Three Legislative Initiatives that Have Changed the Face of Society

Social work has not just been an effort by individuals in the public sector helping others. It has been aided by many initiatives on the part of all levels of government. Many of these have occurred within the last hundred years and have had enormous impact on society as we have known it.

The 1969 Federal Hate Crimes Law

The first half of the 20^th century was filled with much turmoil and civil unrest. The Jim Crow laws were in effect, and it left Black Americans relegated to second class citizenship; it denied them many of the basic rights and gave them inadequate government protection from the racial violence prevalent at the time (Wynter, 2009). The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was extremely powerful and influential at the time, even in federal agencies such as the FBI, who provided information leading to KKK violence during the "Freedom Rides" in the early 1960's (Day, 2009). Despite attempts by President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. in the early 60's, political power was limited in the South, and despite of, or maybe because of, demonstrations violence was on the rise. The KKK made several bombings against King's movement, and a prominent demonstrator by the name of Medgar Evers was assassinated. This finally stirred Kennedy to begin drafting a comprehensive civil rights bill (Day, 2009).

The assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 left Lyndon Johnson to finish Kennedy's plan. Despite passage of the Civil Rights Bill in 1964 and the Economic Opportunity Act of the same year, it did little to curb racial violence (Day, 2009). It may even have fanned the flames as the KKK murders of three prominent white civil rights workers caught national attention in the summer of 1964 and prompted President Johnson to commit the federal Civil Rights Division to decisive actions. Despite small victories, it was the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 that finally forced congress to create the Federal Hate Crimes Bill of 1969, also known as the Hates crimes statute which permits federal prosecution of anyone who "willingly injures, intimidates or interferes with another person, or attempts to do so, by force because of the other person's race, color, religion or national origin" (Wynter, 2009).

The effectiveness of this bill was unknown as records of hate crimes were not kept. It was not until President Bush signed the Hate Crimes Statistic Act in 1990 that records were required to be kept. Starting that year, the Justice Department was to keep records on crimes motivated by race, ethnicity or sexual orientation (Anonymous, 1990). Despite this advance in a conservative era, it still took a Supreme Court decision in 1993 to reassure states that hate crime laws were not unconstitutional (Terry, 1993). There had been concerns that these laws constituted special laws for specific groups, and some groups were concerned these laws may open more doors for gay rights legislation (Terry, 1993). Yet somehow, sexual orientation managed to avoid that protection.

It took the brutal slayings of gay men in Texas, Alabama and finally culminating with Matthew Shepard in October of 1998 to finally create serious momentum to adapting the existing hate crimes statute to protect homosexuals. President Clinton called upon congress to approve the Federal Hate Crimes Protection Act, which would extend the protections of the hate crimes statute to any crime thought to be motivated by sexual orientation, gender or disability. Clinton cited both ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and the fact that over 8000 hate crimes were reported in 1997 as reasons for this bill. Once again, conservative groups such as the Family Research Council cited "the gay agenda" as a reason not to pass the bill (Seelye, 1999).

Clinton would be unable to get congress to pass the bill during his administration and the bill would languish in congress until house republicans decided not to take up the hate crimes bill in 2004, under the presidency of George W. Bush (Fugazy, 2004). As a matter of fact, in 2007 the White House threatened a veto of the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act should it have finally passed under his administration (Kennedy, 2007). The bill would not receive White House support until the next presidential administration.

President Barack Obama would assume the office of Commander in Chief in 2009. Initially drafted in 1996 by Senator Edward Kennedy, the bill would end its 13 year ordeal when Obama would sign the bill into law in October of 2009 (Shapiro, 2009). The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act would finally extend protections of the law to those who are gay, lesbian, transgendered or disabled. This would be the first time that transgendered people were represented in federal code in a positive way, making this a milestone in more than one way (Shapiro, 2009). The bill would also expand the records being kept as hate crimes to include the transgendered and disabled.

The significance of this bill goes beyond the ability to charge people with hate crimes. It also provides for funding to provide state and local officials with federal investigators, forensics tools and money (Shapiro, 2009). This law allows for social service and civil rights workers to legally advocate for more people who may seek assistance after experiencing a hate crime; those who may be too embarrassed or afraid to report the crimes on their own or even unaware of their own rights.

Healthcare and Medicare

In the early twentieth century, the United States experienced the worst economic crisis in American history; the Great Depression. Out of this disaster spawned many of the social service programs existing in America today. The Social Security Acts were passed in 1936, but although a healthcare program was considered, it would not be included due to strong opposition by the American Medical Association. What it did establish was Old Age Insurance and Survivors Insurance which provided retirement pensions for those over 65 or the surviving widows and children of deceased workers (Day, 2009).

It would be under President Harry Truman that the idea of universal healthcare would once again emerge. In 1945, he would address Congress, asking for the creation of a national health insurance plan (Anonymous, Brief History of Medicare, 2009). It would face national debate for the next two decades among fears of the dangers of "socialized medicine". However, while Truman would give up on the idea of national healthcare, the idea of insuring social security beneficiaries had been planted (Anonymous, Brief History of Medicare, 2009).

It was under President Lyndon Johnson when social security would welcome a healthcare program. Added to the Old Age Insurance was a health insurance program called the Old Age, Survivors, Disability and Health Insurance, or OASDHI (Day, 2009). This addition was part of Johnson's "Great Society" programs and ex-president Truman would be the first to sign up for Medicare (Anonymous, Brief History of Medicare, 2009). Medicare would be comprised of 2 parts, A and B, which would provide healthcare to those over 65 or the disabled on social security. For a premium that was deducted from benefit checks, a number of services were provided for and covered, the types depending on whether a person belonged to Plan A or Both Plan A&B (Day, 2009).

1972 saw a large number of changes to the OASDHI program. Chief among them was the inclusion of disabled persons under 1965 and those with end-stage renal disease. In addition, some coverage was expanded for certain chiropractic, speech and physical therapy (Anonymous, Brief History of Medicare, 2009). Furthermore, all adult public assistance programs were transferred to social insurance in 1971, resulting in the creation of Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a public assistance program under the purview of the Department of Health and Human Services (Day, 2009). Another change made SSI recipients automatically eligible for Medicaid (Anonymous, Brief History of Medicare, 2009).

By 1984, all federal employees, including the president and Congress are given Medicare coverage (Anonymous, Brief History of Medicare, 2009). However, in that same year, Medicare deductibles rose and changes were made in what recipients had to pay. To make matters worse, Medicare payments to hospitals were frozen for the entirety of 1986 resulting in less care and higher payments for the elderly. In 1987, the Medicare premiums would rise, once again damaging services for those enrolled (Day, 2009). However, some preventative care is added in 1989, when pap smears are given coverage (Anonymous, Brief History of Medicare, 2009).

During the time of the Reagan Administration, changes in eligibility requirements for Medicaid resulted in the cut-off of many poor, including 700,000 children and states abilities to limit benefits saw a strong increase. Cutbacks in the Maternal and Child Health Program saw the infant mortality rate increase drastically, to the point where Washington, D.C. had a higher rate than Cuba and Jamaica. This was attributed to the drastic cut in prenatal care and by 1984 the U.S. was tied for last place among the twenty industrialized nations in infant mortality (Day, 2009).

The Clinton administration would propose the Rodham Clinton Health Security Act; an attempt to expand healthcare insurance to all Americans. The act fails in Congress under the strength of the health insurance industry lobbyists. Clinton's era does see the beginning of the Free Vaccines for Children Program and in 1997 the State Children's Health Insurance Program is established (Day, 2009). After suffering shortfalls and setbacks during the Bush administration, President Obama signed the Children's Health Insurance program Reauthorization Act of 2009, strengthening and expanding the programs and expects to provide coverage to 4.1 million children who might not have had coverage otherwise by 2013 (Mitchell, 2009).

Medicare itself saw more changes under the Bush administration. Medicare Advantage, or Medicare plan C, resulted in fewer benefits and 19 percent higher costs for consumers, and Medicare D, or prescription drug coverage, profited pharmaceutical companies more than seniors who often got trapped in the "donut hole" when benefits ran out. All in all, Medicare saw little improvement during the Bush/Cheney era (Day, 2009).

Now we have reached 2009, and President Obama is pushing for a Universal Healthcare Program as so many others have before him. The difference is: President Obama does not seem to be willing to accept "no" as an answer. Whether or not his persistence will pay off is the question.

Child Labor Reform

Child labor has existed throughout American history. In the early 1900's, child labor reached its highest point as industrialization forced entire families into factories and mills so the families could make a living. Children were highly desired in a variety of jobs, some quite dangerous, because they were seen as cheaper and more manageable labor. (Anonymous, The Child Labor Education Project, 2009). The failure of agriculture and the heavy migration of families to urban areas looking for new opportunities made it inevitable that sixty percent of all farmworker children were working for people other than their parents. It was not until a group of determined advocates came together in 1904 to form a national child labor committee that the true roots of child labor reform took hold. It was this committee, consisting of extremely notable public figures such as Jane Addams, Lilian Wald, Felix Adler and many others, that finally influenced President Roosevelt to hold a hearing on child labor. The result was the 1909 White House Conference on Child Dependency which discussed topics such as home care for children and the creation of a public bureau to collect and disperse information on children and child care. From this came the eventual creation of the Children's Bureau by Taft in 1912 in order to protect children's interests; those of avoiding early employment, dangerous jobs, and diseases. The Bureau promoted policies of documented minimum work age, an eight-hour work day and was against the notion of night work for children (Day, 2009). It was this bureau that created the first federal jobs entitled social workers. Julia Lathrop led a team of 15 workers that investigated onto many areas of concern to children's welfare including infant mortality rates, dangerous occupations, diseases and child related legislation. It was during this period in US history when the profession of social work boomed, spawning professional training programs and professional associations for all aspects of social workers; psychological, medical and public social workers. (Day, 2009).

The first child labor bill to be enacted was the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 which prevented goods manufactured by child labor from crossing state lines and was subsequently struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The same fate awaited the second child labor bill, known as the child labor tax bill, that imposed a ten percent tax on goods created using child labor (Anonymous, Keating-Owen child labor act of 1916, 2009). Despite these failures and resistance from conservative sectors charging "Bolshevik" plots, Congress passed a constitutional amendment giving authority to the federal government to regulate child labor in 1924. However, too few states ratified the amendment and it never took effect (Anonymous, The Child Labor Education Project, 2009). Undeterred, children's advocates managed to enact child protection laws in every state by 1930 (Day, 2009).

By now momentum was on the side of child labor reform. In 1936, the Walsh-Healey Act took a stand that the United States would not purchase goods made using underage workers. The following year saw the enactment of the Sugar Act, which denied benefits to beet growers that violated state child labor standards (Anonymous, The Child Labor Education Project, 2009). It would be in June of 1938 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would sign the Fair Labor Standards Act which, in addition to establishing laws regarding wages and labor practices, would finally regulate child labor under federal law (Grossman, 2009).

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was important because it created a national standard that helped social workers prevent abuses to children in the labor sector (Grossman, 2009). Also important was the fact it aided the members of the National Labor Committee in one of their goals: compulsory education for all children (Anonymous, The Child Labor Education Project, 2009). The next change would occur with the FLSA amendment in 1949 which raised the minimum wage and extended the protections for child labor (Grossman, 2009).

Works Cited

Anonymous. (2009, October 23). Brief History of Medicare. Retrieved November 20, 2009, from SeniorJournal.com: http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/2000%20Files/Aug%2000/FTR-08-04-00MedCarHistry.htm

Anonymous. (2009). Keating-Owen child labor act of 1916. Retrieved Dec 1, 2009, from Our Documents: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=old&doc=59

Anonymous. (2009). The Child Labor Education Project. Retrieved December 1, 2009, from Child Labor in US History: http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_history.html

Anonymous. (1990, April 24). The Washinton post article: Bush signs act requiring records on hate crimes: Law called fruit of unprecedented collaboration of civil right, religious, gay groups. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from Highbeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1122947.html

Day, P. J. (2009). A New History Of Social Welfare. Boston: Pearson.

Fugazy, W. D. (2004, Sept 30). Opinion: Federal Hate Crimes Law. Retrieved December 1, 2009, from The New York Times: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E4D91538F933A0575AC0A9629C8B63

Grossman, J. (2009). History: Fair labor standards act of 1938. Retrieved December 1, 2009, from United States Department of Labor: http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/flsa1938.htm

Kennedy, E. M. (2007, November 30). Opinion: We must not tolerate hate crimes. Retrieved December 1, 2009, from The Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1130/p09s02-coop.html

Mitchell, D. (2009, November 7). National children's health insurance summit issues plea. Retrieved December 1, 2009, from EmaxHealth: http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/72/34361/national-children%E2%80%99s-health-insurance-summit-issues-plea.html

Seelye, K. (1999, April 7). U.S.: Citing primitive hatreds, Clinton asks congress to expand hate crimes law. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/07/us/citing-primitive-hatreds-clinton-asks-congress-to-expand-hate-crime-law.html

Shapiro, A. (2009, October 28). Obama set to sign bill widening hate crimes law. Retrieved December 1, 2009, from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114223708&ps=cprs

Terry, D. (1993, June 12). U.S. : The Supreme Court: the states and the law; in crackdown on bias, a new tool. Retrieved November 30, 2009, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/12/us/the-supreme-court-the-states-and-the-law-in-crackdown-on-bias-a-new-tool.html

Wynter, S. (2009). The long road to justice: The civil rights division at 50. Retrieved November 28, 2009, from Civilrights.org: http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/long-road/policing.html