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Legislative - Virginia
The Virginia General Assembly legislative session convenes on Wednesday, January
11, 2006. This will be a so-called “long session.” Governor Warner will present
a state budget for the next biennium, deliver his final State of the
Commonwealth address and then leave office at noon on Saturday, January 14.
Virginia Governors cannot directly succeed themselves for Governor. The General
Assembly session will start with a newly elected Governor, Lieutenant Governor
and Attorney General, along with a 100 member House of Delegates.
At this point it does not look like there will be a shift in the
political-legislative make-up of the House of Delegates. The forty-member
Virginia state Senate will stand for election in two years – 2007.
Social Work Licensing
The Virginia Chapter of the National
Association of Social Workers (NASW) is seeking to amend the social work
licensing law to so that all social workers have a professional social work
degree (BSW, MSW) and are appropriately licensed for their field of practice.
See Alert, Virginia, for the proposed changes.
Between Sessions: Legislative Studies
In between legislative sessions,
General Assembly members work on commission and committee studies. At this point
there are no studies directly involving the practice of clinical social work,
and no mental health issues before the legislative Commission on Mandated Health
Insurance Benefits. As we get closer to the session, issues may come to the
front, from the Governor as he develops his biennial budget, from Governor’s
Cabinet Secretaries, and from state agencies as they work through key issues in
their areas of responsibility. One issue that will surely come before the 2006
session is a re-configuration of the Virginia Medicaid Plan, but the current
focus is on cost containment rather than reform.
Welcome to New GWSCSW Legislative Liaisons
GWSCSW members Alice Kassabian and
Dolores Paulson are the new legislative liaisons for Virginia; they’ll be
sharing relevant legislative alerts with members in between our newsletter
reports. Welcome, Alice and Dolores.
Government and Public Affairs Counselor Christopher J. Spanos of the Spanos
Consulting Group is the Virginia legislative lobbyist for the Greater Washington
and Virginia Societies for Clinical Social Work.
For GSCSW Legislative
Information contact:
GWSCSW
PO Box 3235
Oakton VA 22124
202-537-0007
Fax: 703-938-8389
email: gwscsw@gmail.com
Website http://www.gwscsw.org