Legislative Bulletin: All Hands on Deck – Your Advocacy is Needed at Every Level

April 18, 2025

State Policy Differences Begin to Resolve, but Budget Negotiations Continue

This week, the Legislature passed two separate budget extenders which together, carry the State’s budget work through Wed., April 23^rd and maintain state funding at FY 2024-25 levels. The Legislature was in Albany on Tuesday and Thursday of this week to pass each extender, and slowly but surely, it appears that the Legislature and the Governor are beginning to resolve some of the policy issues which have delayed the finalization of the state budget up until this point. While some progress has been made, most legislators hurried back to their districts on Thursday in preparation for another spring holiday weekend.

 State legislators are again expected to return to Albany on Tuesday to resume budget work and, if necessary, another budget extender may be introduced and passed on Wednesday.

As negotiations drag on, LeadingAge New York is continuing to urge lawmakers to keep long-term care (LTC) and aging services at the forefront of state budget discussions. But we need our members’ help to keep our budget requests top-of-mind!

ACTION NEEDED: Members are strongly encouraged to call and visit State legislators in their district offices over the next week!

• Members can find state legislators’ contact information and district office locations here.
• Use these state budget issue briefs, including our latest pieces on nursing home capital cuts, closures, and a new flyer pointing out additional costs associated with state staffing penalties and proposed increases to MTA payroll taxes (more on this below).

All of these materials can be used to inform your phone calls and conversations with legislative offices. Please feel free to reach out to Sarah Daly at sdaly@leadingageny.org if you would like to discuss messaging and focus of your conversations with state legislators. 

LeadingAge NY will continue to closely monitor state budget developments, and advocate for the funding and reforms that reflect the real needs of New York’s older adults and the mission-driven providers who care for them.

 

A New Concern: Proposal to Increase MTA Payroll Tax

Earlier this month, LeadingAge NY became aware of a revitalized proposal to increase the MTA payroll mobility tax. While we have not seen any recent proposal in writing, we understand that the increase to the tax that is under consideration could apply to downstate nonprofit LTC providers such as nursing homes, home care agencies, and other settings critical to the wellbeing of older adults. 

LeadingAge New York is asking legislators for an exemption. We are noting for legislators, that nursing homes and other LTC providers are already experiencing significant financial strain, operating on outdated and inadequate government reimbursement and working to recruit and retain healthcare staff in a highly competitive labor market.  Additional tax burdens could jeopardize their ability to continue to operate, and could also negate the Legislature’s efforts to provide critical increases in Medicaid funding for the services older adults and their families rely on.

LeadingAge NY members are encouraged to join us in telling legislators and legislative leadership that not-for-profit LTC and aging services providers should be exempt from any increase in the MTA payroll mobility tax in this year’s budget. LTC and aging services providers deliver essential and labor-intensive, in-person services.  Unlike many employers, they cannot shift to remote work, and they would be heavily burdened by an increase in this tax. 

In addition, our latest nursing home advocacy flyer points out that proposed Medicaid reimbursement increases will not have the desired impact, if providers are simultaneously forced to absorb unforeseen taxes, new cuts, or new penalties based on labor market conditions beyond their control.  Members are encouraged to share the flyer with legislative offices as you speak with them about this proposal.

 

Federal Advocacy Needed: Tax Exempt Bonds and Federal Medicaid Funding are at Risk!

As we reported last week, Congress has agreed on a new Federal budget resolution that provides a framework for up to $1.5 trillion in spending reductions, setting the stage for the budget reconciliation process now underway. The next step of the process involves Federal budget committees making their recommendations for policy changes and specific funding cuts that would reach the new reduced spending goals of Congress. Although Congress is currently on recess, we are hearing that robust budget work is continuing behind the scenes, as House leadership has set an internal deadline of May 9 for advancing the congressional reconciliation package to the President. Notably, this internal deadline is nonbinding.

The budget reconciliation process poses significant threat to many programs that are critical to the wellbeing of older adults and the providers who serve them. Two especially concerning proposals under consideration include:

1. Elimination of Tax-Exempt Municipal Bonds: Congress is considering the elimination of tax exemption for interest earned on municipal bonds as a way to help pay for the cost of the budget package. LeadingAge’s nonprofit and mission-driven members across the care continuum rely on tax-exempt bond financing for many purposes, including expanding existing senior living campuses to enhance offerings and serve more residents, modernizing and renovating existing buildings, refinancing of existing debt, and developing new projects, including affordable housing. If you are concerned about the elimination of tax-exempt bonds, please click here to send a message to Congress! It only takes a few clicks!​​​​​​​
2. Cuts/Changes to Medicaid: While the specific funding goals of the Senate and House had not previously been in alignment (Senate looking to reduce spending by $4 billion and House aiming for $1.5-2 trillion), amidst resolution work last week there was verbal agreement between leadership that Congress would reduce spending by at least $1.5 trillion in the reconciliation process.  

This level of spending reduction would not be mathematically possible without significant cuts to Medicaid (approx. 880 billion). The methods used to attain this level of spending reduction are yet to be determined, but it is critical that we urge Congress to do right by older adults in the budget reconciliation process! Click here to send a message to Congress today!

Action Needed!

As Congress works toward its May 9 goal, now is the time to act. LeadingAge members and advocates must stay engaged to protect critical funding for Medicaid, affordable senior housing, and other mechanisms that support nonprofits such as tax-exempt bonds.

• Send a message to Congress using the digital advocacy letters available in the LeadingAge National Action Center.  Sending these letters only takes a few clicks!
• Reach out to your members of Congress during the April 14–25 recess. Use LeadingAge lobby day materials to help hit the main talking points, but remember: telling your personal and professional story to your members of Congress is most important! Congressmembers need to hear the real-world consequences of proposals being considered.

Your voice and those of others who care about the wellbeing of older adults are what will make the difference in the budget reconciliation process. Further, the funding decisions made by the Federal government will impact the dollars that New York State has to support its long-term care system. We appreciate you making the time to do this important advocacy work.  

 

Don’t Stop Now! Please Send State Budget Letters and Amplify Social Media Messages

With New York State budget work ongoing, perhaps threatening to continue through the end of April, we must keep advocating for top budget priorities to be included in the final budget for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2025-26. It is crucial that we maintain the urgency and frequency of our message to ensure that our priorities do not fall off the negotiating table.

Please continue to push for the investments and restorations that LTC providers need, and the funding that the people you serve deserve; use the tools below to continue to advocate with your state legislators and the governor now!

Please take a moment to click one or more of the below links to send an email to elected officials today! It only takes a few clicks!  

• Nursing Home Budget Letter – additional letters for board members, staff teams, family members, etc. are here.
• Adult Care Facilities/Assisted Living Budget Letter
• Home & Community-Based Services Budget Letter
• Managed Long-Term Care Budget Letter
•  Adult Day Health Care Budget Letter

Engage others in advocacy! Print and share advocacy flyers to increase our digital advocacy reach. Flyers can be printed and left in lobby areas or shared digitally with families and volunteers:

• Family Advocacy Flyer
• Constituent/Volunteer Advocacy Flyer
• ​​​​​​​Workforce Advocacy Flyer

Finally, social media advocacy is a great way to capture the attention of lawmakers and urge them to prioritize the care and service needs of older adults! LeadingAge NY has a state budget social media toolkit, which provides pre-written social media posts, along with graphics and videos created by members, residents and staff; and we are adding new graphics and messages to this toolkit throughout the remainder of state budget work. Using imagery and videos on social media to tell our story has proven effective in recent years, but we need our members to help us get our message out there in front of elected officials and the public!

The social media toolkit makes social media advocacy easy: simply download the image that you wish to use, copy the caption from the toolkit, and create a new post on your personal or professional social media accounts. Just be sure that your post “tags” the elected officials we are trying to focus our advocacy on. You will know the legislator has been tagged when their name lights up in blue.

Thank you to all our members who have advocated with us so far this year! We appreciate any energies you can dedicate toward advocacy during these delayed state budget negotiations. If we can maintain our advocacy momentum, our unified message will have a strong influence on the final state budget.  

 

Need to Know: Top State & Federal Budget Advocacy Resources

There is a lot of activity right now at the State and Federal level that will affect the funding available for LTC and aging services providers in New York. To keep things as simple as possible, below is a simple list of the most salient advocacy actions and resources we ask members to implement as we advocate to protect and increase the funding available for our membership. Your advocacy is critical, and we thank you for all your efforts!

1. Social Media Toolkit – Take your advocacy to social media and tag elected officials!
2. State Digital Budget Advocacy Letters – Keep up the pressure on State Legislators and the Governor!
3. State Budget Issue Briefs – All Service Lines – To inform phone calls to State Legislators
4. LeadingAge National Action Center – Advocate Federally to protect tax exempt bonds, Medicaid and other funding!
5. National Issue Briefs: All Service Lines – To inform conversations and advocacy with members of Congress
6. Contribute to LeadingAge NY PAC Today! – Support our relationship building with elected officials

 

Contact: Sarah Daly; 518.867.8845; sdaly@leadingageny.org