Social Workers Support Four-Year Exemption for State Agency Workforce

We, the undersigned, call on the NYS Legislature to include in this year's budget a four-year exemption from social work licensure for the effected government agency workforce and providers funded or contracting with the state.

Extending the exemption in the budget is necessary because failure to do so will result in significant costs to the state and impacted agencies; thousands of social workers will lose their jobs, not to mention the loss of vital services for residents in need. In fact, the failure to extend this exemption will have a $60 million impact on the State and a $270 million impact on programs operated by other providers which will likely create a major loss of service in the public mental health system.

Time is running out! The current exemption is about to expire June 1. We are moving toward an emergency situation for consumers and caregivers—loss of care and loss of jobs in every community of the State. Albany must act now to protect New York's social workers and prevent severe service delivery disruptions throughout New York.