Legislative Bulletin: Budget Revenue Consensus Reached

Leaders Reach Consensus on Budget Revenue

Governor Cuomo and legislative leaders reached agreement this week on the revenue amount for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2017-18, estimating that receipts will be $200 million more than what was projected in the Executive Budget Proposal. The full Consensus Economic and Revenue Forecast Report is available here. The Assembly had initially projected that revenues would be $1.029 billion more than the Governor’s forecast, while the Senate had an estimate of $345 million.

With One-House Bills Coming, Your Advocacy is Needed!

Reaching revenue consensus is a critically important step in the budget negotiation process. With just under a month until the April 1^st deadline, the Assembly and Senate are now finalizing their budget priorities and are expected to release their one-house bills next week. Your legislators need to hear from you! As a reminder: if our issues are not addressed in at least one of the one-house bills, it is highly unlikely that they will be part of the final enacted budget. In these critical days, we urge you to contact your lawmakers on the following initiatives:

Home Care Workforce Hearing Recap

On Monday, Ami Schnauber, LeadingAge NY’s Vice President of Advocacy and Public Policy, testified at the second public hearing on home care workforce challenges. Among the topics she addressed in her remarks were the declining availability of younger New Yorkers to care for seniors, the stark regional differences in recruitment and retention difficulties, and recommendations to expand the long-term/post-acute care (LTPAC) workforce and support the efficient and effective utilization of workers.

The entire workforce hearing can be viewed here. To see Ami’s testimony, click her name in the list below the video. LeadingAge NY’s written testimony is also available here.

TBI/NHTD Managed Care Carve-Out Bill Passes Senate

Thanks to strong advocacy efforts, S.1870 (Hannon), legislation that would carve traumatic brain injury (TBI) and nursing home diversion and transition (NHTD) Medicaid waiver services out of managed care, passed the Senate on Wednesday by a vote of 60-0. The bill now moves on to the Assembly, where it has been reported to the Ways and Means Committee. This is an important victory, and we need to continue this strong support moving forward. Click here to access LeadingAge NY’s memo of support.

Advocacy Alert: ACF Death and Felony Crime Reporting Bill on Assembly Floor Calendar

A.2702 (Gottfried), legislation relating to death and felony crime reports in certain ACFs, has been placed on the Assembly Floor Calendar for Mon., March 6^th. The bill would include enriched housing programs among the ACFs that must, within 24 hours: (1) report any death or attempted suicide of a resident to the Department of Health (DOH); (2) report felonies believed to have been committed against residents to appropriate law enforcement authorities; and (3) report deaths, attempted suicides, and felonies involving residents who at any time received mental hygiene services to the Justice Center. The 24-hour reporting requirement would amend the 48-hour requirement set forth in existing law.

LeadingAge NY opposes this bill for several reasons, one being that it is contrary to the direction of one of the proposals within the package endorsed by the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT). The MRT package includes a recommendation to report only those deaths that are suspicious in nature. It seems unnecessary to report to DOH that a resident receiving hospice care has passed away. Even more unnecessary is having investigations conducted by DOH; while some deaths may warrant closer investigation, many people move into ACFs near the end of life. For those deaths that would still require reporting, LeadingAge NY recommends that the 24-hour requirement for reporting deaths be effective only on business days, for both adult homes and enriched housing programs. In addition, the reporting requirement should be amended to indicate that the operator is responsible for reporting the death within 24 hours of having learned of its occurrence.

We urge you to call your Assemblymember today and urge him or her to oppose this bill when it comes up for a vote. Additionally, our opposition memo, which you can email or fax to your representative, is available here.

Governor Cuomo Announces Second Round of Broadband Funding

This week, Governor Cuomo announced Round II of funding for the New NY Broadband Program, which aims to provide broadband access to all New Yorkers by the end of 2018. In total, Round II will drive $268 million in public-private investment and will support a total of 54 projects that will reach 89,514 homes and institutions in unserved and underserved communities.

The Round II grants will be distributed across the state as follows:

Governor Cuomo to Set Special Elections for May 23^rd

Lastly, Governor Cuomo has announced that he will set Tues., May 23^rd as the date for special elections to fill two vacancies in the Legislature. The winners will fill seats formerly held by Senator Bill Perkins, who was elected to the New York City Council, and Assemblyman Joseph Saladino, who was appointed supervisor of the Town of Oyster Bay on Long Island.

Contacts:

Ami Schnauber, aschnauber@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8854

Jeff Diamond, jdiamond@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8821