Autism Society of North Carolina Public Policy updates:
- NC General Assembly
- I/DD Caucus Meeting and Advocacy Day – *** Meeting time updated to 11 a.m.-1 p.m. ***
- Federal News – Congress and the new Administration
- What you can do to educate lawmakers on autism
- How to get in touch and what to say
NC General Assembly (NCGA)
The NCGA continues their work in Raleigh for the legislative long session that determines the state budget for fiscal year 2025-27 that begins July 1. Lawmakers are meeting in committees to review how funds have been used for the current state budget, any funding shortfalls, and to review tax revenue projections.
The Autism Society of North Carolina (ASNC) is monitoring several NCGA bills including:
- S246 Create 13,000 Jobs Serving People With I/DD: This is a Senate appropriations bill that would expand the number of Innovations Waiver slots by 5,000 over the next two years and increases the direct support worker wages for waiver services to $20 dollars per hour. (https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2025/S246)
- S239 Raise DSP Pay to $25 Per Hour This appropriations bill would raise the pay for Innovations Waiver direct support professionals by $5 per hour and require 90% of the increased rate to support pay increases. The $25 per hour rate is contingent on S246 also passing, which would increase the number of slots and the DSP rate to $20 per hour. (https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2025/S239)
The deadline for introducing bills in the Senate is March 25, and the House deadline is April 6. We expect there will be additional bills related to autism and I/DD introduced. Non-appropriations bills must pass one of the chambers by May 8 to be eligible for consideration during the remainder of this session and during next year’s short session. Please note that appropriations bills are usually not voted on and passed as stand-alone legislation. Appropriations Committees *may* hear and vote on appropriations bills during the session but funding language must be included in the final, negotiated, state budget legislation passed by both chambers of the NCGA. ASNC monitors the budget process and advocates for funding as outlined in our legislative priorities.
You’re invited – I/DD Caucus Meeting and Advocacy Day Opportunity March 26
The NCGA Legislative I/DD Caucus is meeting March 26, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to hear from the public regarding the 18,500+ person waiting list for Innovations Waivers and the Direct Support Professional crisis, both of which directly affect people with I/DD including those on the autism spectrum. You can join in the I/DD caucus listening session as well as advocate with your General Assembly members that day. The listening session at the caucus meeting will be held in the NC Legislative Building at 16 W. Jones Street in the third-floor auditorium. There will be 15-20 self-advocates, family members, and other advocates speaking and there is room for up to 100 audience members in the auditorium.
If you plan to attend in person on March 26 here are things to know about:
- Sign up to attend using this link.
- Speaking slots may already be filled and space in the room is limited. If you attend, be prepared to spend time stopping into your legislator’s offices if you cannot get a seat for the whole listening session.
- Make an appointment with your NCGA members ahead of time. See below for info on finding who represents you and where their offices are located.
- Not every one of your legislators will have time available that day. If you cannot set a meeting, consider bringing a written statement about your concerns that you can drop off in their offices.
- Please review our Advocacy 101 Toolkit and tips sheet for guidance on what to say and/or what to write in your statement.
- If you are not familiar with the NCGA, please look at their visitor guide, including locations of paid parking and accessibility.
- The NCGA and the Legislative Office building both require visitors to go through security screenings. Be prepared to wait and note the list of prohibited items, including signs on sticks.
Federal News – Congress and the new Administration
Each chamber of Congress has passed a different version of a 10-year budget resolution that includes potential cuts to Medicaid. Congress is reported to be discussing what sorts of changes it would make to Medicaid funding and benefits including work requirements, per capita caps on Medicaid funds, cuts to the federal Medicaid funding match to states, and other options, but no specific appropriations bills have been voted on. The president has begun taking steps to reduce the size of the federal workforce across federal agencies and has talked about elimination of the federal Department of Education (DOE), however no specific announcements have been made about how this might affect special education administration through DOE.
What you can do to educate lawmakers on autism
With the budget process underway at the federal and state levels, now is a good time to introduce yourself to your own elected and/or appointed officials! To begin, look up who represents you in both the US Congress (who makes laws and decides a budget for the entire country), and in the NC General Assembly (who makes laws and determines the budget for services and supports in NC). You can find your elected officials by entering your address here.
Please remember, you have two US Senators and one elected Representative in the US House of Representatives for the place you live. They work in Washington, DC but also have offices in North Carolina. You have one elected state Senator and one elected Representative in the NC House for the NC General Assembly district in which you live. They work in Raleigh at the General Assembly, but since North Carolina has a “part-time” legislature, they also live and work in their local NC communities.
How to get in touch and what to say
Your elected officials all have an official email and/or online form where you can contact them. All elected offices have an official office phone number if you want to call their office. Members of Congress typically have individual websites with an online form to send them messages. Members of the NC General Assembly (NCGA) have email addresses published on their member info webpages at https://www.ncleg.gov/.
We recommend contacting your elected officials by email. Phone calls are great for urgent issues and expressing your opinion on specific bills but most communication is by email or online forms. (Please note: physical, handwritten letters mailed to Congress are screened and can be delayed by weeks or months. Handwritten letters to NCGA members are also screened but may arrive sooner.) More tips for contacting your elected officials can be found here. Our Advocacy 101 Toolkit is available on the ASNC website to view or download.
In your email:
- Introduce yourself and/or your loved on the autism spectrum and tell them where you/they live.
- Tell them about life with autism: what’s going well and what the challenges are.
- If you receive services or supports that are helping, let them know – especially if you or they are getting Medicaid, Social Security benefits, services in schools, or other state and federally-funded programs.
- If you are waiting for services, have been denied help, or are struggling to get services staff, let them know about that as well. State and federal elected officials control the funding for programs like the home and community Innovations Waiver, 1915i services under Medicaid, education funding that supports IDEA mandated education access, housing assistance, and provider rates for services and programs.
- Let them know how important these things are to you and that you hope they will work to improve access rather than make it harder to get help. You may have a specific issue that is important you that we have not mentioned here – if so, let them know.
- Thank them for their time and attention.
If you want us to know that you contacted them, please copy Jennifer Mahan, Director of Public Policy at the Autism Society of North Carolina on your email or forward a copy of your email or letter to her. If you have questions or problems finding who represents you or figuring out which part of government deals with the issue you are concerned about, email Jennifer Mahan at jmahan@autismsociety-nc.org.
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