Legislative Bulletin: End of Session Bill Round-Up and Ongoing Advocacy

May 23, 2025

End of Session Bill Round-Up and Ongoing Advocacy

There are three weeks remaining of the 2025 New York State Legislative Session. The final day of this year’s session is scheduled for June 12^th, however, there are already rumors that the State Assembly may opt to stay in Albany a few days longer, until June 18^th, to ensure the chamber can accomplish its legislative goals. In addition, New York policymakers are closely watching the Federal Budget Reconciliation process, and it is possible that state legislators and the Governor may need to return to Albany later this year to accommodate any reductions in funding from the Federal government (more on this below).

Over these final weeks of session, lawmakers will be taking up their remaining legislative priorities and passing a high-volume of bills. With many long-term care-related issues still front-of-mind for legislators, and with some of LeadingAge New York's own policy priorities remaining unaddressed, we need members to continue to advocate with us throughout the remainder of this legislative session.

Below are digital advocacy campaigns for many of LeadingAge New York’s top legislative priorities. We are working diligently behind the scenes, sharing memos and communicating with offices, urging for the support and opposition of all priority bills. However, we need member advocacy to ensure that your individual legislators know that these are constituent priority issues as well.

Please use the links below to email your legislators on priority bills today! Each link will bring you to a webpage where you can learn about the issue, read our legislative memo, and enter your information to send an email to legislators and the governor. All of the below action items – especially for the bills we oppose – are relevant and important to send right now. Please use these easy email links today!

In addition to engaging in advocacy action alerts, we ask members to please maintain connection and conversations with legislative offices on bills and financial developments. If you have not already thanked your legislators for their support during this year’s state budget cycle, we recommend you do so as soon as possible. A template thank you note for state legislative offices is available here.

Thank you in advance for sticking with us for the remainder of the 2025 Legislative Session! We will keep you apprised of the latest advocacy action items via our Friday Legislative Bulletins and with other more urgent updates as needed.

Bill Advances to Senate Calendar: Please Oppose Enhanced Penalties on Long-Term Care Providers

A piece of legislation which LeadingAge NY strongly opposes was advanced out of the Senate Health Committee this week and was placed on the Senate Calendar. Unfortunately, the bill has now advanced to both the Senate and the Assembly Calendar, which means it could be called up for debate or a vote on either house floor, on any upcoming session day.

The bill, A.1118 (Paulin)/S.5744 (Cleare), would raise the maximum penalties for violations of the Public Health Law. These enhanced penalties would apply to any individual or organization that violates the Public Health Law. The bill’s memorandum, however, focuses on the impact of the bill on long-term/post-acute care (LTPAC) providers.

In short, this bill could increase State and local health fines from the current range per violation of $2,000 to $10,000, raising fines to a range of $3,000 to $20,000. We must advocate against this bill NOW if we want to stop it from advancing further.

Click here to contact your legislators urging them to reject an increase in penalties for nursing homes and other LTC providers!

In addition, members are encouraged to call State Assembly Members and Senators offices to vocalize your concerns and explain why your organization cannot endure more hefty penalties amidst inadequate reimbursement. Remind offices that there is a $1.6 billion Medicaid funding gap for NY nursing home care, and that this year’s final state budget failed to restore any recent cuts to capital reimbursement and only provides $160 M (approx. 2%) in new Medicaid investment ($285M is continued funding from SFY 2025). Members may use the above digital letter content and our memo of opposition to inform your conversations. Feel free to reach out to LeadingAge NY policy team if you have any questions.

Please Continue to Oppose New Unfunded Mandates on Nursing Homes!

Another bill which LeadingAge NY strongly opposes was recently approved by the Senate Health Committee and was reported to the Senate Finance Committee. The legislation, A.1365-A (Paulin)/S.15-A (Skoufis), would require nursing homes to develop and submit to the Department of Health (DOH) a plan for a designated location for the storage of bodies of deceased persons who pass while living in a nursing home, in the event of a declared disaster emergency. While the bill has been amended to require a plan for emergency response, this legislation will ultimately impose new, costly requirements on most nursing home providers, many of which are already experiencing financial distress.

First and foremost, LeadingAge NY and our members believe that the remains of all individuals deserve the utmost respect and courtesy upon passing, even in an emergency. However, under current and normal circumstances, there is no need for this kind of designated storage in nursing homes. The issues with securing decedents that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic were largely due to insufficient capacity in funeral homes and municipal morgues. As a response to that tragic circumstance, this bill would impose on nursing homes alone, a new and costly responsibility that should instead be borne by state and municipal authorities.

Bill A.1365-A (Paulin)/S.15-A (Skoufis) is now in Senate Finance Committee and has already been passed by the Assembly. Therefore, we must strengthen our advocacy against this new, unfunded mandate on nursing home providers!

Take Action Now: Please click here to email your State Senators and the Governor against this legislation!

In addition, if your State Senator sits on the Senate Finance Committee we strongly recommend you call their Albany office to vocalize your opposition to this bill! You can share our LeadingAge NY memo of opposition to this bill, available here. Talking points on this bill are available in recent editions of Legislative Bulletin.

Oppose Requiring Written Consent for Antipsychotic Medications

Another piece of legislation which LeadingAge NY opposes was recently advanced to the Assembly Floor Calendar and laid aside for debate. Bill A.1461-A (Paulin)/S.893-A (Sepulveda) would require an enhanced level of informed consent before antipsychotic medications can be prescribed for residents of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The legislation makes two major changes to state laws in an effort to reduce the use of antipsychotic medications:

Requires health care professionals to receive written consent from the resident or the resident’s “lawful representative” before initiating an antipsychotic medication; and
Requires that written consent be renewed every 12 months.

LeadingAge New York supports the goal of this legislation – to further reduce the inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications in nursing homes. However, the strategy this bill would deploy – enhanced consent in writing – is misguided and could negatively impact residents and families.

It is reasonable and appropriate to require oral consent; however, written consent poses barriers to care for residents of nursing homes and their families. In addition, there are already ample federal and state guardrails in place to safeguard against the unnecessary use of antipsychotics.

TAKE ACTION NOW: Please click here to email elected officials in opposition to this legislation!

House Budget Reconciliation Bill Advances to the Senate

Early Thursday morning, the House of Representatives passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” H.R. 1 on a party line vote of 215-214 and advanced the bill to the Senate for consideration. Two Republican representatives who say they would have voted yes missed the vote (Rep. Andrew Garbarino (NY) and Rep. David Schweikert (AZ)). The manager's amendment, which was released late night May 21, moved up the implementation of three Medicaid policies. The change to retroactive eligibility coverage from three months to one month, the work requirements and the increased eligibility checks moved to December 31, 2026 (or earlier at the discretion of the state). For work requirements and increased eligibility checks, these moves reflect less time for states to implement these policies; for the retroactive eligibility, states were given two additional months.

In a May 22 statement, LeadingAge spoke out on the bill, stating that “If enacted, the policies in the House-passed bill will have a devastating impact on millions of older adults and their families who rely on Medicaid and Medicare for health care and long-term care and services, and on our nonprofit provider members who serve them.

“LeadingAge will continue to work with the Senate to oppose the House’s purposeful removal of at least 10 million people from their health insurance, cutting $500 billion from Medicare, and the slashing of $800 billion in federal Medicaid funding to states–actions that will shred the health safety net for older adults and ultimately drive up healthcare costs… We urge the Senate: do not follow in the House’s footsteps,” said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge.

Members can follow all Budget Reconciliation 2025 developments through this serial post.

In addition, New York policymakers are closely watching the Federal Budget Reconciliation process and are monitoring potential impacts on the State Budget. In the days leading up to the passage of the budget reconciliation bill in the House, Governor Hochul issued a statement estimating that the Federal budget proposal would cost New York State’s healthcare economy $13.5 billion. Depending on the final outcomes of the Federal Budget Reconciliation, it is possible that State legislators and the Governor will need to return to Albany to adjust the budget to account for the loss of Federal dollars and to accommodate new administrative requirements.

LeadingAge NY will continue to engage members in Federal advocacy, and will be in touch with next steps.

LeadingAge NY Publishes Comprehensive Budget Memo

The final budget for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2025-26 was passed on May 8^th. While the estimated $254 billion State budget includes some successes that should not be overlooked, the overall outcomes are disappointing, and there is more work to be done. The final budget provides some new and continued investments in long-term care, but it does not provide the level of funding or support that older adults and medically vulnerable individuals need, and serious funding gaps remain.

In case you missed it, LeadingAge NY issued a comprehensive final budget memo summarizing the portions of the State budget most relevant to our members on Fri., May 16^th. Members are encouraged to review the memo for a detailed breakdown of the budget outcomes.

LeadingAge NY remains committed to advocating for policies that uphold the dignity and well-being of older adults and individuals with disabilities, and we will continue to keep members apprised of updates and advocacy needed.

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