ACT NOW: Oppose Increases in Penalties on Adult Care Facilities!

(May 13, 2024) A bill LeadingAge NY strongly opposes has been added to the Senate Health Committee meeting agenda for Wed., May 15^th at 12 p.m. The bill, A.5485-A (Paulin)/S.5472-A (Rivera), would impose harsh daily fines on adult care facilities (ACFs) for each violation of regulations. Under this bill, the potential penalties for ACF violations would be increased from up to $1,000 to $2,000 per violation, per day – or $5,000 per day for a repeat violation.

Members are strongly encouraged to CLICK HERE to contact legislators in opposition to an increase in penalties on ACF providers. The digital action letter only takes a few minutes to send! LeadingAge NY's memo in opposition is available here.

After you send a digital action letter, we ask you to please:

share the link with your colleagues and board members, and encourage them to send a letter as well.
place a call to your State Senator and urge them to oppose S.5472-A (Rivera) on the agenda for the Senate Health Committee.
check to see if your Senator sits on the Senate Health Committee (scroll down on the website). If they sit on the committee, urge them to vote against the bill in committee.
even if they are not on the Health Committee, call your State Senator anyway.
use LeadingAge NY's memo in opposition to inform your talking points.

In conversations with legislators, be sure to point out:

Your organization’s financial challenges and how costly these daily fines, per violation, could become.
The bill will not help improve resident care outcomes or quality of life; it will only deprive you and your staff of the resources needed to deliver quality care.
The bill will affect mission-driven, non-profit providers, not just “bad actors.”
ACFs serving low-income older adults are already in short supply. The penalties authorized in this bill may drive more facilities toward the brink of closure, reducing access to care for vulnerable New Yorkers and increasing demand for nursing home care in certain areas of the state.

Thank you for taking action at this critical time!

Contact: Sarah Daly, sdaly@leadingageny.org