Chapter Highlights

In May 2019, Colorado Gov. Polis signed into law two bills that will expand the hiring of social workers and other mental health professionals in state schools. The bills are the Kindergarten through Fifth Grade Social and Emotional Health Act and Professional Behavioral Health Services for Schools.

The NASW Colorado Chapter lobbied heavily for passage of these bills.

The NASW Connecticut Chapter successfully advocated for passage a bill that provides protection to the job title of social work. The bill signed into law on July 9 and goes into effect on Oct. 1, 2019.

Both HIPAA and FERPA provide important privacy protections but confusion can arise as to which privacy regulation is applicable to student health records. This Legal Issue of the Month provides a brief overview of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and how it relates to the disclosure of education records.

Some of the most critical issues for social workers are whether, when, where, how and at what level he/she will be licensed to practice social work. These questions pre-occupy social workers who are entering the field or seeking to change their professional status and, in many ways, the answers determine a social worker’s professional destiny.

This is one of a three-part series that discusses social work licensure. Part I provides an overview of the licensing process. Part II addresses licensing board structure and authority. Part III focuses on licensure board disciplinary actions.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law a bill aimed at ensuring equal pay for equal work. A number of entities, such as the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, National Association of Social Workers, Laborer’s International Union and Illinois National Organization for Women, supported the bill.

“As other states appear to be moving backward on equal rights, Illinois will continue to move forward to ensure employees are receiving the same pay for the same work,” Bertino-Tarrant said. “This new law will help Illinois end the wage gap.”

The New York State Legislature voted to pass legislation A.576/S.1046,which will prohibit licensed mental health professionals from engaging in efforts to change a minor’s sexual orientation, gender expression, and/or gender identity, otherwise referred to as “conversion” or “reparative” therapy.

This legislative victory is a long time coming. NASW-NYS has long condemned the use of conversion therapy and for years, we continued to push for passage of legislation that would ban this dangerous and outdated practice.

House Bill 2569 (Occupational Licensing; Reciprocity) was signed into law. This legislation requires a “regulating entity to issue an occupational license to a person who establishes residence in Arizona if the person is currently licensed or certified in good standing in at least one other state in the discipline applied for and at the same practice level as determined by the regulating entity and if the person meets a list of other specified requirements.”