Legislative Bulletin: Priority Bills Moving Through Legislature
Important Priority Bill Movements
With several of LeadingAge NY’s priority bills advancing through the Legislature this week, we need you to take action! By visiting our advocacy campaign pages, linked below, you can connect with your legislators by phone, email, tweet, or Facebook. Calling your lawmakers, as a recent article in The New York Times explains, is perhaps the quickest, easiest, and most direct way to make your voice heard. “A phone ringing off the hook is more difficult for a lawmaker to ignore than a flooded inbox,” and a large volume of calls could make a particular issue “impossible to ignore.”
Staffing Ratios: A.1532 (Gunther), legislation which would create specific nurse staffing ratios in hospitals and nursing homes, advanced from the Assembly Health to the Assembly Codes Committee. LeadingAge NY continues to be strongly opposed to this bill. There is simply no available research to suggest that specific staffing ratios result in improved quality of care or quality of life. In fact, the only outcome of this bill would be higher operating costs and less quality of life programming for nursing home residents.
When the bill came up for a vote during the Assembly Health Committee meeting, Assemblymembers Schimminger, Walter, Garbarino, and Norris voted in the negative. If any of these lawmakers represent you, please reach out and thank them for opposing this legislation. We were disappointed, however, that Assemblywoman Galef, who opposed the bill in the past, voted in favor of it this year. If the Assemblywoman is your representative, we encourage you to call her office and voice your concerns about this unreasonable mandate.
LeadingAge NY's full memo of opposition is available here. You can access our advocacy tools by clicking here or by texting RATIOS to 52886.
ACF Resident Cause of Action: A.1422 (Weinstein), which would establish a cause of action by residents of adult care facilities (ACFs) to petition for appointment of a temporary operator, also advanced from the Assembly Health to the Assembly Codes Committee. LeadingAge NY is opposed to this legislation. The bill would make ACFs subject to the authority of both the New York State Department of Health – which is already responsible for identifying and correcting poor conditions in ACFs – and, on the accusation of any resident, the courts. It would allow any resident to sue an ACF if they believe their health, safety, or welfare is endangered. These parameters are highly subjective and could be used arbitrarily. LeadingAge NY believes that this broad power would expose ACFs to exorbitant and unnecessary legal fees.
When the bill was brought up for a vote in the Assembly Health Committee meeting, the Minority voted in the negative, with the exception of Assemblyman McDonough. We urge you to call your lawmakers and ask them to oppose this legislation. Additionally, you can email or fax them our opposition memo.
Role of the Nurse in an ACF: Lastly, A.2736 (Gottfried), legislation allowing all ACFs and assisted living providers that employ nurses the option to provide nursing services directly, was introduced in the Assembly earlier this week. This is vital to prevent unnecessary spending for ACFs. Click here to access LeadingAge NY’s memo of support and here to contact your lawmakers.
Advocacy Day Prep Call to be Held Feb. 3rd
The LeadingAge NY/Adult Day Health Care Council/Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State Advocacy Day is now less than two weeks away! Please join us in Albany on Tues., Feb. 7th as we work to ensure that seniors and aging services providers are properly represented in the Executive Budget. If you haven’t already, sign up now! You can review all the logistics on the Advocacy Day website as well.
In preparation for Advocacy Day, LeadingAge NY will be hosting a conference call on Fri. Feb. 3rd from 10:30-11:30 a.m. We will go over the event logistics and answer any questions that participants may have. To join, please dial 1-888-585-9008 and enter the Code (“Conf. Room”): 821-898-111. Materials will be distributed prior to the call.
Reminder: Contact Your Lawmakers to Schedule Advocacy Day Meetings!
Time is running out to request Advocacy Day meetings with your lawmakers. If your legislators are not available on Feb. 7th, you can request to meet with their top staff. Keep in mind that you can meet directly with representatives “off the floor,” meaning that you will meet briefly with them right outside of the Senate or Assembly Chamber, or in their district office if you cannot join us in Albany. Click here to find your legislators’ contact information.
If you need assistance with scheduling legislative meetings, have difficulty with registration, or need specific accommodations, please contact Jeff Diamond at 518-867-8821.
Budget Advocacy Action Items
As we have previously reported, the release of the Governor’s Executive Budget Proposal means that we need to get our budget advocacy efforts in full swing. Please continue to reach out to your legislators and engage them on the issues outlined below.
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Transportation Carve-Out: The Governor’s budget once again proposes carving out transportation from the MLTC benefit package. This benefit would instead be delivered on a fee-for-service basis through the State’s Transportation Manager consistent with Mainstream Managed Care. Click here to send a pre-written letter directly to your lawmakers, asking them to ensure that rates are adequate and that plans are able to appropriately coordinate the care of their enrollees.
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SSI Increase for ACFs: Despite our advocacy efforts, this year’s budget did not include an increase for SSI. S.2137 (Serino) would implement such an increase in the SSI rate for ACFs by $7.50 per day, phased in over two years. If passed, the first $2.50 per day increase would happen on Jan. 1, 2018, and then again on April 1, 2018. The third and final $2.50 increase would occur on April 1, 2019. Click here to access LeadingAge NY's memo of support and here to send a letter to your lawmakers asking them to include these provisions in the budget.
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Capital Funds for Assisted Living Programs: A.1612 (Magnarelli) and A.1650 (Magnarelli) would enable ALPs to access funding to assist with increasing workforce and operational costs, tighter budgets, and much-needed capital improvements. In spite of our advocacy efforts, this funding is not included in the Governor’s budget proposal. Click here for LeadingAge NY’s memo of support and here to send a letter to your legislators asking that this important funding be included in the budget.
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Capital and Services Funding for Senior Housing: The Governor’s proposed budget includes $125 million of capital funds for senior housing over five years. We will be urging legislators to support this request, and to add $10 million to the budget for the Senior Service Coordinator Program, which would put up to 125 new service coordinators in new and existing senior housing around the state. Click here to support the capital and Service Coordinator initiative.
Senator Peralta Joins IDC
Democrat Jose Peralta announced this week that he will join the Senate Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), expanding the group to eight members. In a statement issued by the IDC, which remains aligned with Senate Republicans, Senator Peralta explained that the move would enable him to “affect progressive change on issues like affordable housing, higher education, school funding equity, homelessness reforms, economic development, infrastructure upgrades, affordable healthcare, senior citizen protections, and so much more.”
With Senator Peralta’s defection, the mainline Democratic Conference is now down to just 23 members.
LeadingAge NY Releases Executive Budget Summary
In case you missed it, LeadingAge NY this week released a memo summarizing in detail the health, Medicaid, and housing proposals included in the Governor’s Executive Budget Proposal. The document discusses proposals that affect multiple service lines, service-line specific proposals, and other initiatives relevant to long term care and senior services providers.
Important Upcoming Dates
Lastly, a reminder of two important upcoming dates: LeadingAge NY will be testifying at the Health/Medicaid hearing on Feb. 16th and providing testimony for the Housing budget hearing on Feb. 9th.
Contacts:
Ami Schnauber, aschnauber@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8854
Jeff Diamond, jdiamond@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8821