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From April 2002 NASW NEWS The research center bill gets a new lead sponsor. NASW has assumed lobbying duties for the Action Network for Social Work Education and Research (ANSWER), the coalition of seven social work organizations whose primary purpose in recent years has been congressional passage of the National Center for Social Work Research Act. For the past several years, ANSWER had contracted with an independent lobbyist to push for passage of the bill (S. 70, H.R. 3814). The coalition's steering committee voted in February to transfer the work to NASW's government relations staff. The purpose of the bill is to establish a center to collect, develop and promote research that can improve the effectiveness of social work delivery systems for health promotion. Data from the center would be used for treatment of acute and chronic illnesses, development of services to prevent and stop child abuse and neglect and youth violence, and improvement of child and family care. Progress has been made in lining up congressional sponsors from both political parties. One of the bill's original primary sponsors, Arkansas Republican Asa Hutchinson, resigned his House seat last year to become head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. The bill has now been reintroduced by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and its health subcommittee, and Ciro Rodriguez (D-Tex.), a lead sponsor of the bill in years past. In addition to its work on Capitol Hill, the NASW lobbying team will assist ANSWER in developing its grass-roots support for the research center bill. NASW is one of ANSWER's member organizations. The others are Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors, Council on Social Work Education, Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research, Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education, National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work, and Society for Social Work and Research. Back to NASW NEWS Contents
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