Legislative Bulletin: Legislature Passes One-House Budget Resolutions

Assembly and Senate Pass One-House Budget Resolutions

Late Monday evening, just hours before Winter Storm Stella blanketed the state in over two feet of snow, the Assembly and Senate released their one-house budget bills. With session cancelled on Tuesday, the Legislature passed their one-house budget resolutions on Wednesday. A summary of the Assembly’s proposals can be found here, and the Senate’s overview is available here. Additionally, LeadingAge NY has revised its original budget memo from January to include the Assembly and Senate responses to each of the Governor’s proposals. The memo is also available on our 2017-18 State Budget Advocacy webpage.

We are very pleased that all of our key priorities are reflected in the one-house bills. This is a testament to the hard work of our members, our staff, and our lobbyists, Hinman Straub. Strong advocacy makes a difference. Thank you for all that you have done to make sure your legislators are informed. But our job isn’t done yet. We need to work hard over the next couple weeks to ensure that these successes are replicated in the final enacted budget.

With just two weeks left until the April 1^st deadline, we need your help to ensure that seniors and aging services providers’ concerns are adequately addressed in the final budget. Please CALL your legislators and connect with them on social media to let them know how these proposals will impact your organization and those you serve. Ask them to work with their colleagues to ensure that your priorities are included in the final budget. Reminder: Facebook and Twitter are incredibly powerful tools in spreading our message and building support for our initiatives. They truly amplify your voice and your message. Your posts will make a huge difference! It is imperative that you make direct contact with your lawmakers rather than sending a letter, because they are unlikely to see your letter during this hectic budget time.

We are pleased to report that both the Assembly and Senate have rejected the MLTC transportation carve-out and the nursing home bed hold cut. Given the Legislature’s strong support for this, we do not think it is necessary to do further grassroots advocacy on these two issues. Therefore, as you connect with lawmakers today and early next week, we encourage you to focus on the following four initiatives:

1. Ensure MLTC Rate Adequacy and a Nursing Home Rate Cell
   • Call your lawmakers with the following message: “Support rate adequacy for managed long term care to ensure that long term care plans and providers are able to meet wage mandates and continue to provide quality care. Please support a nursing home rate cell to meet the needs of nursing home residents.”
   • Follow up your call by posting this same message on Facebook and Twitter.
2. Support an SSI Increase and the Restoration of the Enriched Housing Subsidy for ACFs
   • Call your lawmakers and say: “Thank you for including an increase for SSI adult care facility residents in the one-house budget bill. Please work to include the $20 per day increase that the Senate budget has proposed in the final enacted budget.”
   • Follow up your call by posting this same message on Facebook and Twitter.
3. Support Capital and Services Funding for Senior Housing
   • Call your lawmakers and say: “Thank you for including the $125 million appropriation for senior housing in the one-house budget. Please build on this by including language that would create a new dedicated Affordable Senior Housing and Services Program providing coordinated capital, rental assistance, and services funding. A separate program is the only way to ensure that enough independent senior housing with service coordination is built to meet the exploding demand expected in the coming years. I also urge you to add $10 million to the budget for the Senior Resident Service Coordinator Program, which would put up to 125 new service coordinators in new and existing senior housing around the state.”
   • Follow up your call by posting this same message on Facebook and Twitter.
4. Support Capital Funding for the LTPAC Sector
   • Call your lawmakers and say: “Thank you for increasing funding for health care capital. However, it is critical that the final budget include a dedicated fund for long term care providers and include hospice and assisted living providers as eligible recipients. Long term care providers have only received about 1% of recent state capital grant awards – this will not change unless you commit a dedicated amount for long term care.”
   • Follow up your call by posting this same message on Facebook and Twitter.

These are just sample scripts to get you started. We encourage you to tell your lawmakers why these issues are important to your organization. LeadingAge NY’s Find My Legislators tool is available here.

The General Budget Conference Committee (the “Mothership”) is expected to convene early next week, paving the way for the joint legislative budget subcommittees to begin their work toward negotiating a final budget. The Assembly announced its committee appointments on Thursday; the Senate’s appointments have not yet been released.

CBO Releases Report on ACA Replacement Bill

Earlier this week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its analysis of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The CBO estimated that the AHCA would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 24 million over the next decade while reducing federal deficits by $337 billion. Fourteen million more people would be uninsured in 2018 alone, though most of this increase would result from people choosing not to purchase coverage after the repeal of the individual mandate penalties. The reductions in coverage between 2018 and 2026, however, would largely be the result of changes in Medicaid enrollment. According to the report, “because some states would discontinue their expansion of eligibility, some states that would have expanded eligibility in the future would choose not to do so, and per-enrollee spending in the program would be capped.” By 2026, federal Medicaid spending would be roughly 25 percent less than what is projected under current law, and the program would cover 14 million fewer people.

As previously reported, LeadingAge NY and other provider associations recently issued a joint letter to the New York congressional delegation expressing concerns about the fundamental changes being proposed for Medicaid. The letter explains how reduced federal support for New York’s Medicaid program would be disastrous and urges representatives to oppose block grant and per capita cap proposals, which would open Medicaid up to annual battles over funding and almost certainly result in cuts over time. LeadingAge National has published an issue brief on Medicaid block grants and is strongly urging members to engage with lawmakers on this subject. The New York State Department of Health (DOH) has issued its own review of the impact the reforms would have on New York. Click here to send a letter to your congressional representatives, asking them to preserve Medicaid’s present structure and financing and keep its expansion in place.

President Trump Unveils $1.15 Trillion Budget Proposal

On Thursday, President Trump unveiled his first federal budget proposal, a $1.15 trillion plan calling for significant increases in military spending and cuts across other agencies. It eliminates 62 programs and agencies, including health professions and nursing training programs, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and Community Services Block Grants in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In addition, the proposal eliminates the Community Development Block Grant program and the Section 4 Capacity Building for Community Development and Affordable Housing program in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

LeadingAge PEAK Leadership Summit is Next Week!

Lastly, the annual LeadingAge PEAK Leadership Summit will be held in Washington, DC next week, with a full day of Hill visits on Wed., March 22^nd. LeadingAge NY staff and members will be participating in a series of meetings with the New York congressional delegation, beginning with Senator Gillibrand’s office at 10:30 am and ending with Congressman Eliot Engel’s office at 5 pm. A New York-specific issue brief and the Lobby Day meeting schedule were emailed to participants this afternoon. If you did not receive these items, please contact Jeff Diamond.

If you are unable to join us at PEAK, no need to worry! You can still reach out to your lawmakers and let them know about the issues most important to you and your organization. We encourage you to share our issue brief with them.

Contacts:

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

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