Several LTC Bills Delivered to Governor and Awaiting Executive Action
On Dec. 10th, a large batch of bills that were passed by the Legislature earlier this year were delivered to Governor Hochul’s desk for executive action. Among the batch delivered were six bills of which LeadingAge NY has been awaiting the outcome. The Governor has until tomorrow, Dec. 22nd, to act upon each bill with a veto, approval, or chapter amendments.
Below is a brief review of this batch of bills awaiting final action:
- Health Equity Certificate of Need – A.191-A (Gottfried)/S.1451-A (Rivera) – Requires a health equity impact assessment to be included in the review of any certificate of need (CON) application submitted by a health care facility. – LeadingAge NY Letter in Opposition
- Reimagining Long Term Care Task Force – A.3922-A (Cruz)/S.598-B (May) – Establishes a long term care (LTC) task force to examine the state of facility-based, home-based, and community-based LTC services in the state and consider potential opportunities for improvement. – LeadingAge NY Letter of Support
- Infection Control in Quality Assurance Plans – A.5846 (Kim)/S.1784-A (Skoufis) – Requires adult care facilities (ACFs) to incorporate standards for infection control in each facility's quality assurance plan, and requires such plans to include a quality improvement committee. – LeadingAge NY Letter in Opposition
- Antimicrobial Stewardship Program – A.5847 (Woerner)/S.2191 (Kavanagh) – Requires hospitals and nursing homes to establish an antimicrobial stewardship program and ensure that appropriate personnel receive antimicrobial resistance training. – LeadingAge NY Letter in Opposition
- Infection Control Competency Audit – A.6057-A (Burke)/S.1783-A (Skoufis) – Requires the Department of Health (DOH) to establish and implement an infection control competency audit, establish infection control competency standards, and require implementation of a checklist for nursing homes. – LeadingAge NY Letter in Opposition
- Investing in Care Act – A.6590-B (Kelles)/S.4652-B (May) – Requires the Commissioner of Economic Development to study, develop, and propose how to implement a long-term strategy to support the growth of the caregiving industry in New York State. – LeadingAge NY Letter of Support
Now that all of the bills that LeadingAge NY is closely tracking have been delivered to the Governor, we plan to issue a comprehensive 2021 Legislative Bill Memo before the end of the calendar year. The memo will review all of the legislation that LeadingAge NY tracked over the course of this year and where relevant bills landed in the legislative process.
It will be important to take note of the bills that saw movement during the 2021 Legislative Session but ultimately did not pass both houses. Often, the legislative activity of recent sessions is a good indication of where the Legislature’s focus might be in the year ahead.
The 2022 Legislative Session is scheduled to kick off on Wed., Jan. 5th with the Governor's State of the State address. The Executive Budget is then expected to be released on Jan. 19th. Budget season will run from January until March 31, 2022, when the final state budget is due in order to be considered “on time.” The legislative session and activity will continue on through April until early June, just before legislators will want to return home to their districts for primary elections.
LeadingAge NY’s Friday afternoon publication, Legislative Bulletin, will be returning to keep members apprised of all state legislative activities relevant to the world of LTC. Keep your eyes open for the first issue, expected on Jan. 7, 2022.
Contact: Sarah Daly, sdaly@leadingageny.org