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Legislative Bulletin: State Legislative Session Concludes Amidst Ongoing Federal Budget Reconciliation

June 20, 2025

While this is the last Legislative Bulletin of the year, LeadingAge New York will provide periodic advocacy updates in our Tuesday Intelligence publication and via direct member action alerts/updates. Additionally, members can stay engaged on all LeadingAge New York advocacy efforts via our Public Affairs Council and LeadingAge National Policy Pulse calls.

2025 State Legislative Session Concludes, While Federal Budget Work Continues

The New York State Legislature concluded their 2025 legislative work on June 17th, with the Assembly adjourning at the call of the Speaker. The Senate completed their work several days earlier, on June 12th.

The close of session involved the typical long days, filled by rapid debate and passage of bills. However, unique to this year, the State Legislature wrapped up its work while consequential budget proposals are being considered and debated federally. As of this writing, the Legislature has addressed all state budget and legislative work for the year, however, it is likely that lawmakers will need to return to Albany in the fall if the federal budget reconciliation process creates a significant loss of federal funding for New York (more on this below).

LeadingAge NY is digesting all of this year’s legislative activities and bill movements and will provide a comprehensive Legislative Bill Summary to members no later than July 2nd. The summary will review the bills passed by both houses and over one hundred other priority bills that we tracked and advocated for or against during the 2025 legislative session. In the meantime, members may review the high-level outcomes of priority legislation in the final section of this bulletin titled, “End of Session Bill Round-Up”.

As the year’s legislative session comes to a close, we extend our heartfelt thanks to all our members for your dedicated participation in advocacy this year! Since November, our network of advocates sent thousands of letters to lawmakers, placed hundreds of phone calls to legislative offices, and held hundreds of meetings with legislators and policy makers. Your advocacy has spanned budget, regulatory and legislative issues, both state and federal. We are truly amazed by your engagement in advocacy on top of all you do for the individuals in your care.

We wish our members a restful and joyful summer, and we are hopeful that you will continue to have important conversations with state and federal elected officials as they return to their districts in the coming weeks and months.  

 

ACTION ALERT: Call Members of Congress to Oppose Proposed Cuts & Changes to Medicaid

The federal budget reconciliation process is moving quickly, and we need members to join us in advocating against measures that will negatively impact long-term care and aging services. The federal budget reconciliation bill is estimated to cost New York $13.5 billion or more based on the budget bill passed by the House of Representatives, and it could become more costly due to proposals being considered by the U.S. Senate.

On June 16, the Senate Finance Committee (SFC), which has jurisdiction over tax as well as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, released draft text of the Senate’s version of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), including proposed health measures. A LeadingAge article comparing the new Senate bill text to the House version is available here. The Senate version expands upon the house bill (H.R. 1), making financial implications for New York State’s health care economy potentially worse via further changes to provider taxes and state directed payments.

The Senate could be finalizing and advancing this bill as early as next week, as there is some political interest in completing the budget reconciliation process entirely before July 4th.  

LeadingAge NY member advocacy is most critical right now! Please join us in contacting your members of Congress today, over the weekend, and early next week to urge them to oppose cuts and policy changes that will negatively impact aging services providers, older adults and individuals living with disabilities.

Please call Your Representatives early and often! Click here to find your Member of the House of Representatives and call their offices. You can also call the Congressional switchboard and ask to speak with your Representative: 202-224-3121.

Call your Representative with the following talking points as soon as possible:

  • My name is ____ and I work at [Organization], serving your district.
  • I’m calling to urge you to oppose the budget reconciliation bill, as it includes some extremely harmful proposals which will impact older adults, people living with disabilities, and the aging services providers who care for them.
  • The budget bill being considered by Congress is being rushed through without adequate input from stakeholders and constituents. Meanwhile, the bill would cut $800 billion or more in federal Medicaid funding.
  • New York State has estimated that the house budget bill would cost New Yorkers $13.5 billion in health care costs alone. New Yorkers would lose billions more in funding if health provisions proposed by the Senate are also included in budget reconciliation.
  • These billions of dollars in cuts to New York will put massive financial strain on health care providers and consumers will feel the impact.
  • Providers will be forced to either reduce services to balance budgets, or close entirely.
  • In your district and in our state, access to long-term care services for people as they age is already a challenge. For example, there are over 7,000 nursing home beds offline right now due to lack of staff, and 70,000 nursing home beds are operating in the red (with significant financial losses).
  • New Yorkers and our health care system cannot afford to lose critical federal funding and absorb new administrative costs.
  • I urge you to OPPOSE any budget reconciliation proposals that would negatively impact New York’s health care system, including:
    • any changes to provider taxes,
    • changes to retroactive Medicaid payments,
    • changes to state direct payments,
    • work requirements (which will impose heavy administrative burden on providers), and
    • any other measures that would reduce the amount of funding available to New York’s nonprofit health care providers.
  • New York is actively experiencing a crisis in access to care – please do not make matters worse by cutting critical funding that New Yorkers have worked hard for and deserve.
  • I urge you to stop this bad bill and oppose these harmful proposals that will hurt New Yorkers.
  • Aging New Yorkers are depending on you.
  • Thank you for your time.

_________________

LeadingAge National has been providing ongoing updates and resources to keep members informed and engaged in Federal advocacy efforts, including:

  1. Analysis and summaries of key provisions of budget reconciliation bills here.
  2. Issue Briefs and talking points on budget reconciliation, here.
  3. Advocacy action items, here.
  4. Policy Pulse Calls for members only.

Please reach out to the LeadingAge New York Policy and Advocacy team with any questions.

 

Connect with Elected Officials in the District, Now and All Sumer Long

As we celebrate the end of this year’s legislative session, we must remember that the remainder of 2025 will remain politically charged. Congress is pursuing a budget reconciliation process that could reshape New York’s healthcare system and cut federal funding to the state. In addition, relationships with state legislators will remain critical to the success of our state policy objectives and protecting long-term care and senior housing providers from targeted cuts.

Lawmakers care about what their constituents care about! Over the coming months, LeadingAge NY members are strongly encouraged to engage in the federal budget process and continue to build relationships with Members of the State Legislature and Congress.

Congress will be in recess the week of June 30 and the entire month of August; this means that senators and representatives will be back in New York and in their districts. Recesses are an excellent opportunity to connect face-to-face with members of Congress and invite them to visit your organization or join community events, and members are strongly encouraged to do so. This Congressional visit resource from National is designed to help members plan and prepare for a Congressional visit – but keep in mind that their schedules fill up quickly, so now is the time to request a visit. We also recommend that members sign up for their Representative’s newsletters to stay apprised of events taking place in the district that you may be interested in attending.

State legislators also want to hear from you! If you plan to invite members of Congress to an event, we recommend you consider also inviting your state legislators. State legislators also appreciate being invited to community events such as award celebrations, summer barbecues or other unique community events that you might be hosting. If nothing else, we strongly recommend members simply keep state legislators’ offices well-informed of your organization’s challenges and successes, and thank them for their investments in this year’s state budget.

For inspiration and insights on potential ways to engage in advocacy over the summer and fall, members are encouraged to join our conversations on the Public Affairs Council, which gathers over Zoom once a month.

In addition, please do not hesitate to reach out directly for support in organizing a congressional/legislative visit in your district. Contact Sarah Daly at sdaly@leadingageny.org with any questions or ideas.

 

End of Session Bill Round-Up – Comprehensive Bill Summary Coming Soon

With the Legislature now completing all of its bill work for the year, LeadingAge NY provides a preliminary overview of the outcomes of priority legislation below. A comprehensive Legislative Bill Summary reviewing the outcomes of over 100 priority bills will be shared with members no later than July 2nd. 

As a reminder, bills passed by both houses will be delivered to the Governor for action over the coming months, and bills that failed to advance this year are likely to remain in play for next year’s legislative work. LeadingAge NY will be continuing our advocacy with the Governor’s office on all priority bills awaiting delivery.  

Bills Passed in Both Houses – Awaiting Delivery to Governor

Bills Passed in One House

Bills Failing to Advance

  • Electronic Monitoring in Nursing Homes & Assisted Living – Oppose Memo
  • Written Consent for Antipsychotics in Nursing Homes –  Oppose Memo
  • Increase in Monetary Penalties for Violations of Public Health Law – Oppose Memo
  • Rectification of ACF Violations – Oppose Memo
  • Certified Medication Aides – Support Memo
  • Therapy Staff in NY Nursing Home Staffing Standard – Support Memo
  • The Role of the Nurse in Adult Care Facilities (ACFs)  –  Support Memo
  • CHHA Episodic Rate Payments – Support Memo

Please reach out with any questions about final outcomes on priority legislation.

 

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

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