Margot Aronson

DC Board of Social Work Update

*Mayor Bowser has extended the Emergency Order through October 9, 2020. The administrative licensure waiver for teleservices will continue at least until then.

* Of the total 5016 active DC licensees, we have 3523 LICSWs; 46 LISWs, 1383 LGSWs; and 64 LSWAs.

*The Board expects to have the Department of Health's go-ahead to notify licensees of modifications in social work policies and regulations by email blast in September 2020.

The Department of Health Interprofessional Workgroup

Board Chair Velva Spriggs, LISW, represents social work on the Interprofessional Workgroup newly established by the DC Department of Health. The Workgroup - chairs of the health professional boards - has begun meeting to address mutual issues of concern with a multidisciplinary approach. Initially the Workgroup is considering: standards of care, best practices, how to maintain uniformity, reimbursement issues, how to deal with remote sites of care, and fees, so that there will be uniformity on the boards. The Workgroup will also be considering the issue of license portability and/or reciprocity across state lines. A complicating factor is that not all states are in favor of what is being dubbed a “global” approach.

HR 51: One Step Closer?

Statehood requires approval by a simple majority vote of each House of Congress and the President’s signature. This is the simplest and most constitutional way to make the people of the District of Columbia full citizens of the United States of America.

On June 24, the Rules Committee of the House of Representatives, after several hours of heated opposition on one side and supportive fact-filled responses on the other, voted to advance the bill to a full House vote.

Remember that DC has no voice on the House floor, with the exception of Del Eleanor Holmes Norton; our support at the hearing came from Reps of states around the country, plus one other voice, that of Virgin Islands Del Stacey Plaskett. Rep Louis Gohmert of Texas said he was prepared to offer a bill excusing DC residents from paying taxes so that we would stop our fussing about “taxation without representation.” Del Plaskett then made dramatically clear how very damaging this would be to DC as she described the deplorable treatment of the VI and other territories (who do not pay federal taxes) at the hands of the US Congress.

On the 26th of June, the House voted in favor of DC statehood. The first step!

Margot Aronson, LICSW, co-chairs the GWSCSW Legislation and Advocacy Committee for DC along with Adele Natter, LICSW. A past GWSCSW president, she has also served as newsletter editor and director of Legislation & Advocacy. Margot currently advocates on mental health and LCSW practice issues for us all at the national level as the Clinical Social Work Association Deputy Director for Policy and Practice.