Legislative Bulletin: Legislature Prepares for Final Month of Session
Time is Running Out to Advance Priority Legislation
In a change from previous weeks, LeadingAge NY’s priority legislation saw little movement in the Assembly and Senate this week. With just 15 days of session remaining, however, we anticipate that this will change quickly. The window of opportunity to advance our issues is rapidly closing, meaning it is critical for your lawmakers to hear from you as soon as possible. Over the past several months, we have had very limited email and social media engagement, with advocates sending their legislators a total of 290 emails, 15 tweets, and seven Facebook posts. We need to step these numbers up, particularly on Facebook and Twitter. A new resource from LeadingAge National that provides information on features and best practices for these platforms is available here.
Several of LeadingAge NY’s bills, highlighted below, have very few co-sponsors and will not move forward without more support:
- Affordable Independent Senior Housing Assistance Program (There are still only five Assembly co-sponsors (Barron, Colton, Jaffee, Rozic, and Taylor) and one multi-sponsor (McDonough). There is only one Senate co-sponsor: Funke.)
- CCRC Revitalization Act (There are still only three Assembly co-sponsors: Gottfried, Lupardo, and Morelle. There are no Senate co-sponsors.)
- CCRC Cybersecurity Regulations Exemption (As of this week, there are two Assembly co-sponsors: Lifton and Lupardo. There is one Senate co-sponsor: Akshar.)
- Hospice in the ALP (As of this week, there are six Assembly co-sponsors (Arroyo, Braunstein, Errigo, Hyndman, Murray, and Walsh) and eight multi-sponsors (Abbate, Barron, Dickens, Jones, Magee, McDonald, Rivera, and Taylor). There are still no Senate co-sponsors.)
- Role of the Nurse in Adult Care Facilities (ACFs) (There are still only five Assembly co-sponsors (Dinowitz, D’Urso, Galef, Lupardo, and McDonald) and one multi-sponsor (Lifton). There are no Senate co-sponsors.)
- SSI Increase for ACFs (There are currently 20 Assembly co-sponsors (Arroyo, Aubry, Blake, Bronson, Colton, D’Urso, Glick, Gunther, Jaffee, Joyner, Lupardo, Magnarelli, McDonald, Niou, Pichardo, Rozic, Seawright, Skoufis, Taylor, and Woerner) and three multi-sponsors (Magee, Simon, and Thiele). There are still only four Senate co-sponsors: Hannon, Helming, Savino, and Valesky.)
As you help build support for these bills, however, don’t forget about the ones that we need to stop! LeadingAge NY remains strongly opposed to the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act, legislation that would create specific staffing ratios for nurses and other direct care staff in hospitals and nursing homes at a cost of approximately $1.06 billion to nursing homes statewide. Click here to connect with your lawmakers, urging their opposition as well. If they have already signed on, be sure to educate and encourage them to remove their names. As of this week, there are 66 Assembly co-sponsors (Abinanti, Arroyo, Aubry, Barron, Benedetto, Bichotte, Blake, Bohen, Brabenec, Brindisi, Bronson, Byrne, Carroll, Castorina, Colton, Davila, De La Rosa, Dilan, Dinowitz, D'Urso, Errigo, Gottfried, Hevesi, Hunter, Hyndman, Jaffee, Jean-Pierre, Jones, Joyner, Kim, Lavine, Lentol, Magnarelli, B. Miller, M.G. Miller, M.L. Miller, Montesano, Mosley, Murray, Niou, O'Donnell, Ortiz, Otis, Pellegrino, Peoples-Stokes, Pheffer Amato, Pichardo, Richardson, Rivera, L. Rosenthal, Rozic, Ryan, Santabarbara, Seawright, Skoufis, Steck, Taylor, Titus, Vanel, Walker, Wallace, Weprin, Williams, Woerner, Wright, and Zebrowski) and 34 multi-sponsors (Abbate, Barnwell, Buchwald, Butler, Cahill, Cook, Crespo, Cusick, Cymbrowitz, DenDekker, Englebright, Fahy, Galef, Glick, Hooper, Jenne, Johns, Lifton, Lupardo, Magee, McDonough, Nolan, Paulin, Perry, Pretlow, Ra, Ramos, D. Rosenthal, Simon, Simotas, Solages, Thiele, Titone, and Walsh). There are 35 Senate co-sponsors: Addabbo, Alcantara, Avella, Bailey, Benjamin, Bonacic, Boyle, Breslin, Brooks, Carlucci, Comrie, Dilan, Gianaris, Griffo, Hamilton, Hoylman, Jacobs, Kaminsky, Kavanagh, Kennedy, Krueger, Lanza, Larkin, Mayer, Montgomery, Murphy, Parker, Peralta, Persaud, Robach, Sanders, Sepulveda, Serino, Serrano, and Stavisky.
LeadingAge NY’s Nursing Home-MLTC Rural Demonstration Bill Introduced in Both Houses
Late last week, Senate Housing Committee Chair Betty Little and Assemblyman Billy Jones introduced legislation that would authorize the Commissioner of Health to allow, in one or more rural areas, one or more Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) plans to enroll Medicaid beneficiaries and retain existing enrollees who are permanently placed in a nursing home on a demonstration basis.
Effective April 1, 2018, permanently-placed nursing home residents who have resided in a nursing home for longer than three consecutive months are excluded from MLTC enrollment. While this approach may be appropriate for more urban areas, in rural areas, the coordination of services to facilitate the return of an individual with intensive care needs to the community from a nursing home may require additional time. This legislation, introduced at LeadingAge NY’s request, would enable those plans and providers most able and interested in serving members who are permanently placed or are at greatest risk of permanent placement to continue partnering to do so and would allow interested individuals to continue to receive coordinated care tailored to their geographic realities.
To find your legislators’ contact information and urge their support for this important bill, please click here.
Legislature Interviews Prospective Attorney General Candidates
This week, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers conducted interviews of nearly a dozen candidates to fill out the remaining eight months of former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s term. Among the candidates was Acting Attorney General Barbara Underwood, who told the committee that she would be a “stabilizing and strong voice for the rule of law” and, by not seeking election in November, could manage the attorney general’s office without the distraction of campaigning.
A timeframe for the Legislature’s appointment is not yet clear, though it is unlikely to be announced before next week’s State Democratic Convention, during which the party will endorse a candidate for the November election. New York City Public Advocate Tish James, who last week opted not to participate in the selection process, announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination on Wednesday.
LeadingAge NY Annual Conference & Exposition is Next Week
Lastly, we are now just a few days away from the 2018 LeadingAge NY Annual Conference & Exposition in Saratoga Springs! Members are highly encouraged to register and join us at the Saratoga Hilton and Saratoga Springs City Center from Tues., May 22nd to Thurs., May 24th. As previously reported, Ami Schnauber, LeadingAge NY’s Vice President of Advocacy and Public Policy, and Corning Place Communications’ Paul Larrabee will be presenting a session on Thursday morning on the importance of having a presence in the social media space; how investment in social media can pay business and advocacy dividends; the first steps and strategies to get started on social media; and how members can prepare to effectively manage a challenge, a crisis, or criticisms. Later that afternoon, Ami will give another presentation with Dan Heim, LeadingAge NY’s Executive Vice President, on the pressing legislative and budget issues currently facing members. It will be a valuable opportunity to learn about the latest developments in Albany and what is in store for the rest of the Legislative Session. We hope you will be able to attend!
Contacts:
Ami Schnauber, aschnauber@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8854
Jeff Diamond, jdiamond@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8821