act in the mini budget as part of broader spending negotiations.

Republican legislators have moved multiple times to expand the auditor’s powers since last year, when Boliek became the first Republican to win the auditor’s race since 2004.

Legislators last year gave Boliek’s office control over the state Board of Elections. The governor has been in charge of elections in North Carolina for more than a century, and multiple other GOP-backed efforts to take that power away from former Gov. Roy Cooper were either struck down as unconstitutional in court or shot down at the ballot box by voters. Stein is challenging the latest law in court, as well. That case is ongoing.

Democratic critics alleged that the bill was created by Republicans to expand Boliek’s powers not in the name of government efficiency — but to expand the GOP’s oversight of state government.

Read the entire article here.

NCGA Adjourns Until August

The NC General Assembly is scheduled to be in Raleigh:

August 26-28, 2025
September 23-25, 2025
October 21, 2025 (was October 7 and 28-30)
November 18, 2025 (was November 5)
December 16, 2025

Former Gov. Roy Cooper Running for U.S. Senate

Former Gov. Roy Cooper is officially running for U.S. Senate, spurred on by what he describes as the failings of politicians in Washington to support the middle class.

"I've had enough. I've thought on it and prayed about it, and I've decided: I want to serve as your next United States senator because even now I still believe our best days are ahead of us," Cooper said in a video released by the campaign.

Cooper is running for the seat currently held by Republican Thom Tillis, who is not seeking re-election. The seat is widely expected to be one of the most competitive in the 2026 cycle.

A Nash County native and two-term governor, Cooper also served four terms as North Carolina's attorney general.

The announcement video indicates that Cooper's campaign would focus initially on affordability and health insurance.

During Cooper's second term as governor, North Carolina legislators agreed to expand Medicaid to about 670,000 North Carolinians, an effort Cooper had long supported. That expansion could now be threatened by provisions in the rescission package known as the One Big Beautiful Bill.

"The decisions we make in the next election will determine if we even have a middle class in America anymore," Cooper said.

Cooper's remarks in the ad were very similar to the ones he made Saturday night at the N.C. Democratic Party's Unity Dinner, where he teased that the formal announcement was imminent. In that speech, Cooper said that politicians in Washington are more focused on serving billionaires than typical Americans.

"They are running up our debt, they are disrespecting our veterans, they are cutting help for the hungry and they’re ripping away healthcare from millions of people, all to give tax breaks to the millionaires and billionaires. And it's not right," Cooper said Saturday.

Read the entire article here.

Trump Administration Freezes $108 Million for Duke Health

The Trump administration has frozen $108 million in federal funding for Duke Health, according to a senior administration official, after asserting a day earlier it was investigating "systemic racial discrimination" in the university's healthcare system.

The Trump administration has frozen $108 million in federal funding for Duke Health, according to a senior administration official, after asserting a day earlier it was investigating “systemic racial discrimination” in the university’s healthcare system.

The federal funding encompasses Duke University School of Medicine and the overall health research and health care system at Duke.

The freeze, first reported by Fox News, comes one day after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to top Duke officials expressing concerns about “racial preferences in hiring, student admissions, governance, patient care, and other operations.” Those officials included Duke University
President Vincent Price, board Chairman Adam Silver, and Duke Medicine Dean Mary Klotman.

The letter states that the administration has been made aware of allegations that Duke University and Duke Health are not in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race and nationality in programs receiving federal funding.

It calls for Duke Health to “review all policies and practices … for the illegal use of race preferences.” It also calls on Duke to create a “Merit and Civil Rights Committee” to work with the federal government.

Campbell Harvey, a professor of finance at Duke University, said the impacts will extend beyond the private university. "It could destroy our ability to innovate in the way we have done before," Harvey said. "Raleigh and Durham need that innovation, so does the U.S. and so does the world. We are talking about the great scientific research that is being done at Duke. It's being squashed."

The $108 million cut could be permanent, the official said, if Duke does not comply and is found to be in violation of Title VI.

Read the entire article here.

In Case You Missed It -Social Work Compact is Law

North Carolina is now the 29th state to become a member of the Social Work Licensure Compact.

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions has been the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact.

Read the Social Work compact press release here.

Watch the Governor's bill signing ceremony with NASW-NC staff and members here.

Registration is Open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER!!! Deadline is August 6th!

Session Spotlight

Mutual Aid--Our Survival and Our Liberation

Presented By: Rand Warden, MSW, LSW

In a time marked by social fragmentation, political resistance to equity, and widening systemic gaps, mutual aid offers a powerful framework for solidarity, healing, and collective action. This presentation will engage participants in the process of mutual aid, highlighting the history of the concept and practice, the nine dynamics of the mutual aid process as articulated by Steinberg, and how social workers can engage mutual aid at every level of practice.

Click Here to View All Sessions & Register!

NASW-NC 2025 Essentials Conference

Beyond Words:
Affirming Equity and Inclusion in Social Work Practice

Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Virtual on Zoom
6 Hours of CE

Registration Fees:
NASW Members $125
Not yet a member? $200

Click here to register!

Learn more about NASW-NC membership here.

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Urge your lawmakers to uphold the Governor's vetoes

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 14:01:00 GMT

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In this week's update:

Act Today! Urge your lawmakers to uphold the Governor's vetoes
We can’t make America healthier while letting NC children go hungry | Opinion
July 30 Minority Mental Health Panel with NC DHHS
AG Jackson restores $165 million in public education funding for NC schools
New memo from UNC System orders schools to prove DEI policies are eliminated
In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law
Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Act Today! Urge your lawmakers to uphold the Governor's vetoes

On July 3, Governor Stein rightly vetoed four extreme bills—SB 227, SB 558, HB 171, and HB 805, which are part of a national playbook to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and to stigmatize LGBTQ+ people.

However, the NC state legislature is expected to return this week (July 29-31st) to try to override those vetoes. Your voice is critical to stopping these harmful measures from becoming law.

These bills don’t address real problems—instead, they divide us and distract from the urgent needs facing North Carolinians, like a strong public school system and affordable health care.

We have a short window of opportunity to stop these bills from becoming law—but only if enough legislators hear from constituents like you. Thank you for standing up for free speech, inclusive education, and the dignity of all people in North Carolina.

TAKE ACTION NOW

(NCJustice)

This week, North Carolina lawmakers may vote to override Governor Stein’s vetoes on two dangerous gun bills:

SB 50 – Permitless Carry: Would allow 18-year-olds with no training or background check to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public spaces like restaurants, parks, or concerts.
HB 193 – Guns in Private Schools: Would allow teachers and volunteers with just 8 hours of training per year, written permission by the private school administrator, and a concealed carry permit to carry concealed handguns on private school grounds.

These bills were already rejected by Governor Stein because they threaten the safety of our children, our educators, and every North Carolinian. But lawmakers could override his vetoes. Your voice matters.

EMAIL YOUR LAWMAKERS NOW!

(NCAGV)

We can’t make America healthier while letting NC children go hungry | Opinion

As the federal government reimagines public health through the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative, a troubling contradiction is emerging: While the rhetoric supports better nutrition, the reality includes deep budget cuts that threaten the very programs making school meals possible.

Led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., MAHA includes several promising proposals aimed at improving children’s health. Stronger dietary guidelines, increased scratch cooking and expanded support for farm-to-school programs are welcome shifts that could significantly benefit students across the country.

But these goals are being undermined before they even take root. Earlier this year, the first wave of cuts came from the Department of Government Efficiency, which slashed federal support for school meals. In March, the United States Department of Agriculture canceled both the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, eliminating more than $1 billion in funding that brought fresh, local food to schools and food banks. These losses hit rural districts and local farmers especially hard, dismantling the very infrastructure MAHA aims to strengthen.

Now, a second and more devastating blow looms.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, proposes sweeping changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and Medicaid — programs that directly determine school meal access for millions of children.

In North Carolina, more than 850,000 students qualify for free school meals because their families participate in SNAP or Medicaid. If those benefits are lost or restricted, families will be forced to navigate complex applications and income verification processes just to access school meals. We know what happens next: children fall through the cracks.

It also puts schools at risk of losing access to the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows them to serve free meals to all students without collecting individual applications. When fewer students are enrolled in SNAP or Medicaid, fewer schools qualify — meaning even more children could lose access to school meals.

And when children go hungry, they can’t focus, learn or thrive. Research shows that students with consistent access to nutritious school meals perform better academically, have fewer behavioral issues and show improved mental health. Hunger holds kids back.

The numbers are sobering. Over 1.4 million North Carolinians — including 600,000 children — rely on SNAP. The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act could cost North Carolina $420 million just to preserve current benefits. New rules will push thousands of families, particularly in rural communities, off the rolls entirely. The impact will ripple through local economies: every $1 in SNAP spending generates up to $1.80 in economic activity. When families lose benefits, communities lose stability.

Read entire article here.

July 30 Minority Mental Health Panel with NC DHHS

The Impact of Culturally Relevant Conversations on Minority Mental Health

Date: Wednesday, July 30

Time: 3PM
Join NC DMH/DD/SUS and NAMI NC for an enlightening panel discussion about the importance of culturally relevant conversations around mental health in minority communities. This webinar will include discussions of NAMI's Sharing Hope program and DHHS' Black Youth Suicide Strategic Action plan.

Featured speakers:

Kelly Crosbie, Director of the NC Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services
Dr. Rosa Buxton-Sutton, NAMI Sharing Hope Facilitator, NAMI South Mountains NC
Dr. Stephanie Irby Coard, VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, NAMI Wake County
Tara Jones, NAMI Sharing Hope Facilitator, NAMI Cabarrus
Brittany Jones, NC DMH/DD/SUS 988 Lead and Human Services Program Consultant

REGISTER HERE!

AG Jackson restores $165 million in public education funding for NC schools

Today, Attorney General Jeff Jackson issued the following statement on the federal government’s announcement that nearly $7 billion in frozen public education funding nationwide, including over $165 million for North Carolina, will be returned to the states. Attorney General Jackson sued the administration last week alleging that this freeze in funds was unlawful and unconstitutional.

“National reports indicate that the U.S. Department of Education has backed down and is releasing all frozen funds — $6.8 billion nationwide, including $165 million for North Carolina — after we filed suit last week. This should end weeks of uncertainty — our schools can now plan, hire, and prepare for a strong year ahead. My absolute best wishes to our state’s 1.5 million students who are ready to make this their best year yet.”

North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green issued the following statement:

“It is good to see the federal government honor its commitment to our students, our educators, and our schools. I hope this resolution and the release of funds next week marks a return to the predictable, reliable federal partnership that our schools need to serve students effectively.”

(NCDOJ )

New memo from UNC System orders schools to prove DEI policies are eliminated

UNC System schools implemented the "Equality Policy" last year, eliminating DEI positions. Now, leaders on the Board of Governors want schools to verify those realignments succeeded.

A new directive from the UNC System Board of Governors is instructing schools to prove that diversity, equity and inclusion [DEI] policies are gone.

UNC System schools implemented the "Equality Policy" last year, eliminating DEI positions.

Now, leaders on the Board of Governors want schools to verify the realignments succeeded.

A memo from the Board Chair Wendy Murphy and Board Member Alex Mitchell dated June 17 says the 2024 Equality Policy certification was a quote "initial effort."

WRAL News reported 59 jobs were eliminated across the UNC System, 131 jobs were reassigned and $17 million was saved.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill eliminated the most at 20 positions, and redirecting $5.3 million. North Carolina State University eliminated eight, reassigned 29, and redirected $5 million.

The memo says this year's Equality Policy Certification "will require a meaningful verification that those realignments succeeded." It instructs trustees to form five-member subcommittees. Those groups will receive briefings from chancellors on trainings regarding the Equality Policy, reports on updated institutional webpages and mission statements, and closed session briefings on campus personnel performance.

"These confidential reviews should compare an individual’s prior position to his or her new responsibilities, including how the employee’s performance in that role has changed, and what safeguards exist to ensure an employee’s previous responsibilities do not continue in the present role. Confidential briefings from the chancellor on any disciplinary action taken against personnel should occur at this time as well,” the memorandum says.

This comes as a conservative nonprofit published secret recordings of administrators at certain UNC system schools talking about DEI. At the University of North Carolina Asheville, a dean of students is no longer employed. At the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, an administrator was dismissed. At Western Carolina University, a director is no longer employed.

The subcommittee members must be submitted by July 31, and their draft Equality Policy certifications are due by Sept. 1.

(Source: WRAL)

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

On Friday, June 13th, HB 231 -Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact was signed into law by Governor Josh Stein. Because of our significant advocacy and lobbying efforts to introduce and pass this bill, the National Association of Social Workers North Carolina (NASW-NC) staff and members were invited to join the Governor for this historic bill signing ceremony. Earlier in the week, HB231 was heard on the Senate floor for its final vote in the NC Senate, where it passed unanimously 44-0.

North Carolina is now the 29th state to become a member of the Social Work Licensure Compact.

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions has been the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact.

Read the Social Work compact press release here.

Watch the Governor's bill signing ceremony with NASW-NC staff and members here.

Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

2 WEEKS LEFT TO REGISTER!!! Deadline is August 6th!

Session Spotlight

Mutual Aid--Our Survival and Our Liberation

Presented By: Rand Warden, MSW, LSW

Click Here to View All Sessions & Register!

NASW-NC 2025 Essentials Conference

Beyond Words:
Affirming Equity and Inclusion in Social Work Practice

Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Virtual on Zoom
6 Hours of CE

Registration Fees:
NASW Members $125
Not yet a member? $200

Learn more about NASW-NC membership here.

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: NC AG files lawsuit against Trump administration

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 14:14:00 GMT

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In this week's update:

NC Attorney General files lawsuit against Trump administration
NC elections officials to start contacting people with missing info
SNAP-Ed nutrition program falls victim to federal budget axe
Action Alert - Tell NC Lawmakers vote "No" on mega elections bill
NASW stands with AFT Union
Medicaid/Snap Update: Join Legal Action Center Call on 7/22
In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law
Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

NC Attorney General files lawsuit against Trump administration

North Carolina is joining other states in a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over more than $165 million in frozen education funds intended for nearly all of the state's school systems and charter schools and several nonprofit groups.

The administration has canceled billions of dollars in federal education grants nationwide since February. Several states have sued, but North Carolina had not yet done so when it comes to education funds.

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, who announced the state's role in the lawsuit Monday, said the cuts could result in the elimination of about 1,000 North Carolina education jobs.

Jackson and state education leaders discussed efforts Monday to save more than $165 million in federal funding that is being withheld from North Carolina's public schools by the Trump administration. North Carolina Community Colleges lost more than $17 million for adult literacy and workforce programs the same day, but that funding is not mentioned in Jackson's announcement.

The lawsuit, brought by about two dozen states and the District of Columbia, says that more than $6 billion in funding is being with withheld from schools nationwide.

"If this is not addressed, the impacts will be severe and widespread."

A White House spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The federal Office of Management and Budget has previously cited issues with the way at least some grants were spent as the reason for the delay, while the office reviews the entire funding programs.

"This is an ongoing programmatic review of education funding," the office previously said in a statement. "Initial findings show that many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda" that helps unauthorized immigrant students, among other things.

The states said in their joint complaint that the withholding is unlawful because Congress appropriated funds for the programs. On Monday, state education leaders said the state was still required to implement and follow the federal laws that provide the associated funding

Mo Green, who leads the state Department of Public Instruction, said school districts may only have about three months, at most, of carryover funding to keep the programs going. He said the issue needs to be resolved swiftly. Schools will need to consider hiring freezes — Wake County has already instituted one — or even layoffs, Green said.

Read the entire story here.

NC elections officials to start contacting people with missing info

The North Carolina State Board of Elections is seeking to resolve a lawsuit from the Trump administration, based on claims similar to those made by Jefferson Griffin, a Republican who tried overturning 2024 election results.

Tens of thousands of North Carolina voters are expected to receive letters from the state elections board in the coming weeks asking them to prove they are who they say they are.

People who don’t respond will have to vote using a provisional ballot and present an acceptable form of identification when voting.

"This project will not result in the removal of any eligible voter from the voter rolls," said Sam Hayes, the state's top elections offical.

State elections officials on Thursday outlined what people will need to do if they are on the list of affected voters. To start with, people can go online to the Board of Elections website to find out if they're on the list of voters who will need to prove their identity. People who are on the list can fix the issues online, in person or by mail.

Full details are on that elections website, but in general the easiest ways to fix the issues will be by going online to NCDMV.gov, or by traveling to the local county-level elections office. A full list of all 100 county offices, with their addresses and contact information, can be found on the elections board website.

Anyone who doesn't fix the issues in the coming weeks should get a letter from the state in August, laying out the information and instructing them how to proceed.

(Source: WRAL.com)

SNAP-Ed nutrition program falls victim to federal budget axe

The program that supports community gardens, nutrition education and other community-based activities employs 176 people.

As Congressional Republicans wrangled final votes for the federal budget that became law last week, a harsh reality was setting in for Molly De Marco, a research scientist at the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education, or SNAP-Ed, was one of the federally funded initiatives on the chopping block.

De Marco, also an assistant professor in nutrition at the UNC Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been working in SNAP-Ed for 15 years — helping people learn how to stretch their dollars for nutritious meals, grow their own food and improve their health and physical fitness while also advocating for things in their communities that align with those goals.

North Carolina receives about $11 million annually in SNAP-Ed funds, and $1.8 million of that comes to the UNC program, which then leverages those funds to support community gardens and work with communities to help them make healthy food choices and more.

The sweeping budget that Congressional Republicans named the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” eliminates SNAP-Ed, ending a 32-year-old nutrition program during a time when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. secretary of health and human services, maintains that focusing on children’s health, addressing obesity and tackling food additives will “Make America Healthy Again.”

“We were somewhat surprised that the administration and the House and Senate Republicans would just completely eliminate this program,” De Marco told NC Health News last week.

Lost jobs

In North Carolina, 176 people are employed through the SNAP-Ed program, De Marco said.

“People don’t have other funds to supplement these, so we’re going to see most of these people just losing their job,” she added.

More than jobs will be lost with the demise of SNAP-Ed. Program administrators have gained lots of knowledge working with community partners about how to help people in their midst improve their diet. Those networks won’t be as active.

“Just our team has at least 20 community partners,” De Marco said. “We provide them directly with funds to administer these community gardens, to work with youth on advocacy. We just don’t know how to tell our community partners that come all October 1, all the plans we had? We’re not going to be able to do that anymore.”

SNAP changes, too

The federal budget also makes cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and other safety net programs that could have a major impact on the health of North Carolinians, critics of the legislation say.

SNAP, which grew out of a food stamp program started during the Great Depression, became a nationwide program in 1974.

Nearly 1.4 million North Carolinians participate in the program, according to Karen Wade, the state Department of Health and Human Services policy director, and 600,000 of them are children. Veterans, older adults and people with disabilities also are in that population.

Nearly 80 percent of the households that receive SNAP are working families, Wade said.

For just North Carolina, the new federal budget shifts at least $475 million in costs of the food assistance program to the state, and an additional $65 million for program administration, Wade told reporters at a Zoom briefing last week.

When state lawmakers left Raleigh in late June for a holiday break, they had not yet adopted a state budget for the coming fiscal biennium, which began July 1. Republican leaders in the state Senate and state House of Representatives had come to a stalemate on negotiating the differences between their two spending plans, leaving many to wonder whether there will be a state budget approved at all this year.

Read the entire story here.

Action Alert - Tell NC Lawmakers vote "No" on mega elections bill

NC lawmakers are pushing forward a massive election law “omnibus” bill that combines a variety of changes to voting access and election administration in one not so pretty package. This kind of rushed, wide-ranging legislation often creates confusion, undermines trust in the process, and ultimately makes it harder for North Carolinians to cast their ballots and have their voices heard.

House Bill 958 (Election Law Changes) is a weighty, complex bill that proposes a vast swath of changes to how elections are run in our state, including:

Prohibits State and County BOE members from “encouraging or promoting voter turnout in any election.” This is potentially a violation of the First Amendment, as it would punish these individuals from promoting voter turnout whether they were doing so in their capacity as a Board member or as an every day North Carolinian in their private life.
Radically Politicizes the State Board of Elections. HB 958 provides 25 exempt positions to the State Board of Elections, allowing the Executive Director to replace two-fifths of these civil servants with potentially partisan appointees that match the individual's political leanings.
Requires Photo ID for Military/Overseas Voters. Anyone who followed our hotly contested State Supreme Court race earlier this year knows this is a big one.
Creates another signature verification pilot program. SB 747 piloted a signature verification program in 2024, roughly costing the State Board $450,000. If signature verification becomes mandatory, North Carolina would be one of two states that require both signature verification and two-witnesses for mail-in voting.
Prohibits Rank Choice Voting. This prohibition undermines efforts to implement more representative electoral systems, which have been proven to be highly effective and popular in races across the country.
Provides five business days for some provisional ballot counting and processing. In one minor positive change, HB 958 changes the unrealistic and suppressive ballot counting and processing deadline created by SB 382 from three business days to five business days for some provisional ballots and provisional ballots with voter photo ID exception forms. As a reminder, election officials used to have nine days to count and process ballots.

TAKE ACTION: Tell your lawmaker to say NO to blocking voter access

(Source: DemocracyNC.org)

NASW stands with AFT Union

Millions of families will suffer so billionaires can get another tax break. #NASW is proud to stand with @aftunion and 140+ orgs calling out this cruelty. Join us: organize, vote, fight back.

Statement from AFT Union:

They betrayed us.

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans promised to make life better for working families. Instead, they passed the so-called big, beautiful bill—a massive transfer of wealth from working Americans to billionaires.

This cruel law will leave millions sicker, hungrier and poorer. It slashes healthcare and food assistance, defunds public schools and higher education, shutters rural hospitals, cuts jobs, targets immigrant communities and explodes the national debt—all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy.

We’re appalled. We’re angry. And we won’t forget.

We will remember who turned their backs on working families—and who we can count on to fight for us.

Join us. Organize. Vote. Let’s undo the damage from this big betrayal.

Source: NASW Instagram

Medicaid/Snap Update: Join Legal Action Center Call on 7/22

Mitigating the Harm of Federal Cuts & Changes to Medicaid & SNAP

On July 4th, President Trump signed into law legislation that includes significant cuts and changes to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

We understand that this news is not only upsetting for many but may also leave people feeling confused. LAC is here to support you, help you understand how the new law could affect you and your loved ones moving forward, and provide the resources and tools you need to continue the fight—because it isn’t over.

While the cuts and changes we fought hard to oppose have been enacted, many of them are not scheduled to go into effect until the beginning of 2027, and we are still actively fighting to mitigate harms in this next phase of the bill's implementation.

Join Legal Action Center for a budget bill recap and next steps webinar on Tuesday, July 22nd at 2pm EST.

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions has been the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact.

Read the Social Work compact press release here.

Watch the Governor's bill signing ceremony with NASW-NC staff and members here.

Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Session Spotlight

Calling 'In' & Interrupting Microaggressions:
Ditch the Drama & Build Bridges Instead

Presented By: Teresita Hurtado Ramos, LMSW

Does "calling out" folks work? Disrupting harm doesn’t have to mean creating division. By shifting our approach, we can challenge injustice while preserving connection and dialogue. This interactive session will teach the difference between "calling in" and "calling out" and empower participants to address microaggressions as a "teachable moment" with empathy and respect.

Click Here to View All Sessions & Register!

NASW-NC 2025 Essentials Conference

Beyond Words:
Affirming Equity and Inclusion in Social Work Practice

Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Virtual on Zoom
6 Hours of CE

Registration Fees:
NASW Members $125
Not yet a member? $200

Click here to register!

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

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Governor Stein Takes Action on 12 Bills

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 13:37:00 GMT

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In this week's update:

Governor Stein Takes Action on 12 Bills
Act Now to Protect Appropriated Programs
The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ has passed. Here’s how it could affect health care in NC
In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law
Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Governor Stein Takes Action on 12 Bills

Governor Josh  Stein signed 9 bills into law. He also vetoed 3 bills.

Governor Stein made the following statement on signing Senate Bill 479:

“No matter where you live in North Carolina, you should be able to access affordable health care and medications. This bill increases accountability and protects community pharmacies from Pharmacy Benefit Managers’ unfair business practices that make prescription drugs more expensive for patients. It will help independent pharmacies promote access to health care, particularly in rural areas. And critically, it will lower the amount consumers pay at the pharmacy counter by making sure discounts are passed on to them.” 

Governor Stein made the following statement on signing Senate Bill 429:

“This bill makes it easier for certain victims of domestic violence to have their day in court and obtain a restraining order, and it increases penalties for the sale of fentanyl to get this deadly drug off our streets. It also makes clear that, just as with other organizations, religious organizations can be held liable for sexual abuse by their employees.
 “I am concerned that this bill increases penalties on people for their addiction when it is already a felony to possess narcotics and that it punishes organizations providing civil legal services to low-income North Carolinians. I urge the General Assembly to responsibly address addiction and to protect funding for Legal Aid and other organizations.”  

Governor Stein made the following statement on signing Senate Bill 311:

“This bill cracks down on a variety of crimes, including burglary, retail theft, reckless driving, hit-and-run offenses, and protects utilities and communications workers on the job.” 

Governor Stein made the following statement on signing Senate Bill 118:

“North Carolina is home to approximately 100,000 active-duty service members. Moving to a new deployment can be disruptive for their families, and we must do what we can to smooth that transition. This bill will make it easier for military families to enroll their kids in school and renew their drivers’ licenses remotely. However, I have concerns that certain businesses that claim to help servicemembers secure benefits will instead use this bill as cover to overcharge them. I encourage the General Assembly to find ways to support servicemembers and their families and protect them from those who want to take advantage of them.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on vetoing House Bill 193:

“This bill would make our children less safe. Just as we should not allow guns in the General Assembly, we should keep them out of our schools unless they are in the possession of law enforcement. Law enforcement officers receive more than 800 hours of public safety education, including firearms training. On top of that, School Resource Officers receive additional training to know how to respond to crises and how to deescalate conflicts, a requirement I supported when I was Attorney General. We cannot substitute the protection offered by well-trained law enforcement officers by asking teachers and school volunteers to step in and respond to crises while armed. Just last year, an employee at a religious school in Goldsboro left a gun in a bathroom that was later found by an elementary school student.

“I support, however, the provision in this legislation to better protect local elected officials from threats to their safety, and I urge the General Assembly to send me a clean bill with those protections so I can sign it.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on vetoing Senate Bill 416:

“Our democracy works best when people are well-informed. This bill reduces transparency and creates more opportunity for dark money in our politics, especially relating to candidates’ legal funds. Furthermore, it makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the Department of Revenue to identify and crack down on certain types of tax fraud.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on vetoing House Bill 96:

“This legislation originally addressed squatters, and I supported it. At the last moment, however, an unrelated amendment was added that prohibits local governments from regulating pet stores. This bill would facilitate inhumane puppy mills in North Carolina. Without this provision, I would sign the legislation. With it, I cannot support it.”

Governor Stein also signed the following bills into law: 

Senate Bill 375
House Bill 850
House Bill 694
House Bill 1003
House Bill 992

(Source: NCGovernor)

Act Now to Protect Appropriated Programs

Tell Congress to Oppose Trump’s Recissions Package

On June 3, 2025, President Trump requested a recissions package to Congress that passed the U.S. House just a few days later that would withdraw funding from programs previously appropriated by Congress. The specific programs this package targets are foreign aid, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and public broadcasting. This may be taken up in the Senate in the coming days.

Background
A rescission is the cancellation of previously appropriated funding by Congress. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) oversees the process on behalf of the executive branch and must officially notify Congress in a special message of the president’s intent to delay the obligation of budget authority. In a recissions package the president can request changes to multiple discretionary programs, projects, and activities (PPAs) to Congress all at once.

This package is the first attempt by the current Administration to rescind appropriated funds. The Administration is trying to rush the legislation through Congress to meet the July 18, 2025, deadline for passage before the recissions package automatically fails. If it succeeds, the Administration has indicated further recissions will follow.

NASW is calling on social workers to express their opposition to this recissions package. Please edit the template email to personalize a message to your Senators.

ACT NOW

The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ has passed. Here’s how it could affect health care in NC

On Tuesday evening, just days after President Donald Trump signed into law the new federal budget passed by Congress, several dozen people took a seat in the Pullen Park Community Center in Raleigh.

Two of the capital city’s Democratic state lawmakers — Sen. Jay Chaudhuri and Rep. Tim Longest — were holding a town hall with Heba Atwa, director of legislative advocacy and campaigns for the nonprofit, nonpartisan NC Budget and Tax Center.

The sweeping legislation, which GOP legislators named the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was top of their agenda. It significantly cuts Medicaid and food assistance programs while cutting taxes for the wealthiest and having many other impacts on health and safety net programs.

Trump has described the new law as “a once-in-a-generation piece of legislation that makes good on his campaign promises and puts America first.” His critics quickly point out that it also breaks his promise that “we’re not cutting Medicaid.”

In North Carolina, elected officials, state policymakers, administrators and others are working to boil down the thousand-plus pages into plainspoken snippets that might be easier for the public to understand.

Devdutta Sangvai, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, spoke bluntly last week, just hours before the U.S. House of Representatives took their 218-214 vote on July 3 to concur with the U.S. Senate’s version of the bill.

The barriers to food and health care, Sangvai warned, would have far-reaching consequences that will “show up elsewhere in our schools, our justice system and our housing programs.”

“These changes would hurt not only individuals and families, but also North Carolina’s economy and workforce,” Sangvai said during a July 1 news briefing. “When people can’t meet basic needs, we all feel the impact.”

How quickly the state will feel the impact is not yet clear — the new law cuts Medicaid, adds work requirements to the program and creates administrative changes that will be phased in mostly after the 2026 elections.

With the state budget process at a stalemate, it’s not clear whether the General Assembly will adopt a fiscal plan that has the state taking on any of the financial burden resulting from federal cuts to safety net programs. If the state doesn’t choose to shoulder those costs, then the financial strain and hardships could end up in the laps of counties, some of which might resort to raising property tax rates to generate the revenue needed, Atwa explained.

‘Billions of dollars in lost funding’
Those were just some of the issues that came up at the town hall held Tuesday by Chaudhuri and Longest.

“Fiscal policy is foundational to well-being and to the things that we care about — and to our day-to-day lives,” Atwa told the crowd. “I think that’s becoming clearer and clearer to all of us.”As she flipped through slide after slide, Atwa added: “These federal cuts are going to hurt North Carolina, they’re going to hurt people’s well-being, they’re going to hurt our economy.”

Here’s the shorthand, according to the governor’s office:

More than half a million people stand to lose their health care because of changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.
Changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, could leave 1.4 million North Carolina residents — 600,000 of whom are children — without food assistance.
Tens of thousands of the 100,000-plus North Carolinians employed in the clean energy industry could lose their jobs due to the loss of clean energy tax credits.
Some households could see their annual electricity bills increase by 18 percent because of the removal of tax credits for solar and wind energy.

Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, called the megabill — supported by every congressional Republican from North Carolina with the exception of U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis — a “disgrace.”

Read the entire article here.

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions has been the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact.

Read the Social Work compact press release here.

Watch the Governor's bill signing ceremony with NASW-NC staff and members here.

Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Session Spotlight

Leading From Where You Are With Cultural Humility

Presented By: Shani Dellimore Barrax, DEIB & Organizational Change Strategist

Social workers are bound by a code of ethical responsibilities to a broader society, which includes social welfare, public participation, public emergencies, and social and political action. How, then, do we lead from where we are to answer society’s call to action? Rooted in cultural humility, this session will facilitate participants’ consideration and exploration of their individual spheres of influence and how they can leverage them to effect change. Attendees will consider the opportunities around them to lead with cultural humility and uphold ethical responsibilities to broader society while leveraging change agency.

Click Here to View All Sessions & Register!

NASW-NC 2025 Essentials Conference

Beyond Words:
Affirming Equity and Inclusion in Social Work Practice

Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Virtual on Zoom
6 Hours of CE

Registration Fees:
NASW Members $125
Not yet a member? $200

Click here to register!

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

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Gov. Stein Statement on Passage of Reconciliation Bill

Thu, 3 Jul 2025 17:36:00 GMT

In this week's update:

Statement from Governor Josh Stein on the U.S. House Passage of the Senate Reconciliation Bill
Secretary Dev Sangvai Releases Statement on the U.S. House Passage of the Reconciliation Bill
Gov. Stein Urges NC Congressional Delegation to Oppose Reconciliation Bill
NCDHHS warns of drastic changes to SNAP, Medicaid under ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
Governor Stein takes action on several bills
Trump administration withholds $169M from NC public schools amid review
In case you missed it - Social Work Compact is Law
Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Statement from Governor Josh Stein on the U.S. House Passage of the Senate Reconciliation Bill

(RALEIGH) Today Governor Josh Stein released the following statement on the U.S. House’s passage of the Senate reconciliation bill:

“Congress and the White House are charging forward with a bill that will have devastating consequences for the people and economy in North Carolina, while also significantly increasing the national debt to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest among us. More than half a million people stand to lose their health care, tens of thousands working in clean energy and manufacturing could lose their jobs, electricity bills could rise nearly 20 percent, and 1.4 million people – including 600,000 children – could find themselves without the help they need to afford food. The bill is a disgrace, and I am disappointed in those who did not stand up for the people they serve, choosing instead to ignore warnings from local leaders and groups across the state who have sounded the alarm about the dangers in this bill.

“We cannot simply accept these harmful impacts. The General Assembly must step up to protect our bipartisan Medicaid expansion law and food assistance through SNAP. This will require taking a hard look at our laws, our state budget, and our long-term revenue requirements. Even as those in Washington have left North Carolinians behind, I stand ready to do whatever I can to protect people’s health care and jobs and keep children fed and healthy. We can and must do better.”

Secretary Dev Sangvai Releases Statement on the U.S. House Passage of the Senate Reconciliation Bill

RALEIGH — Today, the U.S. House passed the Senate reconciliation bill. The bill includes significant changes to federal funding for Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and other public health and social support programs. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing the final legislation to determine its full impact on the state and its residents. NCDHHS will provide additional information as more details become available and will remain focused on serving the people of North Carolina.

In response to the bill’s passage, NC Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai released the following statement regarding the impact of the legislation on North Carolinians.

"Today's passage marks a significant moment with real consequences for North Carolina. While the full impact will become clearer in the coming weeks, we already know that it will result in billions of dollars being taken out of our state’s economy and will undermine the health of North Carolinians.

This bill includes major changes to Medicaid and SNAP – programs that provide vital support to millions of North Carolinians. There will be a significant reduction in federal funding for services that are core to the well-being of individuals and families across North Carolina. These cuts not only impact the people that rely on them directly but also strain the systems and communities that hold us all together.

The mission of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services remains unchanged – we will continue to work to improve the health and well-being of all North Carolinians. This moment presents real challenges, and while our ability to offset these losses may be limited, our resolve is not. We will continue this work with determination, and compassion and a focus on the people we serve."

Gov. Stein Urges NC Congressional Delegation to Oppose Reconciliation Bill

(RALEIGH) Today Governor Josh Stein urged North Carolina’s US House delegation to vote against the Senate budget reconciliation bill.

“This legislation is being rushed through at a time when many North Carolinians, who are worried about feeding their families, being able to continue seeing their doctor, or keeping their jobs,” said Governor Josh Stein. “This reconciliation bill would undo decades of bipartisan progress and harm the health, well-being, and economic security of people, families, and communities in our state. I urge you to oppose the bill.”

Under the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill, an estimated 520,000 North Carolinians could lose their health insurance due to proposed changes to Medicaid, Marketplace health plans, and if the Marketplace subsidies expire at the end of 2025. The number of uninsured North Carolinians could increase further without action at the federal and state level to protect the more than 670,000 people enrolled in Medicaid expansion.

SNAP faces equally serious threats. Under the Senate proposal, North Carolina is expected to owe as much as $420 million annually to keep SNAP funded. If the state cannot pay that share, it would be forced to end the program completely – leaving 1.4 million North Carolinians – including 600,000 children – without food assistance. Moreover, this proposal would jeopardize the well-being of both farmers and rural grocery stores, which depend on SNAP for their bottom line.

North Carolina’s leadership in the clean energy economy means that the Senate proposal would stunt the state’s economic progress. More than 100,000 North Carolinians are currently employed in the clean energy sector, but the loss of clean energy and manufacturing tax credits could cost up to 45,000 jobs. The removal of tax credits for wind and solar energy will make electricity in North Carolina as much as 18 percent more expensive, increasing the average family’s electricity bill by $275 each year.

Read Governor Stein’s letter here.

NCDHHS warns of drastic changes to SNAP, Medicaid under ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

"While on the surface, this may be in the best interest of trimming national debt and so forth, the implication for North Carolina is severe and very real.”

Dr. Devdutta Sangvai, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), commented at the end of a Zoom call with reporters on Tuesday, describing what would happen in North Carolina to Medicaid expansion and SNAP recipients if President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is passed into law.

The bill passed in the Senate on Tuesday after a tie-breaking vote 51-50 vote from Vice President JD Vance after Republican senators, including North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, Rand Paul, Kentucky, and Susan Collins, Maine, all voted no.

Tillis has been adamantly against the bill, stating that it would hurt thousands of North Carolinians with the loss of their Medicaid coverage. His disapproval also led to him stating that he would not seek re-election next year.

The bill cleared the House Rules Committee Wednesday morning and now heads to the House floor for a vote. If it passes, it will head to the president’s desk for his signature.

Dr Sangvai said the changes would hurt not only individuals and families, but also North Carolina’s economy and workforce, and that there are smarter ways to control healthcare costs, like investing in prevention and primary care so people don’t end up in the emergency department.

“We will not save money by creating barriers to food and to healthcare,” he said. “Instead, those costs will show up elsewhere: in our schools, our justice system, and our housing programs.”

SNAP

Officials first gave an overview of how the bill would affect the over 1.4 million people in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), including older adults, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and children.. Eighty percent of the recipients come from working families.

SNAP benefits have been 100% federally funded since the program’s creation 50 years ago.

Under the bill, the state’s payment error rate would be used to calculate the payment error rate, which measures how accurately the state and counties determine eligibility and benefit amounts for SNAP recipients.

The primary contributor is usually an overpayment or underpayment of the benefit amount. The state’s current rate is just above 10%. The House proposal would require North Carolina to cover 25% or $700 million per year, and the Senate version would require the state to cover 10% or $420 million.

Both proposals also further shift administrative costs away from the federal government and onto the state and local governments, which are now split 50/50 between the state and federal governments.

The proposals would require states to cover 75% going forward, resulting in an extra $65 million in costs that North Carolina would have to absorb annually, which would result in over 100,000 North Carolinians losing benefits.

THREE OPTIONS

The bill would leave North Carolina with three options:

Find the funding to cover the amount being shifted from the federal government to the state, which would be up to $700 million annually.
Reduce enrollment to lower costs.
The state’s complete withdrawal from the SNAP program.

In addition to the 1.4 million who would lose the benefit, NCDHHS officials said North Carolina would lose $2.8 billion in annual federal funds, which generate $4.2 billion in economic impact. Rural grocery stores that depend on SNAP for revenue would be at risk of closure, and over 7,000 jobs created by the program across the state would be eliminated.

MEDICAID

Jay Ludlam, Deputy Secretary for the state’s Medicaid program, said if the bill becomes law, changes to the program would hit rural communities the hardest. More than 50% of the population of many rural counties relies on Medicaid.

Governor Stein takes action on several bills

Governor Stein made the following statement on his veto of Senate Bill 266:

“This summer’s record heat and soaring utility bills has shown that we need to focus on lowering electricity costs for working families -- not raising them. And as our state continues to grow, we need to diversify our energy portfolio so that we are not overly reliant on natural gas and its volatile fuel markets. Recent independent analysis of Senate Bill 266 shows that this bill could cost North Carolina ratepayers up to $23 billion through 2050 due to higher fuel costs. This bill not only makes everyone’s utility bills more expensive, but it also shifts the cost of electricity from large industrial users onto the backs of regular people -- families will pay more so that industry pays less. Additionally, this bill walks back our state’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions, sending the wrong signal to businesses that want to be a part of our clean energy economy. My job is to do everything in my power to lower costs and grow the economy. This bill fails that test.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on his veto of House Bill 549:

“House Bill 549 would grant the Auditor sweeping access to the data and records of any private corporation that accepts any amount of state funding. Giving the Auditor this intrusive power may undermine our state’s efforts to recruit businesses to North Carolina. Additionally, the bill would remove the Office of State Auditor from the state’s cybersecurity efforts led by the Department of Information Technology, putting North Carolinians’ personal identifying information at heightened risk of a breach.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on his veto of Senate Bill 254:

“Senate Bill 254 is an unconstitutional infringement on the authority of the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Additionally, it weakens accountability of charter schools when every North Carolina student deserves excellent public schools, whether traditional or charter.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on his vetoes of Senate Bill 558, Senate Bill 227, House Bill 171, and House Bill 805:

“At a time when teachers, law enforcement, and state employees need pay raises and people need shorter lines at the DMV, the legislature failed to pass a budget and, instead, wants to distract us by stoking culture wars that further divide us. These mean-spirited bills would marginalize vulnerable people and also undermine the quality of public services and public education. Therefore, I am vetoing them. I stand ready to work with the legislature when it gets serious about protecting people and addressing North Carolinians’ pressing concerns.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on signing Senate Bill 600:

“This bill enables people to sign up to be organ donors while doing tax returns and keeps patients safe from toxic chemicals. It also helps schools recruit and retain school nurses and gives schools more tools to quickly treat children with severe allergies.”

Governor Stein also signed the following bills into law:
• House Bill 620
• House Bill 928
• House Bill 768
• Senate Bill 472
• Senate Bill 710
• Senate Bill 690
• Senate Bill 387
• House Bill 763
• Senate Bill 442
• House Bill 357
• Senate Bill 125
• Senate Bill 655
• Senate Bill 307
• Senate Bill 133

(Source: Governor.nc.gov)

Trump administration withholds $169M from NC public schools amid review

About $169 million is being withheld from North Carolina public schools pending a federal review of how those dollars are spent.

The six grant funding programs that are held up support teacher training, before- and after-school education programs in low-performing schools, enrichment programs, English language education for immigrant students, immigrant student and family support, and special education services for migrant students.

Nearly every North Carolina public school system or public charter school receives funding from at least one of the programs, and more than 70 organizations receive funding for before- and after-school educational programming, including YMCA chapters and chapters of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

The U.S. Department of Education sent notice Monday to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction of the pause, which said federal officials were reviewing the programs.

"Decisions have not yet been made concerning submissions and awards for this upcoming academic year," the notice states. "Accordingly, the Department will not be issuing Grant Award Notifications obligating funds for these programs on July 1 prior to completing that review. The Department remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities and the Department’s statutory responsibilities.”

The funds were due to be distributed by July 1.

The Trump administration has canceled numerous grants worth hundreds of millions of dollars for schools, including in North Carolina, related to student mental health, teacher training and teacher apprenticeships.

As of Wednesday afternoon, school systems told WRAL News they had not received any communication from the state Department of Public Instruction nor the federal education department about the latest review.

The Wake County Public School System, which received $8.3 million in these grants last year, according to state allotment data, plans to proceed as normal, a spokeswoman told WRAL News. Dozens of the district's schools are year-round and start the new school year Monday.

Durham Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Lewis released a statement to WRAL News calling for the immediate release of the funds, which he said were already authorized by Congress to be spent.

"These funds are critical to ensuring our classrooms are fully staffed, our schools are safe, and our scholars receive the support and enrichment they deserve," Lewis said. "With the new school year quickly approaching and our year-round schools beginning in less than three weeks, any delay in funding jeopardizes our ability to deliver on our promise to scholars and families - to ignite limitless potential.

"We urge the U.S. Department of Education and the White House Office of Management and Budget to act without delay. Our children cannot afford to wait."

U.S. Department of Education officials declined to answer questions from WRAL about why the review was taking place, how long the review would take and whether funding could be cut based on the review. Instead, the officials routed WRAL to the federal Office of Management and Budget at the Trump White House.

A spokesperson there told WRAL News at least some of the funds had been used in ways the Trump administration disagrees with.

"Initial findings have shown that many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda," the spokesperson said in a statement. "In one case, NY public schools used English Language Acquisition funds to promote illegal immigrant advocacy organizations. In another, Washington state used funds to direct illegal immigrants towards scholarships intended for American students. In yet another, School Improvement funds were used to conduct a seminar on 'queer resistance in the arts.' As stated before, this is an ongoing programmatic review and no decisions have been made yet."

In case you missed it - Social Work Compact is Law

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions has been the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact.

Read the Social Work compact press release here.

Watch the Governor's bill signing ceremony with NASW-NC staff and members here.

Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Join NASW North Carolina for our Essentials Conference being held virtually on August 13, 2025. The conference title is "Beyond Words: Affirming Equity and Inclusion in Social Work Practice."

This transformative conference brings the social work profession together to explore and reaffirm our shared commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as foundational principles of ethical practice. Grounded in the core values and standards outlined in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, the conference emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, intersectional understanding, and institutional accountability in creating inclusive environments within agencies, organizations, and communities.Whether you are new to the profession or a seasoned practitioner, this conference invites you to reflect, learn, and take actionable steps toward building a more just and inclusive society through ethical social work practice. Join us as we affirm our professional duty to lead with integrity, empathy, and a relentless pursuit of equity for all.

Early Bird Pricing: NASW Members: $75 / Not yet a member: $150... prices go UP after July 7, so register today!

Click here to register!

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

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: NCGA leaves town with no budget

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 13:58:00 GMT

In this week's update:

NCGA leaves town with no budget
Ask Gov. Stein to veto HB 805
Gov. Stein signs foster care reform bill into law with bipartisan support
Contact U.S. Senators Today
SCOTUS issues rulings
Give Feedback on Disability Rights NC (DRNC) 2026 Targets
In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law
Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

NCGA leaves town with no budget

After months of bill filings and back-and-forth negotiations, North Carolina lawmakers have ended the primary portion of this year’s legislative session — without passing the state budget, one of their most important tasks. As a result, thousands of state workers and teachers won’t see salary increases and the state will keep running on funding levels set by the prior budget.

The state’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30, and before the new budget year starts, lawmakers are expected to pass a budget to guide spending for the next two years. But on Thursday, they left for a break of at least two weeks — with no budget in place.

While it’s not unusual for lawmakers to miss the June 30 deadline, House and Senate leaders have signaled they remain locked in a stalemate, including over issues like taxes and raises. Both chambers hold Republican majorities. Republicans also did not pass an adjournment resolution, which formally ends the session and limits what actions lawmakers can take. The Senate passed a resolution, but the House did not take it up.

Here’s what House and Senate leaders had to say on Thursday about where things stand on the budget.

Tax cuts
Senate leader Phil Berger blamed the stalemate on “an insistence on the part of the House to try to renegotiate agreements that we’ve made in the past.” The Senate wants further cuts to personal income tax rates, while the House prefers a more cautious approach — delaying those cuts set in a previous budget unless the state’s revenue reaches certain set levels, known as “revenue triggers.” The state could be facing a tight budget, according to an updated revenue forecast .

Berger said revenue projections can vary widely from actual collections, especially several years out, and relying on those forecasts to change previously agreed-upon tax policy was “inappropriate.” He said the Senate offered to move forward based on the original agreement on income tax cuts, telling the House it didn’t need to commit to new reductions. “Neither of us would touch the triggers — and they rejected that,” he said.

Not fully done
House Speaker Destin Hall wanted to leave things open-ended. He said the House didn’t want to be limited by an adjournment resolution to only conference reports, which are negotiated compromises both chambers must approve. Any budget deal will come through a conference report, since neither side has accepted the other’s proposal.

Asked about the possibility of no budget deal being reached this biennium, the next two years, Hall said, “I think we will get one done before the end of the biennium.” “Obviously, there are some philosophical differences on a number of matters in the budget,” he said. The Senate could get its way on taxes if it holds out on a budget so that existing revenue triggers can take effect. Hall acknowledged that disadvantage for the House negotiators, saying: “anybody can look at the situation and can kind of see what the effects are.”

“At the same time, there are a lot of capital projects that are important to a lot of members across the state, really, that will need additional funding,” he said. “If we’re going to continue down the road of a policy that we think ultimately may put us in a position, at least not to be able to do the investments we would like to do in education, in the university system, then we have to tighten our belts right now,” he said. “If you want to invest in things, you’ve got to have the money to do that.” The Senate passed its budget in April. Then the House passed its budget in May.

With no compromise in sight, the House this week passed two mini-budget bills that included average teacher raises of 6.4% for 2025-26 and a 2.5% annual salary increase for most state employees starting July 1. Meanwhile, the Senate passed its own spending bill, a 44-page measure that funds agencies and programs. Neither chamber approved the other’s more limited spending proposals. Hall added that senior appropriations chairs plan to meet during the upcoming break to discuss the budget and attempt to resolve differences.

(Source: CharlotteObserver.com)

Ask Gov. Stein to veto HB 805

HB 805 began as a bipartisan bill to protect survivors of sexual exploitation by requiring the removal of non-consensual intimate images from online platforms. But last-minute Senate amendments have hijacked this survivor-centered bill and turned it into a vehicle for anti-LGBTQ+ politics.

The amended bill now includes language that:

Define “biological sex” in rigid, exclusionary terms
Ban state-funded gender-affirming care for incarcerated transgender people
Allow parents to opt students out of classroom content based on religious beliefs
Require public schools to post book lists and allow parents to block access, fueling censorship and targeting LGBTQ+ and BIPOC books.

These changes don’t protect survivors. They weaponize a consensus-driven bill to push an agenda of trans erasure, censorship, and government intrusion into identity and healthcare.

Governor Stein has the power to stop this. We are calling on him to veto HB 805 and reject this dangerous bait-and-switch.

Take Action Today:

Call Governor Stein at (919) 814-2000
Email Governor Stein at governor.nc.gov/contact/contact-governor-stein

Tell him: North Carolina must protect survivors, not target trans people under the guise of justice.

Take Action Today to Fight LGBTQ+ Attacks!

(Source:Equality NC)

Gov. Stein signs foster care reform bill into law with bipartisan support

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Thursday signed into law sweeping foster-care reforms aimed at giving the state more oversight of North Carolina's foster care system.

House Bill 612, a bipartisan bill that sponsors titled the Fostering Care in NC Act, has been in the works for years. It gives the state Department of Health and Human Services more power to hold county-run social services departments accountable. The bill also aims to tighten procedures and deadlines for investigating reports of abuse and neglect within the foster care system.

Stein signed the bill in front of families, advocates and bill supporters, including social workers and elected officials.

"This is a huge step in moving us forward and making sure the children who didn't ask for the trauma or neglect they've been exposed to have a good shot at being happy, successful adults," Senate Democratic leader Sydney Batch, D-Wake, said Thursday. "We have seen children dying in care based on decisions that were made at the county level. This allows the Department of Health and Human Services to engage in an earlier stage and hopefully save children from being physically abused."

Batch credited WRAL's documentary "Broken: Foster Care in North Carolina," with helping to give the bill more momentum this year. The documentary examined failures in the state's foster care system.

"We were able to use that as momentum to get my Republican colleagues to really move on this issue," Batch said.

The bill was supported by leaders on both sides of the aisle, including bill co-sponsor Rep. Allen Chesser, R-Nash, who has said the state needs more oversight of North Carolina’s foster care system.

"A bill of this magnitude doesn't just happen," Stein said during the bill-signing ceremony. "It's a lot of people of good faith coming together working hard to try to do something right for the children of North Carolina.

Stein praised bipartisan efforts to push through legislation that “protects the most vulnerable children and strengthens our child welfare system."

"I want to thank the General Assembly for coming together on a bipartisan basis to do what is right by the children of North Carolina,” Stein said. “I think that's something the people of North Carolina are thrilled to see in these divided times."

The state recently announced the official launch of Path NC, a statewide digital system for social workers to track foster children as they are relocated.

The program is intended to unify the state's disjointed child welfare databases to create a real-time system that child-welfare officials can access throughout the state “so that it doesn't matter which county the child is in, the social worker will know what the child best needs," Stein said.

In addition to the foster-care bill, Stein signed Senate Bill 400, which promotes a multiagency approach to prevent abuse, neglect and exploitation of disabled or older adults. “This bill will help counties improve their adult protective services for older and disabled North Carolinians by creating teams that can share information and collaborate, making vulnerable people safer,” Stein said in a statement later Thursday.

ACTION ALERT

Deliberations Are Coming Down to the Wire: Call Our U.S. Senators and Leave a Message - Much Is at Stake for North Carolina

Negotiations on the budget reconciliation bill - officially titled the One Big Beautiful Bill Act - continue in the U.S. Senate this week, and it appears that leadership in both the House and Senate are pushing hard to pass the legislation before the July 4th holiday. There are many provisions in the bill that will have major implications for North Carolina and our citizens including those that would result in a significant reduction in federal funding coming to the state which will result in budget cuts to many programs and services.

Over the last several months, we have asked you to contact our Congressional delegation to voice your concern about provisions in the reconciliation bill that would adversely impact older adults and persons with disabilities. We are now asking you again today to call our U.S. Senators, Sen. Thom Tillis and Sen. Ted Budd, even if you have previously contacted them, and share the following messages, which are also currently being used by other human service entities in the state. The phone numbers where you can leave a message are as follows:

Sen. Thom Tillis: (202) 228-2563
Sen. Ted Budd: (202) 224-3154

Thank You for Taking Action!
(Source: NC Coalition on Aging)

The Senate is in the final stages of passing their shameful budget reconciliation bill that decimates student loan forgiveness programs, makes historic cuts to SNAP and Medicaid & more. Instead of investing in programs that benefit all Americans in economically uncertain times, Congress is rushing to pass a bill that benefits a handful of wealthy individuals.
Take action today: https://www.votervoice.net/NASW/campaigns/127432/respond
#PleaseShare #NASW #DefendSNAP #ProtectMedicaid #StudentDebtRelief #BudgetJustice #FightPoverty #EconomicJustice #SocialWorkAdvocacy #StopTheCuts
@SenateBudget @BudgetGOP @JudiciaryDems @JudiciaryGOP @judiciarydems.senate.gov @HSGAC @HSGAC_GOP @senatebudget.bsky.social

SCOTUS issues rulings

Supreme Court limits nationwide injunctions in birthright citizenship order

The Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines on Friday sided with the Trump administration's request to limit universal injunctions issued by federal courts. The opinion in the birthright citizenship case was highly anticipated.

"Universal injunctions likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has given to federal courts," the conservative majority said, sending the case back to lower courts to reconsider their broad orders. However, the opinion also blocked President Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship from taking effect for 30 days, while litigation continues.

Read the full decision, and read our full story.

Supreme Court upholds South Carolina's ban on Medicaid funds for Planned Parenthood

The Supreme Court allowed South Carolina to bar Planned Parenthood's access to federal Medicaid funding for non-abortion services. The decision allows states to ban the organization from getting Medicaid reimbursements for cancer screenings and other care not related to abortion.

At issue was a provision of the federal Medicaid law that guarantees Medicaid patients the ability to choose their doctors, or in the words of the statute, they are entitled to "any qualified and willing provider." South Carolina, however, maintained that it could disqualify Medicaid providers for "any reason that state law allows." Or as Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, put it, "Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize abortion providers who are in direct opposition to their beliefs."

Read the full decision, and read our full story.

SCOTUS: Parents can opt kids out of classes with LGBTQ book characters

Wading into another culture clash, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that school systems, for now, are required to provide parents with an "opt-out" provision that excuses their children from class when course material conflicts with their religious beliefs.

The vote was 6-3, along ideological lines.

The court's decision has, for months, had public school boards, administrators, and teachers worried about how to navigate opt-out demands of all kinds—from courses that include LGBTQ characters in books to science classes that teach Darwin's theory of evolution.

Read the full decision, and read our full story.

(Source: NPR.org)

Give Feedback on Disability Rights NC 2026 Targets

It’s survey time! Each year, Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) asks people with disabilities, their families, and other community members to help shape our work by filling out a short survey. Your feedback helps us understand which legal issues are most urgent and important to the disability community.

We invite you to share your thoughts and tell us which of our proposed goals—called Targets—should be our top priorities in 2026. The deadline for responses is August 3.

DRNC uses these Targets to guide our advocacy, legal work, and community efforts. To learn more about the Proposed Targets for 2026 and fill out our survey visit our website Give Feedback on DRNC's 2026 Targets - DRNC

One more ask: Please share this survey widely with your family, friends, and networks – help us spread the word!

(Source: DisabilityRightsNC.org)

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

On Friday, June 13th, HB 231 -Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact was signed into law by Governor Josh Stein. Because of our significant advocacy and lobbying efforts to introduce and pass this bill, the National Association of Social Workers North Carolina (NASW-NC) staff and members were invited to join the Governor for this historic bill signing ceremony. Earlier in the week, HB231 was heard on the Senate floor for its final vote in the NC Senate, where it passed unanimously 44-0. North Carolina is now the 29th state to become a member of the Social Work Licensure Compact.

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions has been the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact.

Read the Social Work compact press release here.

Watch the Governor's bill signing ceremony with NASW-NC staff and members here.

Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Join NASW North Carolina for our Essentials Conference being held virtually on August 13, 2025. The conference title is "Beyond Words: Affirming Equity and Inclusion in Social Work Practice."

This transformative conference brings the social work profession together to explore and reaffirm our shared commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as foundational principles of ethical practice. Grounded in the core values and standards outlined in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, the conference emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, intersectional understanding, and institutional accountability in creating inclusive environments within agencies, organizations, and communities. Whether you are new to the profession or a seasoned practitioner, this conference invites you to reflect, learn, and take actionable steps toward building a more just and inclusive society through ethical social work practice. Join us as we affirm our professional duty to lead with integrity, empathy, and a relentless pursuit of equity for all.

Early Bird Pricing: NASW Members: $75 / Not yet a member: $150... prices go UP after July 7, so register today!

Click here to register!

Learn more about NASW-NC membership here

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Governor Stein Takes Action on Four Bills

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:34:00 GMT

On Friday, June 20, 2025 Governor Josh Stein vetoed three bills: Senate Bill 50, Senate Bill 153, and House Bill 318. He also signed House Bill 126 into law.

Governor Stein made the following statement on his veto of Senate Bill 50:

“This bill makes North Carolinians less safe and undermines responsible gun ownership. Therefore, I am vetoing it. The bill eliminates training requirements associated with concealed carry permits and reduces the age to carry a concealed weapon from 21 to 18 years old. Authorizing teenagers to carry a concealed weapon with no training whatsoever is dangerous. The bill would also make the job of a law enforcement officer more difficult and less safe. We can and should protect the right to bear arms without recklessly endangering law enforcement officers and our people.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on his veto of Senate Bill 153:

“Senate Bill 153 would also make us less safe, so I am vetoing this legislation. At a time when our law enforcement is already stretched thin, this bill takes state law enforcement officers away from their existing state duties and forces them to act as federal immigration agents. Furthermore, under current law, people without lawful immigration status already are prevented from receiving Medicaid, SNAP, Section 8, and other benefits.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on his veto of House Bill 318:

“I am vetoing House Bill 318 because it is unconstitutional. I support the bill’s efforts to require sheriffs to contact federal immigration authorities about people in their custody charged with sexual battery, armed robbery, arson, assault on public officials and court personnel, and other dangerous crimes. People who commit these crimes should be held accountable, whether or not they are here without legal authorization, and those charged with serious offenses ought to receive increased scrutiny from federal immigration officials.

“My oath of office requires that I uphold the Constitution of the United States. Therefore, I cannot sign this bill because it would require sheriffs to unconstitutionally detain people for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released. The Fourth Circuit is clear that local law enforcement officers cannot keep people in custody solely based on a suspected immigration violation. But let me be clear: anyone who commits a serious crime in North Carolina must be prosecuted and held accountable regardless of their immigration status.”

Read Governor's Press Release here.

NASW-NC opposed all three bills.

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: NC state budget talks stall among GOP

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 14:09:00 GMT

In this week's update:

NC state budget talks stall among GOP
NC lawmakers send sweeping foster care reforms to governor
Act Now on Medicaid
Statement from NASW LGBTQ+ Committee
Skirmetti Decison Update
In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law
NASW-NC Bill Tracker
Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

NC state budget talks stall among GOP

Any hopes that the North Carolina General Assembly would pass a budget by the end of June have dissipated. What that means is thousands of state employees and teachers won’t be getting raises anytime soon. Republican House Speaker Destin Hall told reporters after the House session on Tuesday night that “if a budget comes, it’s probably going to be after June at this point.”

Hall said that House voting sessions and committees would wind down next week before lawmakers take a break.

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger gave a similar assessment to reporters on Tuesday. “At this point, I do not see us getting a budget before we leave at the end of next week,” Berger said, adding that it is “pretty clear” they are not going to do so.

The House and Senate, both controlled by Republicans, have spent weeks at odds over the budget, primarily over key spending issues like tax cuts, raises and big projects like a planned children’s hospital. And as happens more often than not in recent memory, that is again resulting in a summer of drawn-out negotiations.

Hall and Berger have not yet met about the budget, but their staffs have met. Hall said that the House is still reaching its calendar target of wrapping up policy legislation by the end of June, and would hopefully come back later to pass a budget.

When the new fiscal year begins July 1, state employee salaries and base teacher pay set by the legislature will remain at the same spending levels they are at now.

The amount of those raises are part of the divide between the House and Senate. In the House budget, state employees would receive raises of 2.5% in the coming year, including UNC System employees and community college employees. That’s higher than what the Senate and Democratic Gov. Josh Stein proposed.

“Folks are going to continue to be paid. I obviously think our position on the budget is much better. And I think that we need to try to get raises to folks as quickly as we can,” Hall said Tuesday, and cited inflation.

However, there are “some sincerely held beliefs on both sides” of the budget debate, he said. “I think that every month that we delay, obviously, they don’t get those raises. And so historically, when we have passed a budget, (raises are) retroactive to July 1. And my hope is that we’ll do that this time around,” Hall said, adding that part of wanting to give “substantial” raises to teachers and state employees “is not making them wait on it.”

When the House passed its Republican-written budget in May, 27 Democrats voted for it, including House Democratic Leader Robert Reives.

During previous budget stalemate summers, the House and Senate have returned once a month for a day or two at a time, but not necessarily for voting sessions. Hall sees that happening again this summer.

“The calendar has turned over several days, and it’s pretty clear that we’re not reaching agreement on various provisions, so I just don’t think we should continue to give folks the impression that we’re working towards getting a budget done. It’s pretty clear that we are not going to do so,” Berger said.

(Source:NewsObserver)

NC lawmakers send sweeping foster care reforms to governor

North Carolina lawmakers approved sweeping foster-care reforms Wednesday, sending a comprehensive bipartisan bill to Gov. Josh Stein.

House Bill 612, which sponsors call the Fostering Care in NC Act, would give the state more power to hold county-run social services departments accountable. House lawmakers on Wednesday unanimously approved changes proposed by the Senate, the last approval needed before heading to the governor. Stein can approve the measure, veto it, or let it become law without signing it.

North Carolina’s foster care system is a state-supervised, county-administered system, which means 100 counties are running their own child welfare programs. The state can only intervene after a serious incident or tragedy. Bill sponsors, including Rep. Allen Chesser, R-Nash, have said the state needs more oversight of those departments.

The bill would give the state Department of Health and Human Services more authority to review records and enforce rules within local social services departments. It also aims to tighten procedures and deadlines for investigating reports of abuse and neglect. To reduce bias, the bill would create rules for identifying and handling conflicts of interest involving social services, employees or their relatives.

The bill also clarifies rules for how children are placed in nonsecure custody. And it strengthens visitation requirements by requiring supervised visits before a child is returned to a parent or guardian.

The legislation comes after a WRAL documentary — "Broken: Foster Care in North Carolina" — exposed gaps in the state’s foster care system.

The state Department of Health and Human Services recently took control of Vance County’s DSS after repeated failures, including improper screening in nearly a third of cases.

A similar bill failed to advance in the legislature last year after critics said the proposal was too broad.

Also on Wednesday, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced the official launch of Path NC. It is a statewide digital system for social workers to track foster children as they are relocated.

(Source: WRAL.com)

Act Now On Medicaid

As deliberations continue in Congress on the budget reconciliation bill, the debate moves to the U.S. Senate which is now considering cuts to the Medicaid program that would put the health care of many older adults and persons with disabilities in our state at risk.

Provisions being considered would result in North Carolina losing millions of dollars in Medicaid funding that could necessitate scaling back Medicaid benefits used by older adults and persons with disabilities such as home and community-based services and could put new limitations on who can qualify for Medicaid.

In addition, proposed cuts under consideration would also result in many older adults and persons with disabilities getting less help with out-of-pocket costs not covered by Medicare and would add new requirements that make it easier to lose coverage for Medicaid.

E-mail your U.S. Senators now and ask that they NOT CUT Medicaid.

Click here for the TAKE ACTION BUTTON to send an e-mail.

(Source: NC Coalition on Aging)

Statement from NASW LGBTQ+ Committee:

A statement from the NASW LGBTQ+ Committee: The Supreme Court’s tragic decision to uphold Skrmetti legalizes discrimination against trans, gender diverse, intersex, non-binary, and queer+ youth. This harmful ruling goes against everything our profession is rooted in. Social work ethics demand that we protect dignity, confront injustice, and defend safety, access, and self-determination. NASW supports laws that expand access and equity to gender-affirming care at local, state, and federal levels. We oppose all policies that cause harm, restrict autonomy, undermine social work best practices, or deny young people the care they need to survive and thrive.

(Source: Instagram)

Skrimitti Decision Update

The Supreme Court has ruled in United States v. Skrmetti, a landmark case challenging Tennessee’s categorical ban on gender-affirming hormonal therapies for transgender youth (SB1) on the grounds the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by discriminating based on sex and transgender status.

The Court agreed with the Sixth Circuit Court that allowed the law to take effect, finding that Tennessee's SB1 does not draw a sex-based (or a trans status-based) line and thus only necessitates rational scrutiny. This means SB1 is constitutional and can remain in effect.

Today's ruling is a devastating loss, especially for transgender youth, but we are committed to protecting trans rights and power in our state now more than ever. Please join us for a town hall to discuss the ruling with partners across the state and ground ourselves in how we move forward together. The town hall will take place on Monday, June 23rd at 6-7pm on Zoom.

Register here - Zoom link will be provided in a separate email.
Additional information and resources here:

Read the press release from ACLU national and Lambda Legal here: ACLU, Lambda Legal Respond to Supreme Court Ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti | American Civil Liberties Union
Check out this list of LGBTQ+ resource organizations across NC: LGBTQ+ Resources - Out! Carolinas
If you or someone you know needs help, contact Trans Lifeline or Trevor Project for support.

(Source: ACLU-NC)

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

On Friday, June 13th, HB 231 -Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact was signed into law by Governor Josh Stein. Because of our significant advocacy and lobbying efforts to introduce and pass this bill, the National Association of Social Workers North Carolina (NASW-NC) staff and members were invited to join the Governor for this historic bill signing ceremony. Earlier in the week, HB231 was heard on the Senate floor for its final vote in the NC Senate, where it passed unanimously 44-0. North Carolina is now the 29th state to become a member of the Social Work Licensure Compact.

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions has been the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact.

Read the Social Work compact press release here.

Watch the Governor's bill signing ceremony with NASW-NC staff and members here.

NASW-NC Bill Tracker

NASW-NC is currently keeping an eye on more than 100 bills that, if passed, may impact the social work profession and the populations we serve. You can view all of the bills NASW-NC is tracking at the NC General Assembly HERE.

Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Join NASW North Carolina for our Essentials Conference being held virtually on August 13, 2025. The conference title is "Beyond Words: Affirming Equity and Inclusion in Social Work Practice."

This transformative conference brings the social work profession together to explore and reaffirm our shared commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as foundational principles of ethical practice. Grounded in the core values and standards outlined in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, the conference emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, intersectional understanding, and institutional accountability in creating inclusive environments within agencies, organizations, and communities. Whether you are new to the profession or a seasoned practitioner, this conference invites you to reflect, learn, and take actionable steps toward building a more just and inclusive society through ethical social work practice. Join us as we affirm our professional duty to lead with integrity, empathy, and a relentless pursuit of equity for all.

Early Bird Pricing: NASW Members: $75 / Not yet a member: $150... prices go UP after July 7, so register today!

Click here to register!

Learn more about NASW-NC membership here.

Was this email forwarded to you?
Please subscribe to NASW-NC Advocacy Alerts here !

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Social Work Licensure Compact is Law in NC

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 14:16:00 GMT

In this week's update:

Social Work Licensure Compact is Law in NC
Justice Riggs finally seated on NC Supreme Court
Issues Facing LGBTQ+ Older Adults in 2025 & Beyond
June is Men's Mental Health Month
NASW-NC Bill Tracker
Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Social Work Licensure Compact is Law in NC

On Friday, June 13th, HB 231 -Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact was signed into law by Governor Josh Stein. Because of our significant advocacy and lobbying efforts to introduce and pass this bill, the National Association of Social Workers North Carolina (NASW-NC) staff and members were invited to join the Governor for this historic bill signing ceremony. Earlier in the week, HB231 was heard on the Senate floor for its final vote in the NC Senate, where it passed unanimously 44-0. North Carolina is now the 29th state to become a member of the Social Work Licensure Compact.

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 legislative sessions has been the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact.

Read the Social Work compact press release here.

Watch the Governor's bill signing ceremony with NASW-NC staff and members here.

Justice Riggs finally seated on NC Supreme Court

On June 11, Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat, was formally sworn into the North Carolina Supreme Court by Chief Justice Paul Newby after a six-month legal battle with her Republican challenger Judge Jefferson Griffin.

A member of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, Griffin led Riggs by nearly 10,000 votes in the immediate hours after polls closed on Nov. 5, according to previous reporting by Reuters. But that lead dwindled as more ballots were counted, and after recounts, Riggs was leading by 734 votes.

Griffin then sought in court to have set aside over 60,000 ballots cast by voters whose registrations were accepted despite having not provided driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers as state law required.

Griffin conceded May 7, two days after a federal judge delivered a victory for Riggs by ordering North Carolina's election board to not throw out any ballots cast by voters in the close race.

Following are some of Riggs’ remarks from her swearing-in ceremony.

“One of the things that so many of us love about the law is that we see it as a profession where the interest of one generation of practitioners in supporting the next generation of practitioners is uniquely strong and important to the integrity of the field. Anita Earls embodies that spirit, and the time and care she devotes to ensuring that other attorneys flourish is the ideal we dream for this profession. …

“The independence of our judiciary is more important now than ever. And it is fitting to swear my commitment to this role sitting on a court where the concept of judicial review in America first found its footing.

“Many of us learned about Marbury v. Madison in civics class, the case that marked the first time a federal court first explained that it had the authority and would strike down laws that violated the constitution. But not all of you may realize that we saw the need for judicial review even earlier here in North Carolina.

“In Bayard v. Singleton, the predecessor to the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in the first known case of judicial review. Those judges had no roadmap for what it meant for a court to rule that a state law was inconsistent with the state constitution, and they went down that road reluctantly, but they recognized their fealty belonged to the constitution. Even if it meant that an upset legislature would accuse them of malpractice and delay their pay. I am so proud that the courage and commitment of North Carolina judges served as precedent for the exercise of judicial review by other American courts …

“As your Supreme Court Justice, nothing will deter me from my obligation to uphold the constitution. I will interpret the law faithfully. I chose to be unafraid of making hard decisions in my defense of the rule of law, even if there may be easier or less intimidating paths.”

(Source: Yahoo.com)

Issues Facing LGBTQ+ Older Adults in 2025 & Beyond

Join Justice in Aging, Lambda Legal, and SAGE for this webinar, Issues Facing LGBTQ+ Older Adults in 2025 and Beyond. The webinar will include a basic primer on who LGBTQ+ older adults are, updates about the major programs and services that LGBTQ+ older adults rely on, an overview of key cases impacting the rights of LGBTQ+ older adults, and more. Learn about how you can be an advocate for LGBTQ+ older adults during this challenging and quickly evolving time.

Who Should Participate: Advocates for LGBTQ+ older adults and other aging and disability stakeholders.

Presenters:

Denny Chan, Managing Director, Equity Advocacy, Justice in Aging
Cam Cote, Civic Engagement Coordinator, SAGE
Kell Olson, Counsel and F. Curt Kirschner, Jr. Strategist for LGBTQ+ Seniors, Lambda Legal
Aaron Tax, Managing Director of Government Affairs & Policy Advocacy, SAGE

The webinar will take place on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. PT/3:00 p.m. ET and will run for 60 minutes.

REGISTER NOW

June is Men's Mental Health Month

June is Men’s Mental Health Month - a time set aside to recognize the silent struggle of millions of men across the country. Consider these statistics*:

19% have experienced mental illness.
4.3% have experienced serious or severe mental illness.
45.9% of those men with symptoms of a mental illness have received treatment.
Men are 4 times more likely to die by suicide than women.

The stigma around men’s mental health often keeps men from seeking treatment and support. Many men with mental health conditions unnecessarily suffer in silence.

Men’s Mental Health Month draws attention to the need for a culture that supports and celebrates men speaking up and reaching out. Visit the NAMI website to see how you can help break the stigma and show support.

*Data from NAMI reflects U.S. adults assigned male at birth.

Learn More Here: MEN'S MENTAL HEALTH MONTH

Email: helpline@naminc.org

(NAMI-NC)

NASW-NC Bill Tracker

Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Join NASW North Carolina for our Essentials Conference being held virtually on August 13, 2025. The conference title is "Beyond Words: Affirming Equity and Inclusion in Social Work Practice."

This transformative conference brings the social work profession together to explore and reaffirm our shared commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as foundational principles of ethical practice. Grounded in the core values and standards outlined in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, the conference emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, intersectional understanding, and institutional accountability in creating inclusive environments within agencies, organizations, and communities. Whether you are new to the profession or a seasoned practitioner, this conference invites you to reflect, learn, and take actionable steps toward building a more just and inclusive society through ethical social work practice. Join us as we affirm our professional duty to lead with integrity, empathy, and a relentless pursuit of equity for all.

Early Bird Pricing: NASW Members: $75 / Not yet a member: $150... prices go UP after July 7, so register today!

Click here to register!

Learn more about NASW-NC membership here.

Governor Stein Takes Action on Several Bills

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 16:30:00 GMT

(RALEIGH) Today Governor Josh Stein signed six bills into law.

Governor Stein made the following statement on his signing of House Bill 506: 2025 State Investment Modernization Act:
“This bill puts North Carolina in line with the rest of the nation and allows us to make responsible decisions investing our state employees’ hard-earned pensions. I applaud Treasurer Briner for his leadership in modernizing our state’s investment system.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on his signing of House Bill 50: LEO Special Separation Allowance Options:
“Our law enforcement work day and night to keep us safe, and we need more public-spirited people serving to address our law enforcement staffing challenges. This law enables veteran law enforcement officers to continue serving our communities and supporting their families without suffering a financial penalty. I advocated for this idea as Attorney General to keep more experienced police on the beat, and I am proud to sign it into law as Governor.”

Governor Stein made the following statement on his signing of House Bill 231: Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact:
“Our social workers support children, families, and communities, and they are needed now more than ever. This law will expand access to care to more people by allowing social workers from certain other states to more easily transfer their licenses to North Carolina.”

Governor Stein also signed the following bills into law:
• House Bill 477: Retirement Death Benefits Rewrite
• Senate Bill 248: Birth Certificates for Persons Adopted
• Senate Bill 477: DNCR Agency Bill

###

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Social Work Licensure Compact Passes Senate Rules Committee

Mon, 9 Jun 2025 13:10:00 GMT

In this week's update:

Social Work Compact passes Senate Rules Committee
NASW Action Alert
NC Legislature to Cut Funding for Healthy Opportunities
Protecting Medicaid from Cuts in Congress: Updates for Aging Advocates
Take action against anti-immigrant bills
June is Pride Month
NASW-NC Bill Tracker

Social Work Compact passes Senate Rules Committee

On Thursday, June 5th, HB 231 -Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact unanimously passed the NC Senate Rules Committee. On Tuesday, June 3rd, it unanimously passed the Senate Finance Committee. NASW-NC staff were present both days at the NC General Assembly.

See HB 231 come up in the Senate Finance Committee here!

See HB 231 come up in the Senate Rules Committee here!

HB 231 will now have its final full vote on the NC Senate Floor. If it passes the Senate, as it did the NC House, it will go to Governor Stein’s desk for his signature.

The Social Work Licensure Compact has been enacted in at least seven states and has reached activation status; however, multistate licenses are NOT yet being issued. The implementation process for the compact will take 12 to 24 months before multistate licenses are to be issued. You can learn more details about the Social Work Licensure Compact and the Compact Commission by going to its website here.

NASW-NC is the ONLY organization lobbying and advocating for the entire Social Work Profession at the North Carolina Legislature. The NASW-NC lobbying team would not exist without the incredible support of NASW-NC membership. If you are already a member of NASW-NC, THANK YOU. Our members are the only reason that we have been able to do this work!

Follow updates on the Social Work Compact in the NC General Assembly here.

NASW Action Alert

The House of Representatives passed a massive bill that decimates programs that support and provide lifelines for American families and their ability to meet their basic needs, access the means of economic mobility, and participate in society. They are trading the health and well-being of a majority of families to support a wealthy few.

The House-passed budget reconciliation bill creates devastating cuts to health care and food assistance programs, which will have dire impacts on individuals, families, and communities.

Congress is using a legislative strategy called “reconciliation” to accomplish their goals. This procedure expedites the process for legislation focused on spending, revenue, and debt limit laws. Part of why this path is chosen is because it rushes budget-focused bills through with a simple majority in the Senate. While this is not the first time reconciliation has been used to pass legislation, these cuts stand to harm far too many Americans.

In a time when families are struggling to put food on the table, grappling with health care costs, dealing with the high costs of college and dwindling options for student loan repayment, and other financial hardships in an ever-evolving economy, Congress is working overtime to ram their bill through an expedited process that will irreparably harm this country.

American families deserve better. Please join NASW in our fight to protect crucial programs from dangerous cuts. Contact your Senators today and tell them to vote against any version of the Budget Reconciliation bill that makes harmful cuts to Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Student Loan Repayment Programs, and diminishes access to life-saving tax credits like the Child Tax Credit. A personalized message goes a long way with members of Congress, so please add information to our editable email template.

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NC Legislature to Cut Funding for Healthy Opportunities

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) said that budget negotiations in the state Legislature do not include funding for the Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOP) program’s ongoing operations or statewide scaling. The program addresses people’s social needs with services like food, housing, and transportation through Medicaid.

The notice on the NCDHHS website said the “absence of available funding means that there is no funding scheduled for distribution to health plans for HOP service delivery beginning July 1, 2025. While new services are expected to stop beginning July 1, our hope is that this will only be a pause, and Healthy Opportunities can resume once additional funds are appropriated by the General Assembly.”

The Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOP) is the nation’s first comprehensive program to test and evaluate the impact of providing select evidence-based, non-medical interventions related to housing, food, transportation and interpersonal safety and toxic stress to high-needs Medicaid enrollees. The federal government has authorized up to $650 million in Medicaid funding for the Pilots over five years.

More than 288,000 services have been delivered and more than 20,000 NC Medicaid beneficiaries have enrolled across 33 predominantly rural counties in North Carolina as part of the Healthy Opportunities Pilots since the program began providing services two years ago.

Those findings also show participants avoided a significant number of emergency department visits, and research shows participants have a reduced risk of food insecurity, housing instability and lack of access to transportation. Further, the findings showed that the longer a person was enrolled in the pilots the greater reduction of risk.

In an interview with NC Health News,Jay Ludlam, deputy secretary for NC Medicaid, said program participants expressed “disappointment” with the decision. “I think they’re disappointed, in part, because they understand and see every day the impact that this program is having on the people that they serve,” he said. “They know what we’ve built together, and what we risk losing if we’re unable to find funding.”

Rep. Donny Lambeth (R-Winston Salem) said in a text to NC Health News that the budget was too tight this year to continue funding the pilot program. He also said lawmakers haven’t seen enough “valid justification” to show the benefits outweigh the $175 million cost of the program for the next two years.

(Source)

Protecting Medicaid from Cuts in Congress: Updates for Aging Advocates

With the House’s vote last month to pass a budget reconciliation bill, the fight to protect Medicaid has moved to the Senate. If enacted, H.R. 1 — the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — would be devastating for the health and well-being of low-income older adults. The legislation would make the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, while undermining Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and other programs older adults rely on to meet their basic needs.

This webinar, Protecting Medicaid from Cuts in Congress: Updates for Aging Advocates, will outline where the budget reconciliation bill stands and how the cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and other health care programs would harm older adults. Participants will learn about the latest insights on effective advocacy strategies, data, and resources that advocates can use in their own states and communities.

For more background, see Justice in Aging’s resources on Medicaid Defense.

Who Should Participate: Advocates for older adults and other Medicaid and aging stakeholders.

Presenters:

Natalie Kean, Director of Federal Health Advocacy, Justice in Aging
Gelila Selassie, Senior Attorney, Justice in Aging
Amber Christ, Managing Director of Health Advocacy, Justice in Aging

When: Tuesday, June 17, 2025, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PT/2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET

REGISTER NOW

Take action against anti-immigrant bills

Two harmful anti-immigrant bills are moving through the North Carolina General Assembly this week, and we need your help. Here is what you need to know and how you can take action:

• SB153 - Anti-Immigrant "Border Protection" Act: S153 would require the Department of Public Safety, Department of Adult Correction, State Highway Patrol, and State Bureau of Investigation to enter into a 287(g) agreement with ICE, increasing collaboration between local law enforcement and ICE. It would also force state agencies to take additional and unnecessary steps to verify that undocumented immigrants are not benefitting from public services beyond what is required under federal law, likely slowing down the provision of services to all beneficiaries.

• HB318 - Force Increased Cooperation with ICE: HB318 expands upon the provisions in HB10, passed in 2024, that force sheriffs to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. HB318 would expand the list of crimes that trigger citizenship verification to include nonviolent crimes, delay the start time for the required 48-hour ICE detainer hold, and require jail administrators to notify ICE in advance of releasing someone who was held on a detainer.

These bills are clear attacks on immigrant communities in North Carolina. We all want to live in safe communities, but scapegoating immigrants, who research shows are less likely to commit crimes than U.S. citizens, is not the answer. Help stop these bills by contacting your representatives.

(ACLU of NC)

June is Pride Month

June is Pride Month - a month set aside to celebrate self-acceptance, equality, and love, particularly in the LGBTQ+ community. In a time when diverse voices, especially those who identify as LGBTQ+, are being silenced, we recognize the inherent beauty, dignity, and perspective of those voices. We stand behind their rights to find mental healthcare resources especially tuned to their needs.

There is power in community.

If you’re having a hard time celebrating this month, you don’t have to struggle alone. One of the key contributors to positive mental health recovery is the support of others. There are resources and support groups designed specifically for the LGBTQ+ community, where you can feel free to be yourself, admit times of vulnerability, and build a community among others on the same journey.

LGBT Center of Raleigh holds in-person and virtual mental health support groups in partnership with NAMI NC and NAMI Wake County. Click here to find more information.

LGBTQ+ Mental Health Resources:

Centerlink Member Organizations - Along with the LGBT Center of Raleigh, North Carolina has 11 other LGBTQ-focused centers across the state. Find the one nearest you.

The Trevor Project offers crisis services and peer support for LGBTQ+ youth ages 13-24. Call (866-488-7386), text (START to 678-678) or visit their website.

LGBT National Help Center - Offers several talklines for LGBTQ people depending on need:

National Hotline - 888-843-4564
National Coming Out Support Hotline - 888-688-5428
National Youth Talkline - 800-246-7743
National Senior Hotline - 888-234-7243

As always, you can contact the NAMI NC Helpline for guidance, referrals, or just someone to talk to. Our team is ready and willing to help.

Phone: 800-451-9682

Text: 919-999-6527

Email: helpline@naminc.org

(NAMI-NC)

NASW-NC Bill Tracker

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2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Trump DOJ sues NC Board of Elections

Mon, 2 Jun 2025 14:06:00 GMT

In this week's update:

Trump DOJ sues NC Board of Elections
Trump denies NC FEMA request again
NC House budget reduces HHS positions, tweaks Medicaid funding
CMS Increasing Oversight on Using Medicaid for non-US citizens
Black Youth Suicide Prevention Action Plan -Public Comment
Social Work Compact passes Senate Health Care Committee
NASW-NC Bill Tracker
NASW-NC Clinical Supervision Certificate Training

Trump DOJ sues NC Board of Elections

The Trump administration accused North Carolina’s election board on Tuesday of violating federal law by failing to ensure voter registration records of some applicants contained identifying numbers. The Justice Department sued in federal court also asking a judge to force board officials to create a prompt method to obtain such numbers.

The department alleges that the state and the board aren’t complying with the 2003 Help America Vote Act after board officials provided a statewide voter registration form that didn’t make clear an applicant must provide either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. If an applicant lacks neither, the state must assign the person another unique number.

A previous edition of the state board, in which Democrats held a majority, acknowledged the problem in late 2023 after some voters complained. The board updated the form but declined to contact people who had registered to vote since 2004 in time for the 2024 elections so they could fill in the missing numbers.

According to the lawsuit, the board indicated that such information would be accumulated on an ad hoc basis as voters appeared at polling places. It’s unclear exactly how many voters’ records still lack identifying numbers.

Lawyers from the department’s Civil Rights Division contend the board must act more aggressively. They want a judge to give the state 30 days to contact voters with records that don’t comply with federal law, obtain an identifying number for each and add that to the electronic list. The litigation follows similar efforts by the Republican Party and a state GOP candidate to address the registration records for the 2024 election.

The lawsuit also referred to President Donald Trump’s broad executive order on elections in March to “guard against illegal voting, unlawful discrimination, and other forms of fraud, error, or suspicion.”

This month, the board’s composition changed to reflect a 2024 law approved by the GOP-dominated General Assembly that shifted the board’s appointment powers from the now-Democratic governor to Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek. A previous 3-2 Democratic majority is now a 3-2 Republican majority.

The new iteration of the board sounds open to embrace the Justice Department’s wishes. Executive Director Sam Hayes said late Tuesday the lawsuit was being reviewed, but the failure to collect the information required by HAVA has been well documented. Rest assured that I am committed to bringing North Carolina into compliance with federal law.”
(Source)

Trump denies NC FEMA request again

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied North Carolina’s latest request for a 180-day extension of the 100% cost match for eligible Tropical Storm Helene recovery expenses.

In a May 22 letter to North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, FEMA’s acting administrator David Richardson said the extension was “not warranted” based on a “careful and thorough review.”

In April, the agency first denied the state's request under then-acting administrator Cameron Hamilton. Stein appealed the decision.

In March, the federal match dropped to 90% for eligible expenses, like debris removal, with the state and local government responsible for the remaining costs. In December, then-President Joe Biden had increased the federal cost share for public assistance projects from 75% to 90% after the 180-day period.

“FEMA’s denial of our appeal will cost North Carolina taxpayers potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up out west (Western North Carolina),” Stein said in a May 23 statement responding to FEMA’s decision. “The money we have to pay toward debris removal will mean less money towards supporting our small businesses, rebuilding downtown infrastructure, repairing our water and sewer systems, and other critical needs.”

In January, President Donald Trump visited Western North Carolina and said “the days of betrayal and neglect are over” for a region still reeling amid unprecedented devastation. During a press conference in Swannanoa, Trump said he might eliminate FEMA and accused Biden of failing the people of North Carolina after the storm.

In February, Stein formally requested the extension of the 100% federal cost share for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance for 180 additional days.

At the time, Hamilton, who was later removed from his position after he said he opposed abolishing FEMA during a House committee hearing, said the extension request was “not warranted” based on the agency’s review.

“FEMA initially provided a 100% federal cost share to incentivize speedy debris removal operations and recovery,” a FEMA spokesperson told the Citizen Times in an April 16 email. “The typical assistance FEMA provides through its Public Assistance Program is 75%, due to the severity of the disaster with Hurricane Helene, FEMA is providing North Carolina 90% far exceeding the normal 75%.”

Still, without the 100% cost-share extension, Stein has estimated that the state and local governments could be responsible for upward of $200 million in additional costs.

“I have seen how much you care about the people of this region and know that you are committed to helping them rebuild their lives,” Stein wrote to Trump in April, appealing FEMA’s initial denial. “Please give them the tools they need to help their home region come back even better than before.”
[Source]

Click Here to Read Governor Stein's statement after FEMA's denial of Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.

NC House budget reduces HHS positions, tweaks Medicaid funding

The North Carolina House of Representatives approved a budget plan on May 22 for the next two fiscal years that would cut some vacant positions in the health department, loosen child care regulations and eliminate Medicaid coverage of GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic, for weight loss.

The House’s budget plan came about a month after the N.C. Senate released theirs. Both the House and Senate spending plans increase rates for child care subsidies so that low income families with children can work, and they cut funding to a Medicaid pilot program that has drawn national attention and praise.

The House’s plan would spend far less than the Senate’s on a new children’s hospital.

The two chambers of the General Assembly also have plans that differ on taxes; the Senate’s plan would reduce the income tax rate for North Carolinians from 4.25 percent to 3.99 in 2026 and 3.49 percent in 2027. That would mean overriding rules set in place to restrict tax cuts based on revenue levels. Meanwhile, the House’s plan would keep the planned reduction to 3.99 percent in 2026 but raise the threshold for approving continued tax cuts after that.

The chambers will have to hash out their different visions for state spending over the next few weeks, a process that usually takes place behind closed doors. The budget is due by June 30, the end of the fiscal year, but lawmakers often miss that target. A change to state law made in the 2018 budget means that after the new fiscal year starts, the prior year’s numbers apply to state spending until a new plan is ratified.

Rep. Donny Lambeth (R-Winston Salem) said during a news conference on May 19 that the uncertainty around federal funding streams made it “a challenge” to figure out the Department of Health and Human Services section of the state budget.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a reconciliation bill on May 22 that cuts roughly $700 billion in Medicaid over a decade. While hefty, the proposed cuts aren’t as bad as some anticipated, Lambeth said. If a federal budget does get passed soon, state lawmakers will have to figure out how to deal with any reductions, he said.

North Carolina House Republicans said the chamber’s budget process was transparent and involved feedback from stakeholders and House Democrats to create a plan that involves “historic” increases for public school teachers. But Rep. Marcia Morey (D-Durham) said at a news conference on May 20 that the plan “robs from Peter to pay Paul” by cutting vacant positions to achieve savings.

Under the House’s plan, most state employees would receive a 2.5 percent average salary increase. It would also bump the state base pay for starting public school teachers from $41,000 to $48,000 this year and $50,000 next year. Over the next two years, the average teacher salary increase would work out to 8.7 percent, Rep. Erin Paré (R-Holly Springs) claimed at the news conference. Newer teachers would get much larger percentage increases than more experienced teachers, according to state budget documents.

Healthy Opportunities on the chopping block

The House and Senate spending plans both effectively cut funding for the Healthy Opportunities Program, a Medicaid pilot project that provides services to people in three rural areas of the state. Since its launch in 2022, the program has provided assistance to nearly 30,000 people and drawn national interest.

Beneficiaries are eligible for deliveries of food, rides to doctor’s appointments and other services designed to combat social, economic and geographic issues that contribute to poor health outcomes and increased cost.

Lambeth said the concept of Healthy Opportunities is “really good.” But he hasn’t seen compelling evidence of the cost savings the program promises to create.

Rep. Eric Ager (D-Fairview) said during the initial House budget vote on May 21 that Healthy Opportunities has had “a huge impact” on his district in Buncombe County.

“If people can live in a safe house and get good food and have a car to go to work…they do the things they need to do before they get really sick,” he said.

Rep. Rodney Pierce (D-Roanoke Rapids) also spoke in favor of the program, noting how it was the first of its kind in the country. In his district, the program gave people access to fresh fruits and vegetables, he said. (One out of four children is food insecure in northeastern N.C.)

Failing to invest in Healthy Opportunities and eliminating Medicaid coverage for weight-loss medications such as GLP-1 drugs “will raise long-term healthcare costs and lead to more hospitalizations, complications, and preventable deaths,” a DHHS spokesperson said.

Medicaid rebase

Medicaid, the state- and federally funded program that provides health care services for more than 3 million North Carolinians, has costs that fluctuate each year based on the number of beneficiaries and the cost of their care. The state health department creates an annual forecast of how costs might change and asks the legislature for funding adjustments based on those predictions — known as the “rebase.”

The budget presented last month by Gov. Josh Stein funded that rebase to the tune of $700 million. But the House and Senate spending plans allot only $500 million for the rebase.

According to a DHHS spokesperson, the House budget falls short of what’s needed for the rebase.

“There is a disagreement between central staff at the General Assembly and the governor’s office as to what is rebase and what’s included,” budget crafter Sen. Ralph Hise (R-Spruce Pine) argued.

Other Medicaid tweaks

The House’s budget proposal also eliminates the Medicaid Contingency Reserve, a pot of money set aside for times when the Medicaid program needs less or more money than expected. The budget would transfer the roughly $970 million currently in the reserve to the State Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund.

Lambeth said budget writers decided to consolidate some of the reserves to replenish the savings and disaster relief funds.

Rep. Tracy Clark (D-Greensboro) argued during the initial House budget vote on May 21 that the state should keep those funds in place, given the uncertainty of federal funding for Medicaid. The program covers four of every 10 births in the U.S., she said, among other vital functions.

The reserve reassures beneficiaries, providers, health plans and vendors that there is a financial safety net, a DHHS spokesperson said. There are “significant concerns” with zeroing out the fund with uncertainty around federal Medicaid funding, potentially underfunding the Medicaid rebase at the state level and the ongoing Helene recovery process, the spokesperson also said.

The House budget proposal would also cut roughly $20 million each year in state dollars for the state-authorized regional mental health services management organizations, known as LME-MCOs. The Senate plan proposed larger cuts.

LME-MCOs use these funds for services to help uninsured and underinsured people with mental health, substance use and intellectual and developmental disabilities, among other needs, according to DHHS. The funds also support mental health crisis services for people without a way to pay for care.

Rep. Sarah Crawford (D-Raleigh) said on the House floor during the budget debate on May 22 that the cuts would hurt the organizations’ ability to provide those services. Some of those dollars support people with services while they wait to get off the decade-long waitlist for N.C. Innovations, a Medicaid program that connects direct support professionals to residents who are unable to live independently without this type of assistance.

Vacant position cuts

The House’s spending plan would also require the state health department to cut enough vacant positions to save $10 million each year from 2025 to 2027— but not cut positions from the Division of Aging, Division of Public Health or the Division of State-Operated Health Care Facilities, which manages the state’s psychiatric facilities.

The lapsed salary money from cut vacancies would be redirected to a pot of money where the funds can be used to increase existing employees’ salaries to improve recruitment and retention.

Lambeth said DHHS asked for more flexibility with salary money. The department was also using some of the lapsed salary money to pay for other programs, so the budget would help make sure personnel money is going where it should, he said.

The state-operated health care facilities have struggled to recruit health care staff, but managers of those facilities have tended to use money from the unpaid salaries to fill in the gaps by hiring contract workers, who are often more expensive than state employees.

Charles Owens, a health care technician at state-operated Cherry Hospital, said the facility is short-staffed and people often work overtime. Public workers such as himself aren’t taken care of by legislators, he said.

Child care changes

The House budget would also use federal block grant funds to increase child care subsidy reimbursement rates. Child care subsidies help eligible low-income families pay for child care so parents can go to work.

The rate increase is much needed, because inflation and labor costs have put more and more pressure on child care providers in the past couple of years, said Charles Hodges, director of the NC Licensed Child Care Association. Costs have kept going up since the 2023 study was completed, he said.

Parents receiving the subsidy are currently required to pay 10 percent of their income for child care. This bill would decrease that cost sharing to only 7 percent.

The budget plan also contains language from House Bill 412, which passed the House on April 15. One provision directs NC DHHS to propose a plan to decouple the child care subsidy payments from the state’s system for rating the quality of child care facilities.

Currently, licensed child care centers are rated from one to five stars using a point system based on program and education standards. Child care subsidy funds help eligible families afford child care programs that have earned three or more stars, along with religiously sponsored programs that meet health and safety standards.

The bill would also allow a lead teacher, or someone who’s more highly qualified, to oversee two groups instead of one. Another provision would increase the maximum group size for 0- to 12-month-olds from 10 to 15 children, and for 12- to 24-month-olds from 12 to 18 children. The staff ratio would remain the same.

Aging health

The House budget bill also includes language from House Bill 485, which passed the House April 16. The measure would direct NC DHHS to ask the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to extend Medicaid eligibility to cover personal care services for eligible residents of adult care homes, or assisted living facilities. Personal care services include help with daily activities like bathing, eating and dressing.

Currently, people must be under a certain income limit to qualify for Medicaid to cover personal care services, but that income level was flat from 2008 to 2022 with only small increases since, said Jeff Horton, executive director of the NC Senior Living Association, an advocacy organization for adult and care homes. One of his members said they turn away three to four families a month who are just over the limit.

If made law, this provision would allow more people to access Medicaid for those services and therefore allow assisted living facilities to take in more people, Horton said.

The House budget would also fund four more regional long-term care ombudsmen, or advocates for residents of long-term care facilities like nursing homes. Aging advocates had been hoping for 10 new ombudsmen, but four “is a very good start,” said Mary Bethel, chair of the board of directors for the North Carolina Coalition on Aging.

The federal funding for the ombudsman program is at risk, she said. Ombudsmen can help resolve conflicts between residents and facilities before they have to go to state regulators.

The House budget did not cut state funding for the Senior Health Insurance Information Program, which the Senate plan had proposed. The program provides free, unbiased Medicare counseling for older adults in the state and is heavily used by seniors during the annual Medicare enrollment period.

The program is essential for Medicare beneficiaries in the state, Bethel said. Federal funding for this program is at risk, so to lose state funding as well would be “devastating,” she said.

Other items

Reorganizes the Office of Health Equity into the Division of Public Health. The office works on the elimination of health disparities and the improvement of health access issues.
Includes language from House Bill 434, which passed April 30, that would restrict health insurers’ use of the prior authorization process, where insurance companies require patients and doctors to follow specific and sometimes lengthy procedures before they’ll approve some treatments, tests or doctor visits.
Includes language from House Bill 297, which passed May 7, that would require insurance companies to expand covered screenings for breast cancer, including mammograms and other imaging.
Increases Medicaid reimbursement rates by 3 percent for providers, including speech-language therapy services, optical and optometry services, podiatry services, clinical pharmacists, nurse midwives and chiropractic services.

(Source: NC Health News by Grace Vitaglione)

CMS Increasing Oversight on Using Medicaid for non-US citizens

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today increased federal oversight to stop states from misusing federal Medicaid dollars to cover health care for individuals who are in the country illegally. Under federal law, federal Medicaid funding is generally only available for emergency medical services for noncitizens with unsatisfactory immigration status who would otherwise be Medicaid-eligible, but some states have pushed the boundaries, putting taxpayers on the hook for benefits that are not allowed.

“Medicaid is not, and cannot be, a backdoor pathway to subsidize open borders,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “States have a duty to uphold the law and protect taxpayer funds. We are putting them on notice—CMS will not allow federal dollars to be diverted to cover those who are not lawfully eligible.”

As part of the action, CMS is ramping up financial oversight across the board to identify and stop improper spending. This includes:
• Focused evaluations of select state Medicaid spending reports (CMS-64 form submissions);
• In-depth reviews of select states’ financial management systems; and
• Assessing existing eligibility rules and policies to close loopholes and strengthen enforcement.
“Medicaid funds must serve American citizens in need and those legally entitled to benefits,” said CMS Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services Drew Snyder. “If states cannot or will not comply, CMS will step in.”
CMS is also urging all states to immediately examine and update internal controls, eligibility systems, and cost allocation policies to ensure full compliance with federal law. Any improper spending on noncitizens will be subject to recoupment of the federal share.

The letter to states is available at: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/open-borders-eo-notification-states.pdf

Black Youth Suicide Prevention Action Plan -Public Comment

NCDHHS and DMH/DD/SUS is partnering with DPH, UNC SPI, DPI and Village of Care on the development of a strategic plan dedicated to preventing suicide among Black youth.

This is the first strategic plan of its kind in the history of NCDHHS and DMH/DD/SUS. We invite your input to make this the strongest plan possible and are seeking public comment on a draft of the plan.

After reading the plan, please share your thoughts by filling out the feedback form by Friday, June 6, 2025.

Social Work Compact passes Senate Health Care Committee

On Wednesday, May 21st, HB 231 -Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact unanimously passed the NC Senate Health Care Committee. NASW-NC’s Executive Director, Valerie Arendt and Director of Advocacy and Policy, Lauren Zingraff, along with NC Social Work Certification and Licensure Board Executive Director Elizabeth Pope were present at the NC General Assembly for the vote.

HB 231 has been favorably referred to the NC Senate Finance Committee next. After it passes the Finance Committee, it will be referred to the Senate Rules Committee. Senate Rules is the final committee before a full vote on the NC Senate Floor. If it passes the Senate, as it did the NC House, it will go to Governor Stein’s desk for his signature.

The NC General Assembly is on a break during the week of May 26-30th. We anticipate the Senate Finance Committee to meet again in June when they return.

You can watch HB 231 pass the Senate Health Care Committee HERE.

Follow updates on the Social Work Compact in the NC General Assembly here.

NASW-NC Bill Tracker

2025 NASW-NC Clinical Supervision Certificate Training

Thousands of LCSWAs in North Carolina need quality clinical social work supervision. Now it is your turn to help grow our clinical social work workforce! Earn your NASW-NC Clinical Supervision Certificate and gain 18 Continuing Education Contact Hours! Topics include supervisory styles and techniques, skills to supervise clinical social workers at various stages of clinical development, managing challenging supervisees and situations, evaluating clinician competency, cultural competency, ethics, legal and regulatory issues, and much more!

June 9-11, 2025
Virtual
Up to 18 hours of CE

Registration Fees:
Members $150
Not yet a member? $300
Exam fee $50

See full agenda and register here!

Learn more about NASW-NC membership here.

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2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Social Work Compact passes Senate Health Care

Tue, 27 May 2025 15:28:00 GMT

In this week's update:

Social Work Compact passes Senate Health Care Committee
NC House budget calls for delayed tax cuts, 2.5% raise for state workers
US House passes "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" : What social workers need to know
NC House Announces Over $450 Million in Additional Helene Disaster Relief
NASW – New Practice Tool
Tell Lawmakers to Vote "No"!
NASW-NC Bill Tracker
NASW-NC Clinical Supervision Certificate Training

Social Work Compact passes Senate Health Care Committee

The NC General Assembly is on a break during the week of May 26-30th. We anticipate the Senate Finance Committee to meet again in June when they return.

You can watch HB 231 pass the Senate Health Care Committee HERE.
Follow updates on the Social Work Compact in the NC General Assembly here.

NC House budget calls for delayed tax cuts, 2.5% raise for state workers

The state House’s budget bill would delay scheduled income tax cuts while giving state employees and teachers larger raises than the Senate is proposing.

Gov. Josh Stein has been calling on lawmakers to pause personal and corporate income tax cuts to avoid hitting a fiscal cliff where state revenues decline. The Senate's budget doubles down on the cuts, but the House budget would change the revenue targets that trigger lower taxes. That means the state would have to see bigger revenue growth before the tax rates would drop.

House leaders say that change is needed to address inflation. But they’re proposing other tax changes aimed at reducing costs for lower- and middle-income families, including an increase in the standard deduction, a tax exemption for some tipped wages and a back-to-school sales tax holiday that the state eliminated in 2014.

The House budget also calls for state employees to get a 2.5% raise starting in July, but no raise the following year. By contrast, the Senate’s budget calls for a 1.25% raise starting in July, along with bonuses totaling $3,000 over two years.

Most teachers would see bigger raises, with starting salaries increasing by $7,000 to $48,000 this year and to $50,000 the following year. The goal is to give North Carolina the highest starting pay in the Southeast.

The budget would also cut thousands of vacant positions across state government. A handful of positions that aren’t vacant would be cut as well, primarily in programs that Republicans view as examples of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Those include the Office of Health Equity and environmental justice and education programs and total about $10 million in state spending.

The House budget would also eliminate thousands of vacant state government jobs by requiring state agencies to cut 20% of positions that are currently unfilled.

The House will vote on the plan later this week before starting negotiations with the Senate on a final budget, which legislative leaders hope to wrap up before the end of June.

House Democratic Leader Robert Reives, D-Chatham, said in a news release that the House plan is an improvement over the Senate's budget.

"The House budget proposal gets us closer to what Governor Stein proposed on teacher pay and addressing our state’s fiscal cliff," Reives said. "Unfortunately, there are cuts to public safety, public services, and negative impacts on clean air and water efforts. Additionally, taxpayer funded private school vouchers continue to divert funds from public schools to send wealthy children to private schools."

Separately, Stein unveiled a Helene recovery budget request on Monday, asking lawmakers to approve an additional $891 million for western North Carolina. The House is planning to advance its own Helene funding bill later this week.

Other highlights of the House’s main budget were released last week. Outside of the spending cuts, the budget would add more childcare subsidies by increasing reimbursement rates, an effort to deal with funding shortfalls at childcare facilities.

It would also open three new DMV offices to reduce wait times, including locations in Fuquay-Varina, Cabarrus County and Brunswick County.

Another notable contrast with the Senate’s budget plan is that while the Senate wants to significantly increase taxes on sports betting operators, the House would keep the current rates unchanged.

Follow the 2025 Appropriations Act Here.

Read the NC House Committee Budget Report Here.

(Source: WUNC.org)

US House passes "One Big Beautiful Bill Act": What social workers need to know

On Thursday, May 22, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (the bill's current name) by a vote of 215-214. The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate, who are expected to pass it by July 4th. It will then be signed into law by President Trump.

NASW-NC staff and other advocacy organizations have not had an opportunity to dissect all 1,100 pages of the legislation. However, it will cut trillions of dollars from Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and Snap benefits. It will harm millions of seniors and people living with disabilities who live on fixed incomes and will lose the essential care and support they rely on every day.

This legislation would require every state to implement Medicaid work requirements for adults up to age 65, and it directly cuts Medicare, taking coverage from immigrants who have worked and paid into the system for decades, while also cutting access to Medicaid’s financial assistance that makes Medicare affordable and accessible for millions of low-income people.

While catastrophic cuts in the billions are coming to hurt children, working families, seniors, and the disabled community,the budget adds $350 Billion in new spending, including $150 Billion to the Pentagon for Trump's Military Golden Dome Defense Shield, and the rest for continued mass deportations and border security.

NASW-NC will keep you updated with more U.S. Congress Federal budget information and its harmful impacts on the communities we serve over the coming weeks. As social workers, a budget is not only appropriations, it is also social justice policy.

What can you do? Contact NC Senators Ted Tillis (R) and Ted Budd (R) and ask them to Vote NO on the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" and share your lived experiences as a NC social worker on the terrible consequences for people's lives if it is passed. Thank you!

Find your senator HERE.

NC House Announces Over $450 Million in Additional Helene Disaster Relief

Today, the North Carolina House of Representatives introduced a fifth round of Helene relief funding. The Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 Part II allocates more than $450 million to support ongoing recovery efforts in Western North Carolina, including critical infrastructure and building repairs, as well as relief for small businesses.

Key funding provisions include:

$70M in additional state funds to match critical federal recovery programs.
$60M in Small Business Disaster Grants, up to $100k per small business with eligibility based on a 20% loss threshold.
$50M for local governments to fulfill unmet and unreimbursed capital needs.
$30M in additional funds to support reconstruction of private roads and bridges.
$30M for agricultural and general debris removal.
$25M to support reconstruction of destroyed schools.
$25M to improve airport infrastructure in WNC to expand emergency response capacity and repair Helene damage.
$25M toward rebuilding damaged and destroyed farm infrastructure such as fences, barns, greenhouses, and farm roads.
$20M for flood mitigation grants to rebuild at-risk infrastructure.
$20M to support our volunteer organizations directly supporting recovery efforts.
$18M to provide $50,000 grants to fire stations and EMS units across WNC.
$15M in firefighting equipment and contract personnel to the NC Forest Service to enhance wildfire preparedness.
$8M for damaged schools.

This legislation is the culmination of several months of work by the NC House Western delegation. The NC House has previously allocated over $1.4 billion in relief before this bill, which would bring the total to $1.85 billion.
(source:Office of Speaker Destin Hall)

NASW – New Practice Tool

Please find a new Practice Tool, The Crucial Role Medicaid and Social Workers Play in Providing Access to Substance Use Treatment, posted on the Behavioral Health Practice Tools section. Medicaid has played a significant role in access to substance use and mental health treatment. Potential cuts in funding could make it harder to get necessary care. Let’s keep raising awareness about the impact this may have on the workforce and the communities we serve.

Please share this resource on your website and respective social media platforms. Link: https://www.socialworkers.org/Practice/Tips-and-Tools-for-Social-Workers/The-Crucial-Role-Medicaid-and-Social-Workers-Play-in-Providing-Access-to-Substance-Use-Treatment

Tell NC Lawmakers Vote No!

As predicted, last week saw a flurry of activity in Raleigh where lawmakers pushed through bills attacking freedom of speech, public education, and workers’ rights, among other concerning issues. While anti-voter, anti-democracy bills are exempt from the crossover deadline, in the future, we may see bills like HB 127 move or parts of it put into a larger election law bill or the budget.

Read on to learn about some of the bills that survived crossover that you can take action on TODAY! And keep an eye on demnc.co/takeaction in the coming weeks.

TAKE ACTION >> Attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (House Bill 171). Taking a cue from federal executive orders and legislation, this deeply troubling bill would prohibit state agencies, local governments, and schools from maintaining or implementing DEI initiatives or programs, and remove state funds if these initiatives continue.
TAKE ACTION >> Anti-picketing (Senate Bill 484). This legislation threatens peaceful assembly and free expression by broadly redefining “workplace violence” to include peaceful activities such as mass picketing and obstruction. If enacted, this could represent a wildly dangerous erosion of constitutional rights.
TAKE ACTION >> Book banning (Senate Bill 636). This bill would require public schools to narrowly establish criteria for what books are allowed in their libraries and allow residents (parents, nonparents, whoever) to challenge books they deem “unwholesome” and even take legal action against the school for violating this rule — in short, this legalizes book bans.
TAKE ACTION >> Undermining the separation of powers (Senate Bill 58). We first told you about this unconstitutional prohibition of the rights of the NC Attorney General in early February. Under this bill, the AG would not be able to take legal action against any executive order issued by the President, undermining the separation of powers.
TAKE ACTION >> Criminalizing voter registration (House Bill 127). Unfortunately, as referenced above, HB127 is exempt from crossover due to being an election bill. Please continue to share this petition with your networks and reach out to your lawmakers.

(Source: DemocracyNC)

NASW-NC Bill Tracker

2025 NASW-NC Clinical Supervision Certificate Training

June 9-11, 2025
Virtual
Up to 18 hours of CE

Registration Fees:
Members $150
Not yet a member? $300
Exam fee $50

See full agenda and register here!

Learn more about NASW-NC membership here.

Was this email forwarded to you?
Please subscribe to NASW-NC Advocacy Alerts here!

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Update: NC House releases its Budget

Mon, 19 May 2025 14:03:00 GMT

In this week's update:

NC House releases its Budget: What social workers need to know
Statement from Governor Stein on Proposed Cuts to SNAP
Which UNC System majors got waivers to keep DEI courses
Justice Allison Riggs sworn in for NC Supreme Court
Tell NC Lawmakers Vote No!
Act Now: Tell Congress to Protect Elder Justice Programs
Immigrant Rights Advocacy Week
NASW-NC Bill Tracker
NASW-NC Clinical Supervision Certifcate Training

NC House releases its Budget: What social workers need to know

This week the NC House shared its proposed budget plan on how they would spend $66 billion of North Carolina's tax dollars for the fiscal years 2025-2027. The NC House, which is controlled by Republicans, also includes massive cuts across state government and state employee positions that are currently vacant like the NC Senate budget released in April. However, NC General Assembly insiders are expecting it to be many months before a final budget bill is agreed upon by both chambers and sent to Governor Stein for his signature.

The numbers will not be public until the NC House unveils the full budget the week of May 19th, and they are expected to take the week of May 26th off.

While NASW-NC's Valerie Arendt and Lauren Zingraff have advocated each week in-person at the NC General Assembly for the Restoration of Master's Level Pay for School Social Workers, it is not included in the NC House budget. It was not included in the NC Senate budget either.

Some cuts that impact the work of NC's social workers & the communities we serve:

$5.4 million in cuts to vacant state employee jobs in the area known as general government, which includes agencies like the Department of Administration. The vacancy rate statewide is about 20%.
Eliminating $2 million in funding for a grant program that provided medically assisted treatment in jails for people with opioid use disorder.
Cutting funding for the Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Fellows scholarship program by $564,000, leaving a budget of $100,000.
Requires the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to achieve savings of at least $10 million each year through the elimination of vacant positions. The department cannot eliminate vacant positions in its Division of Aging, Division of Public Health, and Division of State Operated Healthcare Facilities.
Eliminates the Office of Health Equity within DHHS.

NASW-NC will keep you updated with more NC House budget information once it is publicly released. As social workers, a budget is not only appropriations, it is also social justice policy.

Statement from Governor Stein on Proposed Cuts to SNAP

Governor Josh Stein released the following statement on proposed federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP):

“SNAP helps 1.4 million North Carolinians put food on the table. Congress’s proposed cuts are unprecedented and would make North Carolina pay up to $700 million to continue current benefits, all so that the wealthiest Americans can receive even bigger tax cuts. If Congress goes forward with these plans, our state will be forced into perilous budget decisions – should North Carolinians lose access to food, or should we get rid of other essential services? "I urge our members of Congress to reject this budget proposal so that North Carolina families don’t go hungry.”

Currently, the federal government covers 100% of food benefits for SNAP participants. Now, Congress has proposed shifting food benefit costs to states for the first time in the program’s history. North Carolina footing $700 million in SNAP benefits for the first time would be the equivalent of 8,900 K-12 public school teacher positions.

Four in five families participating in SNAP in NC have either a child, a senior, or an adult with a disability in the household. Each dollar in support for paying for groceries through SNAP frees up household resources for other essential needs like rent, utilities, or child care.

SNAP contributes nearly $2.8 billion to North Carolina’s economy, and has a multiplier effect, with every $1 invested in SNAP benefits generating between $1.50 and $1.80 for local economies. SNAP cuts would mean people have less to spend at NC’s more than 9,200 SNAP retailers, which would hurt farmers, the larger food distribution pipeline, and local economies overall, especially in rural areas and small towns.

SNAP is playing a vital role in supporting western North Carolinians impacted by Hurricane Helene. The 25 western NC counties most impacted by Helene still have higher enrollment in SNAP in April 2025 than they did in September 2024 before the storm hit. Notably, immediately after the storm, SNAP received169,000 applications – the highest number of applications since Hurricane Florence in 2018.

Last week, Governor Stein sent a letter to Congress laying out the implications for North Carolina if SNAP cuts move forward. Click here to read his letter.

Click here to learn more about the impact of proposed SNAP cuts on North Carolina.

Click here to view county enrollment data for the SNAP program.

Which UNC System majors got waivers to keep DEI courses

One day after President Donald Trump took office in January, he issued an executive order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal government, including contracting. Roughly two weeks after Trump signed that order, the UNC System’s top attorney issued guidance on how the action would impact North Carolina’s public universities — many of which hold contracts with the federal government for research or other campus operations.

Andrew Tripp’s Feb. 5 memo was clear: UNC System schools could no longer require students to take courses related to DEI as part of their mandatory general-education curricula. But the memo also left open the possibility that some courses might remain as part of individual majors or graduate programs, provided the courses were “substantially related” to the program and campus chancellors approved a waiver allowing the requirements to continue.

For months, it has been unclear what courses — if any — would be permitted to remain as requirements across the system. Now, we have some answers. The UNC System Board of Governors will meet this week and receive an update on the topic in a Wednesday committee meeting. Thanks to materials made available online for the meeting, we have a preview of which DEI courses were granted waivers.

According to meeting materials, in all, 14 UNC System chancellors granted waivers for DEI coursework in at least one major or graduate program on their campuses. Only the UNC School of the Arts and UNC Wilmington reported that they did not have any program-specific courses that would run afoul of the guidance in Tripp’s memo. At the remaining schools, chancellors approved waivers for as few as one or two programs at some schools, to several more at other campuses. NC State University, for instance, approved waivers only for the university’s undergraduate and graduate social work programs. NC A&T State University, an historically Black university, on the other hand, approved waivers for agricultural education, child development and family studies, gerontology, social work, special education and more.

In general, programs in social work, education and nursing — and related fields — were the most common programs to receive waivers. As explained in the chancellors’ letters to the board, that’s because accreditation and professional competencies for those disciplines generally require students to be proficient in areas related to DEI.

Elizabeth City State University offered similar reasoning for interim Chancellor Catherine Edmonds granting waivers for courses required for programs in social work and education. “The courses for which we are requesting a waiver are substantially related to the relevant academic majors and are directly aligned with discipline-specific accreditation standards and/or licensure requirements,” Edmonds wrote. “These courses are essential to ensuring our students meet the professional competencies and regulatory expectations required in their fields.”

Justice Allison Riggs sworn in for NC Supreme Court

North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs was sworn in to a new term on Tuesday after the Democrat won a month-long fight against her Republican rival’s challenges to thousands of ballots.

The State Board of Elections earlier Tuesday issued an election certificate to Riggs based on a 734-vote victory over GOP candidate Jefferson Griffin from over 5.5 million ballots cast. The board was complying with a federal judge's order last week against Griffin, who conceded rather than appeal.

The Associated Press declared over 4,800 winners in the 2024 general election, but the Supreme Court election was the last nationally that was undecided.

"Thank you for your trust and unwavering support," Riggs told family and supporters after she was sworn in to an eight-year term in the old House chamber. “You chose a path forward where power stays in the hands of people, not politicians. You demanded accountability and used your voices to speak out for our constitutional rights.”

After two recounts, the result remained in the air for months, as Griffin protested the eligibility of over 65,000 ballots. Court decisions whittled the potential ballots at issue down to roughly 7,000.

Riggs' Democratic allies said Griffin and the state Republican Party were trying to overturn a fair and legal election by removing ballots that legally should be counted. Some of Griffin's challenges only applied to a handful of Democratic-leaning counties.

There was “immeasurable damage done to our democracy” as a result of the challenge, Riggs said. “Voters should not have to fight tooth and nail to have their lawful votes counted.”

The State Board of Elections dismissed Griffin's protests in December. But by April state appeals courts — including the high court — ruled against counting votes from people who never lived in North Carolina but whose parents had. And they declared ballots ineligible if they were cast by military and overseas voters who didn’t provide copies of photo identification or an ID exception form.

Riggs, who recused herself from her court's deliberations, went to federal court to block the removal of votes. U.S. District Judge Richard Myers, an appointee of President Donald Trump, sided with Riggs on May 5, agreeing the ”retroactive invalidation” of ballots cast by military and overseas voters would violate the due process rights of voters. And Myers wrote the lack of a process for people mistakenly declared nonresidents also was unconstitutional.

“It’s very distasteful that he did challenge,” said Isaac Jenkins, 76, of Aberdeen, who was on the list of those who cast ballots questioned by Griffin, which also included Riggs' parents. “It put a bad spotlight on the Republican Party and on the courts.”

Myers’ order, however, did not invalidate for future North Carolina elections the state courts' decisions on military and overseas voters who don't provide ID information as well as those who have never been residents in the state. They can vote in North Carolina elections for federal offices only, the elections board said this week.

Riggs' term lasts through late 2032. Griffin remains a state Court of Appeals judge.

(Source: Spectrumlocalnews.com)

Tell NC Lawmakers Vote No!

TAKE ACTION >> Attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (House Bill 171). Taking a cue from federal executive orders and legislation, this deeply troubling bill would prohibit state agencies, local governments, and schools from maintaining or implementing DEI initiatives or programs, and remove state funds if these initiatives continue.
TAKE ACTION >> Anti-picketing (Senate Bill 484). This legislation threatens peaceful assembly and free expression by broadly redefining “workplace violence” to include peaceful activities such as mass picketing and obstruction. If enacted, this could represent a wildly dangerous erosion of constitutional rights.
TAKE ACTION >> Book banning (Senate Bill 636). This bill would require public schools to narrowly establish criteria for what books are allowed in their libraries and allow residents (parents, nonparents, whoever) to challenge books they deem “unwholesome” and even take legal action against the school for violating this rule — in short, this legalizes book bans.
TAKE ACTION >> Undermining the separation of powers (Senate Bill 58). We first told you about this unconstitutional prohibition of the rights of the NC Attorney General in early February. Under this bill, the AG would not be able to take legal action against any executive order issued by the President, undermining the separation of powers.
TAKE ACTION >> Criminalizing voter registration (House Bill 127). Unfortunately, as referenced above, HB127 is exempt from crossover due to being an election bill. Please continue to share this petition with your networks and reach out to your lawmakers.

(Source: DemocracyNC)

Act Now: Tell Congress to Protect Elder Justice Programs

NASW knows that we all rely on community supports and services throughout the lifespan. Yet, services that are essential to the health and well-being of older adults and people with disabilities—particularly those that prevent and address elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation—are at great risk of elimination. That’s why we are sharing the following message from our partners at the Elder Justice Coalition. Together, we can preserve and strengthen systems that promote dignity and fairness as we age and if we live with disability.

Elder Justice Programs At Risk!

In April, a draft of the Office of Management and Budget’s FY26 Health and Human Services budget was leaked to the press. The Elder Justice Coalition strongly opposes the proposed elimination of aging programs and services that protect older Americans. This draft budget includes the elimination of the following programs:

Elder Justice/Adult Protective Services
Long-Term Care Ombudsman
Elder Rights Support Activities
Aging and Disability Resource Centers

This is not the time to weaken our efforts to combat the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of older adults and people with disabilities in America. Participate in our advocacy alert to urge Congress to protect our most vulnerable citizens

ACT NOW!

Immigrant Rights Advocacy Week

Immigrants are an essential part of our community and should not have to live in constant fear of being detained, deported, or separated from their families. Join us next week to defend the rights of immigrants in our state and take a stand against the slate of anti-immigrant legislation moving through the North Carolina General Assembly.

There are several ways you can take action:

Sign up for Advocacy Day at the North Carolina General Assembly on May 21.
Email your legislators and ask them to vote NO on anti-immigrant legislation.
Email Governor Stein and ask him to VETO anti-immigrant legislation.
Contact your sheriff and ask them to publicly oppose HB318 which would expand forced cooperation between local police and ICE.
Invite organizations that you are a part of to join an organizational sign-on letter to Governor Stein.
Follow our Instagram and re-share the Immigrant Rights Advocacy Week posts.

**Please only take actions you feel safe participating in.**

(Source: ACLU-NC)

Social Work Compact passes NC House

The Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact Bill (HB231) was heard on the House Floor on Tuesday, April 1, for its final vote in the House, and it passed unanimously with a floor vote of 116-0. The week prior, NASW-NC staff had been at the General Assembly ensuring that HB 231 passed favorably in both the House Finance Committee and the House Rules Committee.

The North Carolina legislation (SB155 and HB231) would allow licensed clinical social workers to apply to provide their services across multiple states. A comprehensive data system would also be created so the public could be kept safe and informed regarding a social worker’s current license status and any adverse actions associated with a licensed clinical social worker.

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2025 legislative session is the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact. NASW-NC has been the driving force behind this bill, and was the only organization in North Carolina to work to introduce the bill in both chambers of the NC General Assembly.

NASW-NC has worked tirelessly for the last two years to secure the 40 primary and co-sponsors in both the Senate and House of Representatives for the Social Work Licensure Compact. NASW-NC would like to thank all of HB 231's sponsors and co-sponsors for their leadership and support in getting this bill passed.⁠

HB 231 has been referred to the NC Senate. NASW-NC will continue to monitor and advocate for the bill’s passage. NASW-NC will also continue to advocate for SB 155 - the companion bill of HB 231 to be heard in Senate Finance Committee and eventually in a floor vote in the NC Senate.

NASW-NC is also working to advance HB 523 – School Social Workers/Master’s Pay. This is the second 2025 NASW-NC Legislative Agenda priority item that has been introduced as a bill in the House. This bill will most likely be voted through House Education and referred to Appropriations, where it will be included in the House Budget. We are working on getting support in the Senate.

NASW-NC is not federally funded; we are not state funded. We are funded by the members of NASW and will not exist to advocate for you and the social work profession without YOU! We are able to do more if we have a large voice and robust membership. If you are not yet a member, please join NASW and join us in our advocacy efforts.

Follow updates on the Social Work Compact in the NC General Assembly here.

NASW-NC Bill Tracker

2025 NASW-NC Clinical Supervision Certificate Training

June 9-11, 2025
Virtual
Up to 18 hours of CE

Registration Fees:
Members $150
Not yet a member? $300
Exam fee $50

See full agenda and register here!

Learn more about NASW-NC membership here.

Was this email forwarded to you?
Please subscribe to NASW-NC Advocacy Alerts here !

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Legislative Crossover: Bills in Motion

Mon, 12 May 2025 14:14:00 GMT

In this week's update:

• What social workers need to know about NC Legislative Crossover: Bills in Motion
• NC House Budget Expected Before Memorial Day
• Jefferson Griffin Concedes: NASW-NC PACE Endorsed Allison Riggs to remain on NC Supreme Court
• Social Work Compact Passes NC House
• NASW-NC Bill Tracker
• NASW-NC Clinical Supervision Certifcate Training

NC Legislative Crossover: Bills in Motion

In the fifth month of the 2025-2026 North Carolina Legislative Session, the NASW-NC Lobbying Team: Valerie Arendt and Lauren Zingraff, have been at the legislative buildings every week advocating for the entire social work profession. Last week was "crossover" week and here is an update about what happens next.

In the North Carolina General Assembly, "crossover" refers to a deadline by which a bill must be passed by either the House or Senate to be considered for passage in the opposite chamber during the same legislative session. If a bill fails to "cross over" by the deadline, it's typically considered dead for the remainder of that legislative biennium. This year's deadline was May 8 and here are the bills that NASW-NC has been tracking that passed one chamber and those that did not. Crossover is far from definitive, though. Budget and tax bills don’t have to meet the deadline. And lawmakers have ways of getting around the deadline — like gutting and replacing an eligible bill with a new policy, or stuffing policy proposals into the state budget.

Bills that have Passed One Chamber
Social Work Professional Issues
• HB 231: HB 231: Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact. - NASW-NC top legislative priority for the 2025-2026 session.

Health Care, Social Services and Vulnerable Populations

• Limiting protections for transgender youth: The “Parents Protection Act” would prevent parents and guardians who deny their trans child’s gender identity from facing abuse or neglect designations. Passed Senate. Senate Bill 442.

• Parents’ access to medical records: The “Parents’ Medical Bill of Rights” would require parental consent in most circumstances for minors seeking health care and prescriptions, including contraceptives and mental health treatment. Passed House. House Bill 519.

• Repealing ‘certificate of need’: Rolls back law requiring certain health care facilities and services to go through an approval process to determine their necessity. Passed Senate. Senate Bill 370.

• Overhauling child welfare and foster care: The state Department of Health and Human Services would have greater oversight over counties’ handling of child welfare cases — provisions aim to reduce hurdles to permanent homes for children in foster care. Passed House. House Bill 612.

• Regulating health insurance companies’ prior authorization reviews: Puts limits on how health insurance companies review medical cases before giving doctors the okay to treat patients. Passed House. House Bill 434.

• Requiring hospitals to disclose their prices: A Senate bill would require hospitals to disclose their costs in advance, provide cost estimates for non-emergency care, and would prohibit hospitals charging fees when patients go to associated clinics. Passed Senate. Senate Bill 316.

• Jesse's Law: A House bill which is meant to better protect children and survivor's of abuse within the family court system in North Carolina. The bill addresses long-standing gaps in how courts respond to abuse allegations in custody cases and aims to put child safety first. Passed House. House Bill 896.

Education

• Banning cell phones in schools: A House proposal allows districts to create their own policies governing cell phone use. A Senate bill requires districts to ban them during instructional time. Both versions have passed one chamber. House Bill 87, Senate Bill 55.

• Taking books with ‘sexual content’ off shelves: Requires districts to create committees that would review school library materials and rule on whether they follow state guidelines. Passed House. House Bill 636.

Government and Executive Power

• Banning diversity, equity and inclusion: Three bills seek to eliminate DEI offices, training and programming across the public sector.
o State government: State workers who violate ban could face termination, fines & civil litigation. State auditor is tasked with periodic investigations. Passed House. House Bill 171.
o Higher education: Campuses cannot endorse or affirm a range of “divisive concepts” and “discriminatory practices,” expanding existing DEI restrictions on UNC System. Passed House. House Bill 133.
o K-12 education: Districts cannot endorse or affirm a range of “divisive concepts” and discriminatory practices.” Passed Senate. Senate Bill 227.

• Barring Attorney General from challenging executive orders: The attorney general’s office, currently held by Democrat Jeff Jackson, would be blocked from challenging presidential executive orders. Passed Senate. Senate Bill 58.

• Auditor’s investigative powers: Allows auditor to investigate any entity receiving state or federal money and overhaul the office’s staffing. Passed House. House Bill 549.

• Auditor’s DAVE team: Creates a DOGE-esque team within auditor’s office to examine state agencies’ spending and job openings using A.I. Passed Senate. Senate Bill 474.

Firearms

• Permitless carry: All residents 18 or older can carry concealed handguns without a permit, unless otherwise prohibited by law. Passed Senate. Senate Bill 50.
• Concealed carry in private schools: All residents with valid permits can carry a handgun on properties owned or operated by private schools. Passed House. House Bill 193.

Law Enforcement and Immigration

• State agencies’ cooperation with ICE: Requires state agencies to fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities, and waives immunity for local governments with “sanctuary” ordinances in cases where an undocumented immigrant commits a crime. Passed Senate. Senate Bill 153.
• Removing alleged squatters: Allows private property owners to remove alleged squatters without an opportunity to contest their claims; they can pursue litigation for wrongful eviction and recover damages. Passed House. House Bill 96.

See NASW-NC Bill Tracker here for more bills.
See full NC Newsline article about 2025 Crossover.

NC House Budget Expected Before Memorial Day
The North Carolina House of Representatives Budget is expected to be released this week. NASW-NC has worked tirelessly to advocate for the inclusion of the restoration of Masters Pay for School Social Workers in addition to other investments in mental health, Medicaid and state-funded support for vulnerable North Carolinians. We will keep you all informed when the House budget is released.
Here’s what you can expect will happen with the House budget over the next two weeks.
House Speaker Destin Hall said that Republicans want bigger raises for both state employees and teachers than what Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, and Senate Republicans, proposed this spring. Stein proposed raises of 2.5% for state employees.
The House wants to have Helene funding in a bill separate from the budget, unlike the Senate. The Senate budget calls for adding $700 million to the Helene reserve fund.
The House plans to take a break the week of May 26.

Jefferson Griffin Concedes: NASW-NC PACE Endorsed Allison Riggs to remain on NC Supreme Court
After spending over six months vigorously contesting his narrow loss in the 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court election, Jefferson Griffin conceded the race on Wednesday following a federal judge’s ruling against him.
Griffin, a Republican judge on the state Court of Appeals, lost the election to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs by 734 votes. But he and the state Republican Party refused to accept the results, instead embarking on an unprecedented campaign to challenge over 65,000 votes in a legal battle that has roiled the state and drawn national rebuke.
Read more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article305898251.html

Social Work Compact passes NC House
The Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact Bill (HB231) was heard on the House Floor on Tuesday, April 1, for its final vote in the House, and it passed unanimously with a floor vote of 116-0. The week prior, NASW-NC staff had been at the General Assembly ensuring that HB 231 passed favorably in both the House Finance Committee and the House Rules Committee.

NASW-NC has worked tirelessly for the last two years to secure the 40 primary and co-sponsors in both the Senate and House of Representatives for the Social Work Licensure Compact. NASW-NC would like to thank all of HB 231's sponsors and co-sponsors for their leadership and support in getting this bill passed.⁠

NASW-NC is also working to advance HB 523 – School Social Workers/Master’s Pay. This is the second 2025 NASW-NC Legislative Agenda priority item that has been introduced as a bill in the House. This bill will most likely be voted through House Education and referred to Appropriations, where it will be included in the House Budget. We are working on getting support in the Senate.

NASW-NC is the ONLY organization lobbying and advocating for the entire Social Work Profession at the North Carolina Legislature. The NASW-NC lobbying team would not exist without the incredible support of NASW-NC membership. If you are already a member of NASW-NC, THANK YOU. Our members are the only reason that we have been able to do this work!

Follow updates on the Social Work Compact in the NC General Assembly here.

NASW-NC Bill Tracker
NASW-NC has created a page to keep members up to date with legislative developments regarding the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact, restoring master’s level pay for school social workers, and other bills related to the social work profession.

2025 NASW-NC Clinical Supervision Certificate Training
Thousands of LCSWAs in North Carolina need quality clinical social work supervision. Now it is your turn to help grow our clinical social work workforce! Earn your NASW-NC Clinical Supervision Certificate and gain 18 Continuing Education Contact Hours! Topics include supervisory styles and techniques, skills to supervise clinical social workers at various stages of clinical development, managing challenging supervisees and situations, evaluating clinician competency, cultural competency, ethics, legal and regulatory issues, and much more!
June 9-11, 2025
Virtual
Up to 18 hours of CE

Registration Fees:
Members $150
Not yet a member? $300
Exam fee $50

See full agenda and register here!

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

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Governor urges Congress to maintain funding for Head Start

Mon, 5 May 2025 12:59:00 GMT

In this week's update:

Governor urges Congress to maintain funding for Head Start
NC Republicans retake control of State Board of Elections
Education Department stops $1 billion in funding for school mental health
NC House passes HB 318 -The Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act
Action Alert from NC Justice Center -How Medicaid helps seniors!
Foundation for Health Leadership & Innovation - Federal Advocacy
2025 Aging Advocacy Day-THIS WEEK!
Social Work Compact Passes NC House
NCGA Bills to Watch
NASW-NC Clinical Institute-LAST CHANCE!

Governor urges Congress to maintain funding for Head Start

Gov. Josh Stein joined the Smart Start Conference in Greensboro on Wednesday to highlight his priorities for child care and early education, but he also urged North Carolina’s federal delegation to oppose efforts to eliminate the Head Start program, according to a press release.

Stein, Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, and Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green sent a letter this week to leaders in Congress, including North Carolina’s federal delegation.

The letter spells out the stark consequences of eliminating Head Start in North Carolina:

More than 19,500 children in North Carolina rely on Head Start and Early Head Start for high-quality child care, access to health screenings, and healthy food to prepare them for school and beyond.

If federal Head Start funding were to be cut, as many as 500 child care programs that operate Head Start and Early Head Start could close.

Head Start brings over $290 million in federal funds directly to local economies in North Carolina, supporting more than 5,600 jobs across local agencies, private nonprofit child care centers, and school systems.

Letter to Congress

“Rural areas would be particularly hard-hit,” says the letter, “where Head Start is often one of the only high-quality child care options for low-income families. In 22 rural counties, Head Start accounts for 20 percent or more of all licensed child care slots.”

After Hurricane Helene, notes the letter, “Eliminating Head Start would be a major setback for western North Carolina’s economic recovery and child and family well-being.”

“Programs like Smart Start help North Carolina’s children live up to their full potential,” said Stein. “Federal proposals to eliminate the Head Start program are wrongheaded. Investing in our kids is investing in our future — and I’ll take that return every time.”

The letter to Congress

North Carolina is classified as a “child care desert” for infant and toddler care, says the letter, where on average, five families with babies are competing for every available licensed child care slot.

“Without Head Start, many families would face the impossible choice of caring for their children or earning a living — disrupting not only their careers but also businesses and the broader economy,” says the letter.

Stein, Hunt, and Green are asking members of Congress to “oppose any cuts to or elimination of the Head Start program and work to strengthen this critical investment in our future.”

NC Republicans retake control of State Board of Elections

A three-judge panel on the North Carolina Court of Appeals allowed Republican Auditor Dave Boliek to oversee the State Board of Elections starting on Thursday.

Within hours of Boliek’s new appointment authority, the state Republican Party sent over a list of nominees. From there, Boliek decided to renew the term of GOP elections board member Stacy Eggers. He also tapped former Civitas Institute president Francis De Luca and former GOP Sen. Bob Rucho to join the NCSBE.

“Managing our elections is no small task,” Boliek said in a statement. “It takes time, dedication, and professionalism. We need full confidence in our elections, and I'd like to thank these individuals for their willingness to serve."

The NCSBE has long been controlled by Democrats, and North Carolina’s governor had long been able to appoint elections officials.

Both the state Republican Party and Democratic Party each get two members. Prior to Wednesday’s Court of Appeals order, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein was able to appoint a fifth member, thus giving the state elections board a 3-2 Democratic advantage.

Starting Thursday, however, Boliek was enabled to fill that tie-breaking fifth slot, thus giving the GOP a 3-2 advantage. And all 100 county elections boards could see a similar political shift toward conservatives starting June 25.

This is thanks to a law Republicans passed in December with their outgoing supermajority.

Meanwhile, Stein is asking the 5-2 conservative majority state Supreme Court to step in to put a halt to the Court of Appeals decision that allowed Boliek to reshape the NCSBE.

Stein worries a new conservative majority elections board could bolster the prospects of Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin overturning an apparent 734-vote defeat in last year’s Supreme Court race against Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs.

“I fear that this decision is the latest step in the partisan effort to steal a seat on the Supreme Court,” Stein said in a statement. “No emergency exists that can justify the Court of Appeals’ decision to interject itself at this point. The only plausible explanation is to permit the Republican State Auditor to appoint a new State Board of Elections that will try to overturn the results of the Supreme Court race.”

The North Carolina Democratic Party hadn’t submitted a list of nominees to Boliek, as of Thursday morning.

For years, Republicans had unsuccessfully sought to take the state elections board appointment powers away from the governor. Voters soundly rejected a GOP constitutional amendment in 2018, and a subsequent bill to create an evenly split elections board hit legal roadblocks.

So legislative Republicans took a different approach this time around.

Rather than effectively transferring appointment power from the governor to the legislature, they chose to give that authority with a statewide executive officeholder. They’re hoping Boliek will be a change agent for better administration of elections.

(Source: Anderson Alerts by Bryan Anderson)

Education Department stops $1 billion in funding for school mental health

The Trump administration says it will stop paying out $1 billion in federal grants that school districts across the country have been using to hire mental health professionals, including counselors and social workers.

The U.S. Department of Education is telling impacted districts that the Biden administration, in awarding the grants, violated "the letter or purpose of Federal civil rights law."

The grants were part of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — a bill passed in the aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in which a teen gunman killed 19 elementary school students and two adults and injured 17 people. The bill, among other things, poured federal dollars into schools to address rising concerns about a student mental health crisis.

Those dollars helped Superintendent Derek Fialkiewicz in Corbett, Ore., more than triple the number of school mental health professionals in his largely rural district of 1,100 students east of Portland. Before the grants, Fialkiewicz says his district had just two counselors, "and we realized, that's just not sustainable for our students and especially coming out of COVID."

In early 2023, thanks to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the district received a federal grant that fully covered the salaries and benefits of five new trained social workers.

"It's been amazing," says Fialkiewicz of the difference that federal money — and the social workers it paid for — have made in his school community.

He says he was shocked when he heard the Trump administration was putting an end to this federal support. Just Tuesday, a U.S. Department of Education employee who oversees their grant had given his district the go-ahead to add a telehealth texting service for students. An hour later, Fialkiewicz says, he got an email that the grant would be discontinued.

Republicans supported these mental health grants

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and the mental health funding that accompanied it, enjoyed considerable Republican support even in the years after it passed.

"Too often, adolescents with untreated mental health conditions become the very same perpetrators who commit acts of violence," wrote three of the law's Republican supporters — Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — in a 2024 opinion piece. "For this reason, we crafted our law to ensure teachers and administrators are equipped with the tools to recognize when a student is experiencing a mental health crisis and, more importantly, connect them with the care they need before it's too late."

The endgame was "to prepare and place 14,000 mental health professionals in schools," says Mary Wall, who oversaw K-12 policy and budget for the U.S. Department of Education during the Biden administration.

Wall says about 260 school districts in nearly every state received a portion of the $1 billion — in the form of five-year grants, which were paid out in installments.

Now, it appears those districts will have to find a way to do without the money they had planned for but will not receive.

"The preparation of new mental health professionals, as well as those who are already in service, is at risk," Wall says.

In Corbett, Fialkiewicz says he's been told his grant money, which was supposed to last until December of 2027, will instead stop this December, two years early. Once it does, he says, "We're gonna end up going back to having two counselors in our district."

The superintendent says he feels "disgusted" by the idea of having to lay off those federally funded social workers.

"To be able to provide those [mental health] services and then have it ripped away for something that is completely out of our control, it's horrible," Fialkiewicz says. "I feel for our students more than anything because they're not gonna get the services that they need."

An August 2024 poll from the American Psychiatric Association found that "84% of Americans believe school staff play a crucial role in identifying signs of mental health issues in students."

Why the department says it cut the grants

In a statement to NPR, Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the Department of Education, explained the decision to discontinue the grants:

"Recipients used the funding to implement race-based actions like recruiting quotas in ways that have nothing to do with mental health and could hurt the very students the grants are supposed to help. We owe it to American families to ensure that tax-payer dollars are supporting evidence-based practices that are truly focused on improving students' mental health."

But the 2022 federal grant notice told schools explicitly: The services to be provided must be "evidence-based."

Wall also disputes the department's characterization, telling NPR that "the focus of these grants was absolutely on providing evidence-based mental health support to students. Any suggestion that this is a DEI program is a distraction from the real issue."

The Trump administration and the Education Department have been applying a new interpretation of federal civil rights law to a wide range of federal programs. Last month, the department threatened to revoke K-12 schools' federal funding if they don't stop all DEI programming and teaching that the department might consider discriminatory.

In response to a request from NPR to further explain why the department believes these mental health grants had somehow run afoul of Trump's anti-DEI policy, it offered a few brief excerpts from districts' grant applications, in which one grantee wrote that school counselors must be trained "to recognize and challenge systemic injustices, antiracism, and the pervasiveness of white supremacy to ethically support diverse communities."

The initial federal request for grant applications suggested districts prioritize "increasing the number of school-based mental health services providers in high-need [districts], increasing the number of services providers from diverse backgrounds or from the communities they serve, and ensuring that all services providers are trained in inclusive practices."

In the email Fialkiewicz received, notifying him of the grant's end, the department wrote that the efforts funded by the grant violate federal civil rights law, "conflict with the Department's policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education; undermine the well-being of the students these programs are intended to help; or constitute an inappropriate use of federal funds."

When asked if diversity played any role in his district's grant application, Fialkiewicz replied:

"Yes, in our application, we did state, because it was part of the requirements, that we would use equitable hiring practices. And that's exactly what we did. And to me, equitable hiring practices means you hire the best person for the job. That's equitable."

And now, those social workers he hired might lose their jobs.

(Source: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/01/nx-s1-5382582/trump-school-mental-health)

NC House passes HB 318 -The Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act

The NC House passed HB 318 - The Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Act on Wednesday, April 30th. This bill requires law enforcement to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Custody Enforcement (ICE) to remove immigrants charged with serious crimes. HB 318 builds onto HB 10 -Require ICE Cooperation & Budget Adjustments, passed in the 2023-2024 legislative session which requires law enforcement to work with ICE before releasing migrants arrested for violent offenses from custody.

NC House Speaker Destin Hall said, "Make no mistake—when illegal immigrants commit violent crimes and are then released back into our communities, it’s the law-abiding families of North Carolina who pay the price. Sheriffs who refuse to cooperate with ICE are putting the public at risk. This bill ensures that sheriffs do their job: protect citizens, not shield criminals."

NASW-NC opposed both bills.

Click Here for the NC Justice Center Immigrant Family Preparedness Toolkit (2025) is intended to help all of North Carolina’s immigrant communities prepare for the possibility that a family member may be unexpectedly separated from their home due to their immigration status. The toolkit is an update to our guide from 2017 and includes information on the following:

Steps to prepare for emergencies
Rights during encounters with law enforcement or immigration officers
House Bill 10 and the cooperation between ICE and N.C. sheriffs
Where to get help
How to get an identity document
Making plans for children, pets, finances, properties, and emergency contacts
Powers of attorney
Immigration relief options

Urgent call for stories on how Medicaid helps seniors!

(From NC Justice Center)
NC Medicaid continues to face attacks at the federal level, and we need your help to protect this lifesaving health program. We have found that stories showing how Medicaid helps seniors are especially persuasive to lawmakers, as roughly 67 percent of seniors in North Carolina rely on Medicaid for long-term care. We are looking for seniors or their loved ones who would be willing to share their Medicaid story publicly. Time is of the essence, as members of the U.S. House will convene on May 7 to decide on where they will cut billions from Medicaid funding.

Specifically, we are looking for stories about seniors who meet any of these criteria:
• Get health care through Medicaid expansion
• Are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare
• Rely on Medicaid to pay for their stay in a long-term care facility

SHARE YOUR STORY

Foundation for Health Leadership & Innovation - Federal Advocacy

By now, you have likely seen news that the current federal administration has a proposed Health and Human Services (HHS) budget that would devastate rural health. The budget cuts include programs fundamental to rural health access and would hit North Carolina, home to the second-largest rural population in the United States, especially hard.

Notably, the budget proposal would eliminate Head Start and completely cut state offices of rural health , the first of which was founded by our inaugural director , Jim Bernstein, right here in North Carolina.

As a nonpartisan organization, we approach policy advocacy through a health lens. Political party aside, if passed, this budget would devastate the health of the North Carolinians we serve and work alongside. We will continue to advocate in Washington, D.C., for thoughtful approaches that preserve access to health, especially in our rural communities, and we need your help.

Earlier this year, our staff traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate for positive health policy on Capitol Hill. Every single elected official and staffer we spoke with requested more information about what people are experiencing across North Carolina.

We’re collecting stories and sharing them with our Senators and House Representatives . If you have a story to tell about your personal experience with federal funding freezes, changing policies or proposed changes, and how your community is feeling the current administration’s impact, please share it anonymously with us.

We also want to hear any positive stories you may have to share about how federal funding has supported you and your community to highlight the benefits North Carolinians receive from the government. A strengths-based approach will be critical in convincing elected officials to continue funding programs that have helped so many North Carolinians.

(Source: https://foundationhli.org/)

2025 Aging Advocacy Day -THIS WEEK!

Wednesday, May 7
NC General Assembly

This advocacy rally is hosted by AARP North Carolina, NC Coalition on Aging and Friends for Residents in Long Term Care and provides the opportunity to make your voice heard. You will have the opportunity to meet with lawmakers and observe the legislature in action.

Click above to register for this important event. Plan to arrive in Raleigh at 8:30 a.m. on May 7 for a group rally at the State Library of North Carolina (auditorium) that is located at 109 E. Jones Street and adjacent to the Legislative Building. The program will begin at 8:45 a.m. Public parking is available across the street from the library.

If your schedule allows following the 2025 Advocacy Day on May 7, join the Celebrate Older Americans Month event at the NC State Farmers Market from 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Click Here to Register!

Social Work Compact passes NC House

Follow updates on the Social Work Compact in the NC General Assembly here.

NCGA Bills to Watch

SB 155 (HB 231): The Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact works to increase access to social workers and this bill would add North Carolina into a compact where social workers from other states who meet requirements within the bill can serve North Carolinians. Click Here for how you can support passage of the Social Work Compact.

HB523: School Social Workers/Master's Pay. This bill will restore master's level pay for school social workers.

HB171: Equality on State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI. This bill will eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and prohibit public funding for DEI initiatives in state and local government.

SB558: Eliminating "DEI" in Public Education Higher Ed. This bill will ban Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) content and programs in public colleges, universities and community colleges.

HB 519: Parent's Medical Bill of Rights. This bill would revoke a minor's right to consent to their own healthcare without parental permission and grants parents the right to access minor's medical records.

HB690: The Citizens Support Act. This bill requires multiple state agencies to verify immigration status and/or take measures to prevent undocumented immigrants from accessing public services.

SB 442: Parents Protection Act. This bill focuses on protecting parents and guardians from accusations of abuse or neglect related to how they raise children, particularly in relation to a child's biological sex.

Voter Voice Bill Tracker

2025 NASW-NC Clinical Institute - LAST CHANCE!

The Clinical Social Work Institute is one of NASW-NC's flagship conferences, offering 1.5-hour workshops for both advanced and beginning clinical social workers. Past attendees have shared that the workshops offered are an enhancement to their practice and areas of specialization. The conference welcomes Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs) from across North Carolina, with others joining in from other states and a few from other countries.

May 12-13, 2025
Virtual
Up to 31 hours of CE Live and Recorded

Registration Fees:
Members $125
Not yet a member? $250

VIEW BROCHURE & REGISTER HERE TODAY !

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

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: NC General Assembly on Spring Break

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 14:15:00 GMT

In this week's update:

NC General Assembly on Spring Break
Take Action Now to Protect Medicaid!
NC judges rule against GOP plan to strip governor of election board appointments
US appeals court pauses NC elections board action in the Supreme Court election case
NC Senate to cut North Carolina’s Innocence Inquiry Commission
May Day is International Workers Day
2025 Aging Advocacy Day
Social Work Compact Passes NC House
NCGA Bills to Watch
NASW-NC Clinical Institute

NC General Assembly on Spring Break

The North Carolina General Assembly was on Spring Break the week of April 21-25, 2025. This meant there were no NC House, Senate or their staff members present at the Legislative Building or Legislative Office Building. There were no committee meetings or floor votes. Normal calendar operations resume on Monday, April 29th . While the NC Senate has released their budget, the NC House still has to release their proposed version of the FY 2025-2027 Budget. The final Bill Crossover between both chambers is May 8, 2025.

Take Action Now to Protect Medicaid!

Millions of Americans count on Medicaid for their health care – don’t let Congress cut this vital resource for American families! #ACTNOW! American families deserve better. Please join #NASW in our fight for the Medicaid program and for the health and well-being all Americans deserve. Contact your members of Congress today and tell them to vote against any proposed cuts to the Medicaid program.
https://www.votervoice.net/NASW/campaigns/125164/respond

NC judges rule against GOP plan to strip governor of election board appointments

A panel of judges on Wednesday struck down a GOP plan to wrest control of North Carolina’s election boards from Democratic Gov. Josh Stein and transfer it to the Republican state auditor.

In a 2-1 ruling, a Republican and Democratic judge in Wake County Superior Court agreed with Stein that the power shift, which was passed in the final days of the GOP’s veto-proof supermajority, violated the state constitution.

“The Constitution prevents the legislature from unreasonably disturbing the vesting of ‘the executive power’ in the governor or the governor’s obligation to take care that the laws are faithfully executed,” the majority opinion, authored by Judges Edwin Wilson and Lori Hamilton, says.

Had it not been for the court’s intervention, newly-elected Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek would have gained control over the boards on May 1, making him the only auditor in the country with election oversight powers.

Over the last eight years, the Republican-controlled legislature has made numerous attempts to wrest control of the State Board of Elections away from the governor. All of those schemes were defeated by either courts or voters.

Their latest attempt, passed as part of a sweeping power shift bill called Senate Bill 382, gave the power to appoint a majority of the board’s members to the state auditor — a position which has just been won by a Republican after Democrats held the office for 16 years.

Wednesday’s ruling is a win for Democrats who, for now, will be able to retain a 3-2 majority on the State Board of Elections, as well as all 100 county boards of elections.

“The North Carolina Constitution puts the Governor in charge of executing the law,” Stein said on social media after the ruling. “That’s what the voters elected me to do, so that’s what I’ll do.”

However, Boliek quickly said in a statement he would appeal the ruling. An appeal would be heard by the state’s Republican-dominated appellate courts, which have previously backed other efforts by the legislature to expand its power.

Similarly, Senate leader Phil Berger said he’s “taking immediate steps to rectify this constitutionally corrosive and misguided ruling.”

“Two lower court judges just erroneously pronounced nine duly elected, statewide members of the executive branch nothing more than honorary figureheads,” he said in a statement.

In a dissenting opinion, Judge Andrew Womble, a Republican, argued that the legislature is the closest branch of government to the people and therefore has broad authority to assign responsibilities from the governor to a different official in the executive branch.

“The decision to assign the duty of appointment of members to the Board of Elections to the auditor is one the General Assembly was expressly authorized to make,” he wrote. “As result, the governor cannot show that Senate Bill 382 neither impedes his ability to take care that the laws will be faithfully executed nor violates the separation of powers clause.”

Lawyers for Republican legislative leaders, who defended the law in court, made similar arguments in a hearing last week.

Attorney Jim Phillips, who represented Stein, noted that elections were not traditionally a power within an auditor’s purview. “For 150 years, the auditor ain’t ever had nothing to do with elections,” he said.

The majority agreed, writing that while the legislature can prescribe some duties to executive officers, their power was “constrained by the people’s understanding of the purpose of those offices when they were created.”

(Source: NewsandObserver.com)

US appeals court pauses NC elections board action in the Supreme Court election case

A federal appeals court ordered the State Board of Elections not to send information to overseas or military absentee voters about providing photo ID, granting a stay that Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs requested. It’s the latest development in the nearly six-month-old dispute over last November’s election for an associate justice seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Federal District Judge Richard Myers II told the Board of Elections earlier this month to prepare to act on the state high court’s instructions to notify some military and overseas absentee voters they need to supply photo ID for their votes in last fall’s election for a seat on the high court to count.

Tuesday’s 2-1 Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals order stops that action before Myers makes a decision on Riggs’ request for a preliminary injunction.

The state Supreme Court agreed with GOP Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin that military and overseas absentee voters in certain counties should have had to provide photo ID when they cast ballots in last fall’s election.

Griffin is trying to unseat Riggs, an incumbent Democrat on the Supreme Court. He trails by 734 votes. In an attempt to win, he wants thousands of votes in the race erased. He is challenging overseas and military voters in a handful of counties. The Supreme Court rejected Griffin’s attempt to throw out more than 60,000 votes based on his claim of incomplete voter registrations.

The Supreme Court said overseas and military voters would have 30 days to “cure” their ballots once the Board of Elections sent out notices.

Riggs filed a federal appeal. Myers told the Board of Elections to get to work implementing the Supreme Court order, but to not certify a winner.

Judges Paul V. Niemeyer, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and Toby J. Heytens, appointed by President Joe Biden, decided to grant the stay. Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr., appointed by President Donald Trump, dissented.

The state Board of Elections told local elections administrators last week not to contact overseas or military voters, citing the ongoing litigation.

(Source: NCNewsLine.com)

NC Senate to cut North Carolina’s Innocence Inquiry Commission

North Carolina’s Innocence Inquiry Commission — a small state agency that investigates prison inmates’ claims that they were wrongfully convicted — would lose all funding under a budget proposal approved Wednesday by the North Carolina Senate.

The commission has exonerated more than a dozen people wrongfully convicted of murder, rape and other serious crimes since its creation in 2006. Senate Republican lawmakers say it hasn’t handled enough cases to be worth the investment in a year when they’re trying to cut costs.

The group has also long faced opposition from police and prosecutors around the state whose work and ethics have been called into question by many of the exonerations; those groups have lobbying arms influential among GOP politicians.

Leaders of the commission, which this week secured the release of another man wrongfully convicted for murder, say they provide a valuable service to the falsely convicted that other non-governmental organizations can’t.

“We open up the road when they reach a dead end,” said Laura Pierro, the commission’s executive director.

Pierro said she was shocked by the funding cut in the Senate’s budget proposal.

The chamber gave final approval to the chamber’s $32.6 billion spending plan with a 30-15 vote on Wednesday, a day after long debate and an initial approval that lasted into the evening. The proposal now goes to the state House of Representatives, which is expected to eventually present its own spending priorities. From there, the two chambers will hash out a final budget.

The commission has 13 full-time employees, and a total annual budget of $1.6 million — approximately 0.005% of the state’s overall budget. Senate lawmakers have been trying to slash costs across state government to accommodate planned state tax cuts.

Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, said the commission has failed to handle enough cases in its 18-year existence. He pointed to other nonprofit organizations that have also been working on exonerations and suggested they could take up the commission’s work.

“They could do that with no expense to the state,” Britt said Tuesday during a Senate appropriations committee meeting. “That’s why we chose that cut.”

Pierro pushed back Wednesday, pointing out the commission has far more legal power than a nonprofit to subpoena witnesses, conduct DNA testing, and look for evidence that law enforcement may claim has disappeared or been destroyed.

“It makes all the difference in the world,” Pierro said.

The commission — which was the first of its kind in the United States — has reviewed at least 3,500 claims of innocence since it was created with bipartisan support by the General Assembly in 2006. In that time, it secured the release of 16 people wrongfully convicted of crimes. Those 16 people served a total of 300 years in prison. “What we do is we search for the truth,” Pierro said.

The agency’s most recent exoneration was announced Tuesday. A three-judge panel ruled Clarence Roberts was wrongfully convicted after serving eight years in prison on second-degree murder charges.

The commission has also worked on other high-profile cases, including the eventual exoneration of Greg Taylor, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1993. It also secured the exoneration of Leon Brown and Henry McCollum, two intellectually disabled brothers framed for the rape and murder of a young girl by authorities in Robeson County who pressured them into signing false confessions; DNA evidence later identified the real killer.

Pierro is hopeful the state House will take a different view. A spokesperson for House Speaker Destin Hall didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“I ask you to give me an opportunity to reintroduce you to the commission, so that you really understand what we do, how we do it, and the benefit we provide to all North Carolinians,” Pierro said.

(Source: WRAL.com)

May Day is International Workers Day

On May Day (Thursday, May 1st, 2025) Common Cause North Carolina is proud to join a broad coalition of organizations demanding a democracy that puts our families over their fortunes — public schools over private profits, workers over bosses, migrant safety over fear-mongering, healthcare over hedge funds, housing over homelessness, and thriving communities over bombs and genocide.

Raleigh, NC
Click here to RSVP today!
4:00 PM Gather at Halifax Mall, 300 N Salisbury St, Raleigh, NC 27603
5:00 PM March to Bicentennial Plaza

Western NC
Click here to RSVP today!
1:00 PM at the Henderson Co Courthouse, 200 Grove St. Hendersonville, NC
3:00 PM at Pack Square Pavilion, 80 Court Plaza Asheville, NC

(Source: Common Cause North Carolina)

2025 Aging Advocacy Day

Wednesday, May 7
NC General Assembly

If your schedule allows following the 2025 Advocacy Day on May 7, join the Celebrate Older Americans Month event at the NC State Farmers Market from 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Click Here to Register!

Social Work Compact passes NC House

Follow updates on the Social Work Compact in the NC General Assembly here.

NCGA Bills to Watch

SB558: Eliminating "DEI" in Public Education Higher Ed. This bill will ban Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) content and programs in public colleges, universities and community colleges.

HB690: The Citizens Support Act. This bill requires multiple state agencies to verify immigration status and/or take measures to prevent undocumented immigrants from accessing public services.

HB560: Parents Protection Act. This bill focuses on protecting parents and guardians from accusations of abuse or neglect related to how they raise children, particularly in relation to a child's biological sex.

Action Alert on HB560: https://www.votervoice.net/NASWNC/campaigns/125714/respond

HB 636: Promoting Wholesome Content in Schools This bill bans books in public school libraries.

Voter Voice Bill Tracker

2025 NASW-NC Clinical Institute

May 12-13, 2025
Virtual
Up to 31 hours of CE Live and Recorded

Registration Fees:
Members $125
Not yet a member? $250

REGISTER HERE TODAY

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

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Senate Budget, Protect Medicaid, and More!

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 14:03:00 GMT

In this week's update:

NC Senate budget eliminates hundreds of vacant jobs and some filled positions
Take Action Now to Protect Medicaid!
NC House Committee Approves Bill to Explore Medicaid Sustainability
NC Supreme Court Voter challenge update
2025 Aging Advocacy Day
NCDHHS Seeks Feedback on Medicaid Managed Care Plans
Social Work Compact Passes NC House
NCGA Bills to Watch
NASW-NC Clinical Institute

NC Senate Budget Eliminates Hundreds of Vacant Jobs and Some Filled Positions

Click Here to read NASW-NC press release on NC Senate Budget proposal.

The North Carolina Senate’s budget proposal includes sweeping cuts to mostly vacant state jobs, but also eliminates some entire offices along with employee positions.

In all, the budget eliminates 850 vacant jobs over two years, leaving more than 14,000 open jobs. Click here to read the budget bill and here to read the accompanying committee report that details each spending item.

The Senate budget committee reviewed its budget proposal Tuesday, putting the $32.6 billion plan on track for approval by the end of the week.

The state House will draw up its own budget. The chambers then compromise on a budget that will go to Gov. Josh Stein.

Republican senators found millions in savings by eliminating jobs. Budget writers said they looked to cut jobs that have been vacant for months or years.

“We have this money that’s been sitting there,” said Sen. Brent Jackson (R-Sampson). So they decided to “take the money and put it to use somewhere else.”

State agency leaders for years have stressed their inability to fill jobs featuring salaries that are not competitive with the private sector.

Sen. Val Applewhite (D-Cumberland) questioned making wholesale jobs cuts without a study to determine whether agencies need the positions and just haven’t been able to fill them.

“These numbers sound arbitrary,” she said. “How have we identified what the appropriate number is to do the work?” she said later. “How were the cuts made? Was it random, or was it a workload issue?”

It’s also difficult for job seekers to apply for state jobs.

Staci Meyer, director of the Office of State Human Resources, told legislators this year that state hiring practices need to be modernized.

The Senate budget proposal includes a provision allowing job applicants to upload resumes or website profiles, with the information to be imported into state job application forms.

The provision also makes it easier for state agencies to make temporary employees permanent.

Read more HERE.

Take Action Now to Protect Medicaid!

April is Medicaid Awareness Month, a time when we recognize the contributions Medicaid has made to the health and well-being of tens of millions of Americans since its inception as a federal/state health insurance program in 1965. Today, Medicaid helps cover medical costs for nearly 72 million Americans, including health care costs for over 30% of individuals with disabilities, over 60% of nursing home residents, and nearly 17 million adults over age 50.

Of note, there is a measure in Congress that calls for cuts to Medicaid of up to $880 billion over a decade that could end all that. Should those cuts ultimately be passed, millions of American children and families could lose access to health care for everything from emergency room visits to treatment for asthma to skilled nursing home care. Preventative health care screenings would become much harder to access, resulting in delayed diagnoses of cancers and other serious conditions and an increase in preventable deaths. Rural hospitals would risk having to close altogether, shutting off an essential lifeline to health care for millions of families in rural communities. Low-income, vulnerable, and marginalized communities across the country would see an increase in health disparities and poorer health outcomes. Further, mental and behavioral health care, critical services provided by clinical social workers, would become even harder to access for the millions of Americans suffering with depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and other conditions.

American families deserve better. Please join NASW in our fight for the Medicaid program and for the health and well-being all Americans deserve. Contact your members of Congress today and tell them to vote against any proposed cuts to the Medicaid program. A personalized message goes a long way with members of Congress, so please add information to our editable email.

ACT NOW!

NC House Committee Approves Bill to Explore Medicaid Sustainability

On Tuesday, the NC House Health Committee approved a bill (H.B. 113) that would establish a joint legislative committee to explore Medicaid sustainability in North Carolina. This could be particularly important if Congress makes changes to the federal Medicaid payment structure that reduces the federal funding states receive for Medicaid and other healthcare programs. The bill now goes to the House Rules Committee.

(Source: NC Center for Nonprofits)

NC Supreme Court Voter Challenge Update

The NC Supreme Court issued a mixed ruling that rejected Griffin’s attempt to invalidate the ballots of some 60,000 North Carolina voters who he wrongly claimed were not properly registered. The decision orders those ballots to be counted. That’s an important win for the people of North Carolina.

However, this deeply flawed court decision still jeopardizes the lawful ballots of potentially thousands of military and overseas voters unjustly challenged by Griffin as he tries to reverse his election defeat. That is outrageous!

The NC Supreme Court’s ruling would require some military and overseas voters unfairly handpicked by Griffin to “cure” their ballot by providing photo ID or a Photo ID Exception Form – otherwise their vote could be thrown away. These voters will have only 30 days from when the Board of Elections reaches out to them to submit their ID, even though the law did not require any military and overseas voters from North Carolina to provide a photo ID when they cast their absentee ballots in the 2024 election.

The ruling could also throw out the ballots of hundreds of voters who are U.S. citizens – specifically, the children of North Carolinians living overseas because of commitments like military service or missionary work. A law unanimously passed by the legislature more than a decade ago made clear that the children of North Carolinians living overseas have a right to vote in our state’s elections. But the NC Supreme Court majority ignored precedent and ordered their ballots thrown out anyway.

Let’s be clear: these military and overseas voters did absolutely nothing wrong. They each followed the law and they don’t deserve Griffin’s discriminatory attack on their constitutional freedom to vote.

This week, a federal court told the State Board of Elections to move forward with contacting specific overseas and military voters – even while the federal court considers whether the state court got the law right. The Board of Elections has determined that the only military and overseas voters required to “fix” their ballot are from Guilford County. Separately, the State Board identified about 265 voters who allegedly never resided in the state. If it’s found to be true that these voters are “never residents,” their votes may be thrown out. It’s important to know that none of these voters have been contacted by the Board of Elections yet, so their 30-day window to respond has not yet begun. We will keep you updated!

Make no mistake, this fight is not over! We and our partners will continue to stand up to protect every voter’s rights. We must not allow a single eligible ballot to be thrown away.

Here’s some inspiring news: On Monday, a brave group of North Carolina military and overseas voters targeted by Jefferson Griffin filed a lawsuit in federal court against Griffin’s unconstitutional attack on their rights. We stand with these voters!

While we continue to await final resolution in the courts, here’s what concerned North Carolinians can do right now:

If your vote is challenged by Griffin, call or text the NC voter assistance hotline 888-OUR-VOTE (888-687-8683) to be connected with an election attorney who can help.
Follow updates at this link from the State Board of Elections with information for voters challenged by Griffin.
Regardless of whether you're a North Carolinian whose vote has been challenged, join The People v. Griffin movement by filling in your name and email at ccnc.me/WeMatter. You’ll find ways to fight back, and we’ll update you on the latest volunteer opportunities and mobilizing events.

(Source: Common Cause North Carolina)

2025 Aging Advocacy Day

Wednesday, May 7 | NC General Assembly

This advocacy rally is hosted by AARP North Carolina, NC Coalition on Aging and Friends for Residents in Long Term Care and provides the opportunity to make your voice heard. You will have the opportunity to meet with lawmakers and observe the legislature in action.

Click above to register for this important event. Plan to arrive in Raleigh at 8:30 a.m. on May 7 for a group rally at the State Library of North Carolina (auditorium) that is located at 109 E. Jones Street and adjacent to the Legislative Building. The program will begin at 8:45 a.m. Public parking is available across the street from the library.

If your schedule allows following the 2025 Advocacy Day on May 7, join the Celebrate Older Americans Month event at the NC State Farmers Market from 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Click Here to Register!

NCDHHS Seeks Feedback on Medicaid Managed Care Plans

NCDHHS is asking for feedback on how to improve services for beneficiaries, providers, health systems and plans under the Managed Care System. Since the 2023 Medicaid launch in North Carolina, NCDHHS has gathered valuable insights from stakeholders and has shared that information in a paper called Improving Member Health Through Managed Care Program Enhancements: North Carolina’s Approach to Standard Plan Re-Procurement.

The paper and a summary are available on the NC Medicaid Policy Papers webpage.

NCDHHS seeks public feedback on this paper by Wednesday, May 7, 2025, by one of three methods:

Email: Medicaid.NCEngagement@dhhs.nc.gov with the subject line “Managed Care Program Enhancements Feedback”
U.S. Mail: Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health Benefits, 1950 Mail Service Center, Raleigh NC 27699-1950
Drop-off: Department of Health and Human Services, Dorothea Dix Campus, Adams Building, 101 Blair Dr., Raleigh NC

Social Work Compact Passes NC House

The Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact Bill (HB231) was heard on the House Floor on Tuesday, April 1, for its final vote in the House, and it passed unanimously with a floor vote of 116-0. The week prior, NASW-NC staff had been at the General Assembly ensuring that HB 231 passed favorably in both the House Finance Committee and the House Rules Committee.

The North Carolina legislation (SB155 and HB231) would allow licensed clinical social workers to apply to provide their services across multiple states. A comprehensive data system would also be created so the public could be kept safe and informed regarding a social worker’s current license status and any adverse actions associated with a licensed clinical social worker.

NASW-NC's top priority for the 2025 legislative session is the passage of the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact. NASW-NC has been the driving force behind this bill, and was the only organization in North Carolina to work to introduce the bill in both chambers of the NC General Assembly.

NASW-NC has worked tirelessly for the last two years to secure the 40 primary and co-sponsors in both the Senate and House of Representatives for the Social Work Licensure Compact. NASW-NC would like to thank all of HB 231's sponsors and co-sponsors for their leadership and support in getting this bill passed.⁠

HB 231 has been referred to the NC Senate. NASW-NC will continue to monitor and advocate for the bill’s passage. NASW-NC will also continue to advocate for SB 155 - the companion bill of HB 231 to be heard in Senate Finance Committee and eventually in a floor vote in the NC Senate.

NASW-NC is also working to advance HB 523 – School Social Workers/Master’s Pay. This is the second 2025 NASW-NC Legislative Agenda priority item that has been introduced as a bill in the House. This bill will most likely be voted through House Education and referred to Appropriations, where it will be included in the House Budget. We are working on getting support in the Senate.

NASW-NC is the ONLY organization lobbying and advocating for the entire Social Work Profession at the North Carolina Legislature. The NASW-NC lobbying team would not exist without the incredible support of NASW-NC membership. If you are already a member of NASW-NC, THANK YOU. Our members are the only reason that we have been able to do this work!

NASW-NC is not federally funded; we are not state funded. We are funded by the members of NASW and will not exist to advocate for you and the social work profession without YOU! We are able to do more if we have a large voice and robust membership. If you are not yet a member, please join NASW and join us in our advocacy efforts.

Follow updates on the Social Work Compact in the NC General Assembly here.

NCGA Bills to Watch

SB 155 (HB 231): The Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact works to increase access to social workers and this bill would add North Carolina into a compact where social workers from other states who meet requirements within the bill can serve North Carolinians. Click Here for how you can support passage of the Social Work Compact.

HB523: School Social Workers/Master's Pay. This bill will restore master's level pay for school social workers.

HB171: Equality on State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI. This bill will eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and prohibit public funding for DEI initiatives in state and local government.

SB558: Eliminating "DEI" in Public Education Higher Ed. This bill will ban Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) content and programs in public colleges, universities and community colleges.

HB318: The Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Acts strengthens House Bill 10—enacted during the 2023-24 legislative session—which requires state, county, and local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with ICE before releasing illegal migrants arrested for violent offenses.

HB636: Promoting Wholesome Content in Schools This bill bans books in public school libraries.

HB979: Update Volunteer System/LTC Ombudsman Program. An act updating and strengthening the systems of volunteers supporting the State of NC Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program.

HB939: School Chaplains. This will allow public schools to hire chaplains.

Voter Voice Bill Tracker

NASW-NC has created a page to keep members up to date with legislative developments regarding the Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact, restoring master’s level pay for school social workers, and other bills related to the social work profession.

NASW-NC is currently keeping an eye on more than 100 bills that, if passed, may impact the social work profession and the populations we serve. You can view all of the bills NASW-NC is tracking at the NC General Assembly here.

2025 NASW-NC Clinical Institute

Want this information sent directly to your inbox? Sign up for weekly NASW-NC legislative updates: https://votervoice.net/NASWNC/home

NC Senate releases its Budget

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 15:14:00 GMT

The North Carolina Senate released their budget on Monday, April 14, and there are significant contrasts between their budget and Governor Stein’s budget recommendations. The plans differ in their funding priorities, inclusion of substantive policy changes, and in their tax plans.

The Senate budget does NOT include restoring Master’s level pay for school social workers. NASW-NC will continue to advocate for Master’s level pay for school social workers in the House and final 2025-2027 North Carolina Budget. This includes advocating for passage of HB 523 - School Social Workers/Master’s Pay.

Below are a few items of interest out of the (458) page bill:

NCDHHS Cuts Include (but are not limited to):

Including Medicaid Work requirements
No DPS wage increases
No waiver slots
No opioid abatement dollars
No EIPD
Terminate unused positions - 290 were terminated from MHDDSUS
$30 million dollars in Single stream dollars were cut (This was surprising to Division and will directly impact people receiving IDD & MH services)
3-way dollars, DHHS, MCOS, Hospitals - 40% to BHUCs and respites, just enough to pay for beds and not BUHUCs and peer respites, justice - $45million in cuts

Tax Cuts:

The Senate budget cuts personal income taxes from 3.99% to 3.49% in 2027 and 3.49% to 2.99% in 2028. If certain revenue targets are hit, the income tax could drop as low as 1.99%.
- While these taxes are going down, the budget calls to increase taxes for sports betting operators.
Nonpartisan budget analysts have found that these proposed tax cuts could lead the state to a budget deficit as soon as 2026.

Pay Raises Across the State:

The Senate budget does NOT include restoring Master’s level pay for school social workers.
Teachers will receive an average raise of 2.3% in the first year of the biennium, and 3.3% across both years.
- The average teacher pay, with supplements, will be $62,407.
Nearly all state employees will get a raise of 1.25% and a $3,000 bonus over the next two years.
- Corrections officers, Wildlife officers, and Natural and Cultural Resources officers will receive a 6.5% increase.
UNC System employees will receive a 1.25% raise in pay.
The Governor and Council of State will receive a 1.25% pay increase.

Spending Cuts:

The budget will eliminate 800 vacant positions across the state government.
- There are 14,000 vacant positions across the state government.
A $5 million cut from the Department of Public Safety.
A $4 million cut from Public Defense Services.
$1.5 million cut from UNC-Chapel Hill.
$50 million from the state community college system.
The budget also orders the UNC System to find $33 million in cuts across the campuses.

General Expenditures:

The Senate budget seeks to store $1.1 billion in the state’s “rainy day fund.”
The budget allocates $700 million to be spent on Hurricane Helene relief efforts.
$638 million toward the creation of a new children’s hospital led by Duke and UNC.
Millions appropriated for teacher sign-on bonuses, teacher mentors, and a program to boost reading scores.

Democratic leader Senator Sydney Batch said that the Senate budget “fails to fund public safety, offers pathetic pay raises for public servants, and hoards billions of dollars while families struggle.”

While the Senate budget traverses through its approval process, we are still awaiting the House budget. When both of these are presented, the Senate and House will begin their negotiation process to put forth a finalized budget. Once this process occurs, the Governor will decide to veto or sign the budget, and he may have more leverage in negotiations given that the Republican supermajority in the House has been broken.

You can follow NCGA 2025-2027 Budget updates by signing up for our Advocacy Update here.

You can read the NC Senate's Budget Proposal SB 257: 2025 Appropriations Act here.

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Week 11 of Long Session

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 14:02:00 GMT

In this week's update:

Social Work Compact passes NC House
NC Supreme Court temporarily blocks court order to toss 65K ballots
NCDHHS Seeks Feedback on Medicaid Managed Care Plans
Total abortion ban won't be heard in NC House
Wider DEI restrictions for NC colleges pass Senate, as House punts its DEI bill
NC Budget and Tax Center Advocacy Day -This Tuesday 4/15!
Moms Demand Action 2025 Advocacy Day-This Wednesday 4/16!
NCGA Bills to Watch
NASW-NC Clinical Institute

Social Work Compact passes NC House

Follow updates on the Social Work Compact in the NC General Assembly here.

NC Supreme Court temporarily blocks court order to throw out 65K ballots in Riggs-Griffin race

Voters being challenged as illegitimate by a Republican candidate for the state Supreme Court won a temporary reprieve Monday, when the high court blocked a lower court's ruling Friday from going into effect.

Jefferson Griffin, a Republican judge on the state Court of Appeals, challenged Democratic Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs for her seat in the 2024 elections. Riggs received 734 more votes than Griffin, multiple recounts have shown. But Griffin is seeking to reverse the outcome by having more than 60,000 ballots thrown out. He alleges that the board of elections shouldn't have let the voters cast ballots largely due to voter registration inconsistencies.

Griffin's challenge was thrown out by the State Board of Elections in December. After he appealed that decision in court, he lost at trial. But on Friday, he won at the state Court of Appeals, with two GOP colleagues on that court ruling in his favor. The appellate court's 2-1 ruling said several hundred voters should have their ballots thrown out no matter what, based on a new interpretation of the state constitution. And the other 60,000-plus voters, the appeals court wrote, should have their ballots thrown out unless they take steps within 15 days to prove their identity to the state elections board.

Monday's order from the Supreme Court doesn't rule on who is right in the dispute. But it does block that Court of Appeals order, and its 15-day clock, from going into effect — at least for now, while Riggs and the Board of Elections appeal.

(Source: WRAL.com)

NCDHHS Seeks Feedback on Medicaid Managed Care Plans

Improving Member Health Through Managed Care Program Enhancements: North Carolina’s Approach to Standard Plan Re-Procurement.

The paper and a summary are available on the NC Medicaid Policy Papers webpage.

NCDHHS seeks public feedback on this paper by Wednesday, May 7, 2025, by one of three methods:

Email: Medicaid.NCEngagement@dhhs.nc.gov with the subject line “Managed Care Program Enhancements Feedback”
U.S. Mail: Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health Benefits, 1950 Mail Service Center, Raleigh NC 27699-1950
Drop-off: Department of Health and Human Services, Dorothea Dix Campus, Adams Building, 101 Blair Dr., Raleigh NC

Total abortion ban won't be heard in NC House

A Republican bill filed this week that proposes making abortion illegal in North Carolina at any stage of pregnancy won’t move forward, House Speaker Destin Hall said Tuesday. “I don’t think there’s any real desire in our caucus to hear that particular bill, and so, it’s not going to be heard in committee,” Hall told reporters after the House’s voting session Tuesday afternoon.

The bill, introduced on Monday by Rep. Keith Kidwell with the support of two other House Republicans, would ban abortion after conception and allow no exceptions other than to “preserve the life of the mother.” Violations of the ban would be punished as felonies, and by a civil penalty of $100,000. Democrats were quick to raise concerns about the bill after it was filed, and vowed to fight it “as hard as we can.”

Named the “Human Life Protection Act of 2025,” the bill mirrors similar legislation Kidwell, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus,filed two years ago during the 2023 legislative session that was never taken up.

At the time, Republicans in the House and Senate were working within their caucuses to come up with a consensus bill to further restrict abortion in the state that all GOP lawmakers could agree on and get behind.

When Kidwell filed the similar bill in March 2023, a spokeswoman for then-House Speaker Tim Moore clarified that it didn’t reflect “the work of the working group or the consensus product we expect to emerge from those discussions.”

(Source: Newsobserver.com)

Wider DEI restrictions for NC colleges pass Senate, as House punts its DEI bill

The North Carolina Senate on Wednesday passed a bill expanding restrictions for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on college campuses.

And over in the House, voting on a separate bill banning DEI within state and local government was delayed for the second time this week.

The Republican-led Senate Bill 558 defines a range of “divisive concepts” and “discriminatory practices” that campuses are banned from endorsing or affirming. That includes treating a person differently “solely to advantage or disadvantage that individual.”

The UNC System last year repealed their DEI policy, replacing it with a statement of “principled neutrality.” And the Trump administration issued an executive order earlier this year banning DEI efforts on campuses nationally.

The UNC System board, as well as community colleges’ governing body, would be required to adopt new policies to comply with the bill.

“(DEI programming and practices) distracted our system of public higher education from their key goals and what they should be focused on,” said Sen. Brad Overcash (R-Gaston), one of the bill’s sponsors.

Overcash read a passage from “So You Want To Talk About Race,” the 2018 Ijeoma Oluo book, to demonstrate what he viewed as “divisive concepts” in question.

Democratic opponents said that the bill was vague, could have unintended impacts for programs like scholarships for rural students, and would have a chilling effect.

“We are opening Pandora’s box,” said Sen. Natalie Murdock (D-Chatham), who argued that any talk of “divisive concepts” should focus on the history of discrimination and racism against students of color at universities.

Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) told reporters Wednesday that if “unintended” programs like rural scholarships ended up being impacted by the bill, he would move to “take action” and fix it.

Across the building Wednesday, House Republicans again punted a vote on a bill to ban DEI efforts across state and local governments. It was originally scheduled for debate Tuesday.

House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) said the bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus), was absent. A group in the gallery came to protest the bill, including state Democratic Party chair Anderson Clayton, for the second straight day.

(Source: NCNewsline.com)

NC Budget and Tax Center Advocacy Day - This Tuesday 4/15!

Our state budget matters for almost every aspect of our daily lives — from the air we breathe and water we drink, to the quality of our kids' education — and yet some powerful lawmakers are intentionally leaving you out of the process.

Join the North Carolina Budget & Tax Center on April 15 in Raleigh for a day of advocacy to take the budget back to the people. We will be requesting meetings with legislative leadership to demand a more transparent and equitable budget process, and joining together to discuss how we can organize to ensure future budgets fund the services and programs our state needs so every North Carolinian — from Boone to Wilmington and all parts between — has what they need to thrive.

Please RSVP here, and we'll be in touch with more details as the date approaches.

When: Tuesday, April 15, 2025 9:30 AM - 2:30 PM

Where: Halifax Mall, 300 N Salisbury St, Raleigh, NC 27603

Moms Demand Action 2025 Advocacy Day-This Wednesday 4/16!

Join Moms and Student Demand action volunteers and other gun safety advocates from across the state to urge lawmakers to pass legislation that keeps our communities safe, and to oppose bills that do not. We'll hear from great speakers, review our priorities, and meet with lawmakers.

Date: Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Time: 9am–3pm
Location: Raleigh, NC

Click HERE to RSVP.

NCGA Bills to Watch

SB 155 (HB 231): The Social Work Interstate Licensure Compactworksto increase access to social workers and this bill would add North Carolina into a compact where social workers from other states who meet requirements within the bill can serve North Carolinians. Click Here for how you can support passage of the Social Work Compact.

SB558: Eliminating "DEI" in Public Education Higher Ed. This bill will ban Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) content and programs in public colleges, universities and community colleges.

HB318:The Criminal Illegal Alien Enforcement Acts strengthens House Bill 10—enacted during the 2023-24 legislative session—which requires state, county, and local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with ICE before releasing illegal migrants arrested for violent offenses.

HB 979: Update Volunteer System/LTC Ombudsman Program. An act updating and strengthening the systems of volunteers supporting the State of NC Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program.

HB939: School Chaplains. This will allow public schools to hire chaplains.

Voter Voice Bill Tracker

2025 NASW-NC Clinical Institute

May 12,-13, 2025
Virtual
Up to 31 hours of CE Live and Recorded

Registration Fees:
Members $125
Not yet a member? $250

REGISTER HERE TODAY

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

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: HB 231 -Social Work Compact passes NC House!

Mon, 7 Apr 2025 14:04:00 GMT

In this week's update:

HB 231 -Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact passes NC House!
NC Senate leader seeks to ban DEI in colleges, limit campus bias investigations
HB 612-Foster Care in NC Act
NC Court of Appeals rules in favor of Jefferson Griffin
NASW-NC Social Work Advocacy Guide
Nc Budget and Tax Center Advocacy Day
Moms Demand Action 2025 Advocacy Day
NCGA Bills to Watch
NASW-NC Clinical Institute

HB 231 -Social Work Interstate Licensure Compact passes NC House!

Follow updates on the Social Work Compact in the NC General Assembly here.

NC Senate leader seeks to ban DEI in colleges, limit campus bias investigations

Add North Carolina schools and universities to the growing list of places where Republican state lawmakers want to ban diversity, equity and inclusion policies — using a new bill that cleared its first committee hurdle Wednesday.

The UNC System has already taken steps to limit DEI policies. Last year, the system's Board of Governors cut its DEI policy and replaced it with one that emphasizes the importance of administrative neutrality. And earlier this year, the system said it is no longer requiring students to take DEI courses as a condition for graduation.

A bill filed by Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, would require the UNC System Board of Governors to adopt a policy that explicitly bans the promotion of DEI policies on campus, including in the classroom.

Colleges would still be allowed to investigate some allegations of hateful comments, under the newest version of the bill, but they'd be banned from "reporting or investigating offensive or unwanted speech that is protected by the First Amendment, including satire or speech labeled as microaggression."

"We've seen, across the country, students divided against students and trying to report conversations," Sen. Brad Overcash, R-Gaston, said to explain the ban.

The bill received broad opposition from Black lawmakers Wednesday, who raised concerns that the bill would hamper research and other work at Historically Black Colleges and Universities — or that it would lead to the end of financial aid for certain students or programs.

HB 612- Fostering Care in NC Act

Nearly half of the 120 members of the N.C. House have already signed on in support of a new bipartisan bill introduced this week that seeks to improve the state’s foster care system. That level of support from lawmakers, in addition to more than 80 organizations across the state that are backing the bill, makes Rep. Allen Chesser, one of its primary sponsors, optimistic that the coalition behind this foster care bill is broad enough and strong enough to move it through the legislature this session.

(At a news conference on Wednesday, organizers provided a list of stakeholder groups on board with HB 612- Fostering Care in NC Act. — including the NCDHHS, NC Child, Disability Rights NC, National Association of Social Workers-NC, Blue Cross Blue Shield and AmeriHealth. )

Chesser said the goal with House Bill 612 is to “overcome some of the political obstacles that we have faced in the past and actually move the needle for the children who need it the most, and that is the children who are in foster care.”

Among other things, the bill would expand the authority of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to monitor the performance of county social services departments and review any open or closed child welfare cases.

It would also put in place parameters for identifying and evaluating conflicts of interest when a report of abuse, neglect or dependency involves social services employees, their relatives, or county officials.

Chesser’s fellow primary sponsors on the bill are House Rules Committee Chairman John Bell and GOP Rep. Donnie Loftis of Gastonia and Democratic Rep. Vernetta Alston of Durham.

Alston noted during Wednesday’s press conference that the bill has a number of Democratic cosponsors as well. She said she expects it to “continue to grow momentum” as more lawmakers are educated about what’s in the bill and what it would do.

House Speaker Destin Hall, meanwhile, said he’s spoken with Chesser about the bill and agrees there’s a “real need” to make improvements to the foster care system. “Anything that we can do to make it easier for folks to be foster parents, while also making sure that we have good folks doing that, we’re putting kids in good homes, I think it’s a worthy cause that we ought to look at, and I think that bill has a chance,” Hall told reporters after session. [Source]

NC Court of Appeals rules in favor of Jefferson Griffin

In a new ruling Friday, the NC Court of Appeals gave favor to Republican Jefferson Griffin, the candidate of the state Supreme Court, overturning the February ruling from the Wake County Superior Court.

The primary reason behind the ruling, in a vote that went 2-1 in favor of the Plaintiff, is because of the amount of incomplete voter registration votes that were cast in November.

Over 65,000 voters have 15 days to prove that their votes were eligible. According to the Opinion of the Court, if the deadline is not met, the votes will be tossed out.

“Upon receipt of the order of remand from the Superior Court, the Board shall immediately require the county boards to provide notice to these challenged voters of their ability to cure their registrations, and upon verification, their votes may be counted,” the court document said.

The court also concluded that “never residents” voters are not eligible to vote in North Carolina, non-federal elections, and went on to say “the votes cast by these purported voters are not to be included in the final count in the 2024 election for Seat 6.”

Griffin first filed an appeal the day after votes were counted in the general election where he lost the state Supreme Court seat to Democrat Allison Riggs by 625 votes. He argued that the Board of Elections, who he later filed a lawsuit against, did not properly check all voter registrations when they counted the votes.

Dissent from Judge Hampson argues that voters up for debate did everything they were instructed to do. “Their ballots were accepted. Their ballots were counted. The results were canvassed. None of these challenged voters was given any reason to believe their vote would not be counted on Election Day or included in the final tallies.”

The dissent went on to say this sets an Unconstitutional precedent for altering other elections against voters’ wills. “Changing the rules by which these lawful voters took part in our electoral process after the election to discard their otherwise valid votes in an attempt to alter the outcome of only one race among many on the ballot is directly counter to law, equity, and the Constitution.”

Reaction has spanned across the state from leaders on the court’s decision.

“North Carolina Democrats WILL fight this decision. But make no mistake, the statewide court of appeals bench has cowered to political pressure and corruption from their own party. The NCGOP and RNC are trying to steal an election and test the waters for future election denial,” said Anderson Clayton, Chair of the NC Democratic Party, on Twitter.

“This decision ultimately will be appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court now. Where Republicans maintain a 5-2 majority. (And since Justice Riggs recused herself, it’s a 5-1 majority.) NC voters will see just how corrupt the State Supreme Court when they rule on this case,” her tweet said.

See the full appeals court decision here

(Source: CBS17.com)

NASW-NC Social Work Advocacy Guide

Social work has always been a profession of compassion + action. Rooted in justice, dignity, and the unwavering belief in human worth, we are called to challenge oppressive systems, dismantle barriers to equity, and advocate for those whose voices have been silenced. In this moment—one of uncertainty, division, and urgent need—our profession must stand firm in our core values and rise to the work ahead. Social workers are uniquely prepared for this moment in history, as we understand that the systems and environments surrounding individuals and families are rooted in systemic oppression, disproportionate poverty, and targeted injustices. We know how to navigate unjust policies, combat systemic racism, and provide and lead critical care and healing interventions. Please find support and guidance in the NASW-NC Social Work Advocacy Guide - Social Work Core Values as a Foundation for Action: Reclaiming Our Power, Advancing Justice.

NC Budget and Tax Center Advocacy Day

Please RSVP here, and we'll be in touch with more details as the date approaches.

When: Tuesday, April 15, 2025 9:30 AM - 2:30 PM

Where: Halifax Mall, 300 N Salisbury St, Raleigh, NC 27603

Moms Demand Action 2025 Advocacy Day

Date: Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Time: 9am–3pm
Location: Raleigh, NC

Click HERE to RSVP.

NCGA Bills to Watch

SB227: Eliminating "DEI" in Public Education. This bill will ban Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) content and programs in public education.

SB558: Eliminating "DEI" in Public Education Higher Ed. This bill will ban Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) content and programs in public colleges, universities and community colleges.

SB 50: Freedom to Carry Act. Permits any US citizen at least 18 years old to carry a concealed handgun in North Carolina.

SB516: Women's Safety and Protection Act. “Bathroom bill” - This bill will make it illegal for people to use restrooms that do not align with the sex they were assigned at birth. It will also take away the ability for people to change their sex on their driver’s license even after sex reassignment surgery has been completed.

Voter Voice Bill Tracker

2025 NASW-NC Clinical Institute

May 12,-13, 2025
Virtual
Up to 31 hours of CE Live and Recorded

Registration Fees:
Members $125
Not yet a member? $250

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News & Press

NASW-NC Resources for Government Shutdown and Loss of SNAP Benefits

NASW-NC Statement on NC General Assembly's Partisan Gerrymandering

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: NCGA to gerrymander U.S. Congressional map & more

In this week's update:

NCGA to gerrymander U.S. Congressional map

NC lawmakers unveil proposed congressional map in effort to maintain GOP control

Act now- Tell NCGA no new maps

From ACLU-NC

Contact your legislator now and make your voice heard .

NC Medicaid Day of Action -10/21

Governor Stein highlights NC impacts of Impasse in Washington

November 2025 Municipal Voting Dates

Voting in Municipal Elections

Register Now! 2025 NASW-NC Fall Conference!

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Governor Stein Takes Action on Three Bills

In this week's update:

Governor Stein Takes Action on Three Bills

Act now to Improve Telehealth Access for Mental Health Services

Urge your Members of Congress to Remove Barriers to Telemental Health Services

NCDHHS Secretary Dev Sangvai Releases Statement on NCGA Spending Plan

NC elections board settles voter ID lawsuit, extends deadline for 2025 early voting plans

Early voting plan

August is Civic Health Month

NCGA adjourns until August

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: NCGA Overrides Governor's Vetoes

In this week's update:

NCGA Overrides Governor's Vetoes

NC Lawmakers Send 'Mini Budget' and DOGE-Style Plan to Stein

DOGE-Style Division

NCGA Adjourns Until August

Former Gov. Roy Cooper Running for U.S. Senate

Trump Administration Freezes $108 Million for Duke Health

In Case You Missed It -Social Work Compact is Law

Registration is Open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER!!! Deadline is August 6th!

Session Spotlight

NASW-NC 2025 Essentials Conference

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Urge your lawmakers to uphold the Governor's vetoes

In this week's update:

Act Today! Urge your lawmakers to uphold the Governor's vetoes

We can’t make America healthier while letting NC children go hungry | Opinion

July 30 Minority Mental Health Panel with NC DHHS

REGISTER HERE!

AG Jackson restores $165 million in public education funding for NC schools

New memo from UNC System orders schools to prove DEI policies are eliminated

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

2 WEEKS LEFT TO REGISTER!!! Deadline is August 6th!

Session Spotlight

NASW-NC 2025 Essentials Conference

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: NC AG files lawsuit against Trump administration

In this week's update:

NC Attorney General files lawsuit against Trump administration

NC elections officials to start contacting people with missing info

SNAP-Ed nutrition program falls victim to federal budget axe

Lost jobs

SNAP changes, too

Action Alert - Tell NC Lawmakers vote "No" on mega elections bill

NASW stands with AFT Union

They betrayed us.

Join us. Organize. Vote. Let’s undo the damage from this big betrayal.

Medicaid/Snap Update: Join Legal Action Center Call on 7/22

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Session SpotlightCalling 'In' & Interrupting Microaggressions: Ditch the Drama & Build Bridges Instead

NASW-NC 2025 Essentials Conference

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Governor Stein Takes Action on 12 Bills

In this week's update:

Governor Stein Takes Action on 12 Bills

Act Now to Protect Appropriated Programs

The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ has passed. Here’s how it could affect health care in NC

In case you missed it -Social Work Compact is Law

Registration is open for 2025 Virtual Essentials Conference

Session Spotlight

NASW-NC 2025 Essentials Conference

2025 NASW-NC Legislative Session Update: Gov. Stein Statement on Passage of Reconciliation Bill

In this week's update:

Session Spotlight

Calling 'In' & Interrupting Microaggressions:
Ditch the Drama & Build Bridges Instead