Special NC Child Legislative Update: COVID Delta Variant & Children
Presenters: Dr. Zack Moore, State Epidemiologist & Dr. Kelly Kimple, Women’s & Children’s Health Section Chief
Friday, 9/10, 11:00 am
All Friday updates will be provided live in both English and Spanish.
Sign up here to attend.

2021 NC Statewide Virtual Policy Institute
The NC Collaborative for Children, Youth, and Families and Prevent Child Abuse NC announce that registration for the 2021 Policy Institutes is open! Attend one or all four virtual institutes, each is focused on a different level of advocacy. Speakers and presenters will be talking about coalition building and how to advocate effectively on local, state, and federal levels of government. Each institute is 2.5 hours long and will include an opening keynote speaker, an advocacy 201 presentation, a youth or parent voice keynote, and a panel discussion with elected officials, stakeholders, and leaders in advocacy. Virtual institutes are free and open to all.
Tuesday, 9/14: Advocacy and Collaboration Overview
Tuesday, 9/28: Local-level Advocacy
Tuesday, 10/5: State-level Advocacy
Tuesday, 10/19: Federal-level Advocacy
All sessions are held from 9:00 am to 11:30 am
Learn more here.

Color of Education Virtual Summit 2021
Join the Public School Forum’s Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity and Opportunity, the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, and the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University, in critical conversations centered on addressing issues of racial equity and education. Tickets are available now! Tuesday, 10/26 & Wednesday, 10/27, 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Register here.

Legislative Update
September 3, 2021

This week we continue to wait for some sign that an agreement on the budget could be forthcoming from the House and Senate. This article in the News & Observer sums up the current state of play with budget negotiations (spoiler alert: we’re going to be waiting a while).

In the mean time, we’re also celebrating some really positive legislation signed into law by Governor Cooper this week. Several other bills we’re tracking moved forward, as legislative committees push to wrap up their remaining work for the session. Remember you can always check in on bills we’re tracking in real-time on our Weekly Update web page.  

Redistricting

Legislative committees are expected to shut down in the next two weeks, the legislature shifts its focus to redistricting. Public hearings on redistricting get underway next week (find the schedule of hearings here, and the public comments portal here).

Juvenile Justice

S207, Various Raise the Age Changes/JJAC Recs. Hooray! The Governor signed this bill into law on Monday, effectively raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction in NC from 6 years old to 10 years old, with the exception of a handful of instances where 8 and 9 year-olds could be charged with the most serious offenses. Per recommendations from the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, this bill also modifies certain provisions of the Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Act. The bill includes clarifying the amount of time teenagers can serve in Youth Development Centers, clarifies that juveniles can be held in holdover centers before heading to adult corrections facilities, and allows juvenile court counselors to conduct child consultations and investigate child complaints for children ages 6 to 9 who have been referred to the juvenile justice system.  

Health

H608, Dignity for Women Who are Incarcerated, will provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant inmates, including prohibiting shackling of inmates when in labor, and necessary postpartum care. H608 passed a concurrence vote in the House and was sent to the Governor for his signature this week.  

Early Childhood Education/ Child Care

S570, Hold Harmless Star Ratings/ERS Assess. Resume was signed into law by Governor Cooper on Monday. This new law will hold childcare facilities harmless on environmental ratings should staffing shortages affect their star rating.

Child Welfare & Safety

H769, Foster Parents' Bill of Rights, an act to provide a bill of rights recognizing the rights of foster parents. The State would recognize a list of rights, including the ability to serve as a respected member of the child welfare team, receive specified information about the responsibilities of foster parents and access to support services, including active participation in the decision-making process regarding the child, and to be notified of any expenses eligible for reimbursement and to have timely allocation of resources. H769 headed back to the House last week for a concurrence vote. I, it passed the House Tuesday, August 31 and has been sent to the Governor for his signature.

S 693 Expedite Child Safety and Permanency was also signed into law by the Governor this week. This new law makes quite a few amendments to the Juvenile Code regarding abuse, neglect, and dependency laws, as described in past updates. One important note: S 693 now directs NC DHHS to conduct a detailed feasibility study to create a centralized statewide child abuse & neglect reporting hotline, to combat the huge variation between counties in how reports are handled. Here’s a good look at the new law in an article by Carolina Public Press.

Federal Update

Budget Resolution

The US House voted last week to adopt the Senate’s budget resolution, but the drama continues. Committees are now working on the fiscal package worth up to $3.5 trillion, as well as voting rights legislation, that the Senate won't be able to filibuster. Read more in this Roll Call article. The budget resolutions instructed committees to have their reconciliation pieces submitted by September 15. That means this is a great time to get in touch with your congressional representative, as well as Senators Burr and Tillis. However, some centrist Democrats are asking for a pause in the committee work, as the COVID-19 pandemic worsens and fears rise about the nation’s economic outlook.

We’ll have an action alert out on child care in the fiscal package for you next week. While you wait on that, why drop a quick note asking them to make the expanded Child Tax Credit permanent? Here’s a simple action form from MomsRising.

SNAP Increase

Great news! On Monday, August 16, the US Department of Agriculture announced a change in how SNAP benefits are calculated for recipients, effective October 1. This change is permanent, and separate from temporary SNAP Emergency allotments due to the pandemic. It does not require legislative approval because it was authorized by Congress in prior legislation.

Previously, a family would receive about $4.25 per person per day. This change is estimated to raise this amount to about $5.45 in FY 2022, an increase of 21 percent. This is the largest permanent increase to SNAP since its inception. An increase of about $37 a month could help families have enough for food to last the full month. Learn more in this great summary from Bread for the World.