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School Transportation

Back to Schoolā€¦and transportation Do You Talk to Bus Drivers about Your Child? When we think of communicating with schools about our children with autism, we often think of the principal and teachers. There are many other staff members who come in contact with our children, and bus drivers (or other providers of transportation) are…

State Budget Passes – Thoughts and Observations

Earlier this week, after a rather long and certainly difficult time, our state legislators ended their business and adjourned until the state of the short session next year. Our state legislators and Governor were certainly confronted with preparing a budget in what certainly many are calling the most difficult economic times our state government has…

State Budget Update – Continuing Resolution Passed, Committees to Work Through Weekend

Continuing Budget Authority Today legislators approved a third continuing budget resolution to keep state government operating in the absence of a budget. This latest stopgap budget resolution has no expiration date and sets spending at 84% of the current 2008-2009 budget. State Budget Update Perhaps this resolution will be the last of this session. It…

Request for Information (RFI): Updating the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Research

On behalf of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), the Nation Institute of Mental Health is seeking comments to inform the annual update of the IACC Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Research, as required by the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-416). The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input from…

Final State Budget in Sight

The Senate and House Democrats have reached agreement to raise nearly $990 million dollars in revenue to restore some of the most harmful budget cuts in Health and Human Services and Education. The revenue plan calls for a 1-cent increase in the sales tax, a 2 percent surcharge on personal and corporate income tax, a…

As we work to keep the needs of people with autism and their families in front of our state legislators this session; we are also working on federal autism legislation. This week, staff were invited to meet with Sen. Hagan’s NC State Director, Deputy Director and her DC Health Policy staffĀ (who joined the meeting by…

The Case for Raising Revenue

Without additional revenue, let’s review what is at stake: (The Autism Society of North Carolina supports this analysis from the Arc of NC.) LME services cuts ($65 million ): This includes a $50 million dollar cut to services without specifics, a $16 million cut to services to people with DD who also have a CAP…

Federal Autism Legislation

While ASNC staff are advocating at the N.C. General Assembly on behalf of people living with autism, we are also monitoring federal autism legislation. Once the N.C. state budget is finalized, we will be visiting with our N.C. Congressional Delegation members to solicit their sponsorship and support for several federal autism bills (listed below). Please…

Bullying Bill Passes N.C.House

Last night, the N.C.House passed the Bullying Bill, SB 526 /HB 548: School Violence Prevention Act, by a one vote margin. Since the bill was already passed by the Senate, the bill now moves to the GovernorĀ for her signature. Our state legislators stood up and voted on what is right for all students, especially the…