Legislative Bulletin: Final Budget Expected Next Week

Budget Update: Final budget expected next week
The Senate and Assembly announced their table targets, yesterday, which are used as a base when negotiating a final budget. The targets allow for $500 million in spending - $59 million is allocated for Health/Medicaid and $64 million in spending for Human Services.

Following the release of the table targets, the Joint Budget Subcommittee on Health/Medicaid met and reported that the Legislature is continuing to consider Safe Patient Handling in a final budget. There still remain unanswered questions pertaining to standard wage and home care worker wage parity. LeadingAge New York is working closely with lawmakers on these issues.

We have heard that a final budget is expected as early as next Thurs., March 27th – well in advance of the April 1 deadline. During these critical remaining days of budget negotiations, we encourage you to continue your advocacy on issues such as standard wage, home care worker wage parity and safe patient handling. All the resources you need are available on our Legislative Action Center.

Please reach out to the legislators that have been appointed to the Joint Budget Conference Committees – you can find this information in last week's Legislative Bulletin. If you see your legislators name on this list, please contact them today and ensure they understand our budget concerns. LeadingAge NY is strongly advocating with these legislators regularly, but nothing is more effective than legislators hearing from their constituents. Please help us send a strong message to them! If you have any questions or concerns about the Assembly and Senate’s one-house budget bills or the budget process, please contact Ami Schnauber or Alyssa Lovelace at 518-867-8383.

Host a Virtual Lobby Day to Get Your Message to Legislators!
The best way to ensure legislators hear our concerns is through a strong grassroots advocacy campaign. Help us get out the message by hosting a Virtual Lobby Day at your organization. Ask consumers, residents, family members, staff, board members and business partners to call their legislators. We need strong support to ensure nursing home standard wage is rejected, home care worker wage parity is funded, EQUAL funding is restored and safe patient handling mandates are kept out of the budget.

For your convenience, we have developed a number of materials to assist you plan a Virtual Lobby Day at your organization. And once again, LeadingAge NY will hold a drawing for two $100 awards for participants in our Virtual Lobby Day. All the materials to make your Virtual Lobby Day a success are available on our Legislative Action Center, including:

To access your legislator's contact information, click here, enter your zip code and select "elected officials." Legislators' contact information is also available on the Senate and Assembly websites. Once you've contacted your legislators, please fill out the response form, and return it to Alyssa Lovelace via email at alovelace@leadingageny.org or fax to 518-867-8384. Don't forget to indicate on your response form if you want to be included in the drawing to win $100! The two winners will be announced in April!

Members and Analysts Partake in Hill Visits in Washington, D.C.
Members from around the State and LeadingAge New York policy analysts took to Capitol Hill earlier this week to partake in 21 meetings to discuss therapy caps; observation stays; hospital readmissions; and physician services –Doc Fix with Congressional staff, to name a few. The Issue Briefs that were left behind with Congressional staff can be found here. Thank you to LeadingAge and Soapbox for scheduling and hosting the Hill visits!

Save the Dates!
In addition to an Advocacy Day for Adult Care Facilities (ACFs) and assisted living on Mon., April 28th, we are also hosting our first Nursing Home Advocacy Day on Tues., May 20th. Keep an eye on your inbox for registration and more information. In the meantime, click here to register for the ACF/AL Advocacy Day.

Will You Be a Sponsor?
We will once again be offering a tee-sign sponsorship for $200 at this year’s PAC golf tournament on Mon., June 16th. Those who sponsor a tee-sign will receive their name and their organization/company’s name on a tee-sign located on the green. This sponsorship is available to provider-members, as well as associate members, vendors and non-members. Click here to have your name seen on the green. Click here to register and view all sponsorship opportunities.

Contact: Alyssa Lovelace, alovelace@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8844