Legislative Bulletin: Last Chance to Engage with Lawmakers on Key Budget Issues
One-house budget bills are out and joint budget conference committee meetings are underway. This is your last chance to contact legislators and advocate for our key budget initiatives.
Legislature Releases One-House Budget Proposals
Budget season entered a critical stretch early this week when the Assembly and Senate both passed their one-house budget resolutions. After sending out an initial overview of the Assembly’s proposals on Tuesday afternoon, LeadingAge New York emailed members a full analysis of both one-house budgets on Wednesday. To access that analysis, please click here.
We are very pleased to report that nearly all of our priority issues are reflected in at least one of the one-house proposals. This is a testament to the hard work of our members, our staff, and our lobbyists, Hinman Straub. Thank you for all that you have done to make sure your legislators are informed! We need you to continue this strong advocacy over the coming days to ensure that these successes are replicated in the final enacted budget. You will find advocacy materials below to assist you in your efforts.
On Wednesday, following the passage of the Assembly and Senate resolutions, the General Budget Conference Committee (the “Mothership”) convened to begin its work toward negotiating a final budget. The joint legislative budget subcommittees began their meetings and budget negotiations on Thursday. The next step in the budget process is the Mothership’s announcement of “table targets,” the amounts of spending that each subcommittee can use to restore cuts, modify proposals, or fund new initiatives. We expect to see the table targets announced in the next few days.
Last Chance to Engage with Lawmakers on Key Budget Issues
With the passage of the one-house budget resolutions and the start of the Joint Budget Conference Committee process, it is more important than ever for you to contact your lawmakers to reiterate your priorities and concerns. A budget agreement will need to be reached in the next two weeks if bills are to be passed by April 1 . As discussions start to pick up, it is imperative that your legislators hear from you!
Rather than focusing your efforts on proposals that both houses accepted or rejected, we are concentrating on those areas where there is less agreement. Letters are less likely to get legislators' attention at this point, so we ask that you call and engage with them on social media to let them know how the budget proposals will impact your organization and the individuals you serve. If your lawmakers serve on the General Budget Conference Committee; the Health subcommittee for Medicaid and aging services issues; the Environment/Agriculture/Housing subcommittee for housing issues and the Mental Hygiene/Labor subcommittee for the SSI and prevailing wage issues, it is especially important for you to connect with them and ask that they support our initiatives.
Below are the key issues, by service line, on which LeadingAge New York is requesting your advocacy. To assist you in your efforts, we have provided links to talking points as well as sample tweets and Facebook posts. You can find your legislators’ social media information by using our Find My Legislators tool. Our one-house budget summary is available online as well as Hinman Straub’s one-house budget chart.
Adult Care Facilities (ACFs)/Assisted Living
SSI Increase
- Tell your Assembly Member: Please include the Senate’s proposal to increase the SSI rate for ACFs by $20 per day per resident over five years in the final budget agreement! #NYbudget #SupportOurSeniors
- Tell your Senator: Thank you for including an SSI increase for ACFs in your one-house budget proposal! Please continue this strong support during final budget negotiations. #nybudget #SupportOurSeniors
Capital Funding
- Tell your Assembly Member: Please include the Senate’s health care capital transformation grant proposal, which would allow a minimum of $20M to be awarded to the development of new assisted living program beds, in the final budget agreement! #NYbudget #SupportOurSeniors
- Tell your Senator: Thank you for supporting ALPs and ensuring that the Senate’s health care capital transformation grant proposal, which would allow a minimum of $20M to be awarded to the development of new assisted living program beds, be included in the final budget! #NYbudget #SupportOurSeniors
Case Mix
- Tell your Assembly Member: Thank you for opposing the initial cuts to case mix and for including language that establishes a CMI workgroup and prohibits DOH from reducing or recouping CMI adjustments for periods prior to the implementation of the workgroup. #NYbudget #SupportOurSeniors
- Tell your Senator: Thank you for opposing the initial cuts to case mix and for including language that establishes a CMI workgroup and prohibits DOH from reducing or recouping CMI adjustments for periods prior to the implementation of the workgroup. #NYbudget #SupportOurSeniors
CNA workforce training
- Tell your legislators to support a LeadingAge NY proposal to fully utilize federal Civil Money Penalty Funds, that are currently going unused, to support CNA training. There is currently $8 million in federal funds in the Civil Money Penalties account, but appropriation authority for only $1 million. For this reason, this proposal does not require any additional revenue or affect the State’s “balance sheet.” Please share our proposal with your legislators and ask them to include it in the final budget.
Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS)
Hospice Medicaid Eligibility
- Tell your Assembly Member: Please support the Senate’s proposal to expedite Medicaid eligibility determinations for those with an immediate need for hospice. #SupportOurSeniors #NYBudget
- Tell you Senator: Thank you for including language that would expedite Medicaid eligibility determinations for those with an immediate need for hospice. #SupportOurSeniors #NYBudget
Fiscal Intermediaries
- Tell your Assembly Member: Thank you for opposing the proposal to consolidate Fiscal Intermediaries that support the Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Program (CDPAP)! #SupportOurSeniors #NYBudget
- Tell your Senator: Thank you for opposing the proposal to consolidate Fiscal Intermediaries that support the Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Program (CDPAP)! #SupportOurSeniors #NYBudget
Affordable Independent Senior Housing Assistance Program
- Tell your Assembly Member: Please include the $10M ($2M over 5 years) investment for an Affordable Independent Senior Housing Assistance Program in the final budget agreement! The program offers proven savings and will pay for itself! #NYbudget #SupportOurSeniors
- Tell your Senator: Please include the $10M ($2M over 5 years) investment for an Affordable Independent Senior Housing Assistance Program in the final budget agreement! The program offers proven savings and will pay for itself! #NYbudget #SupportOurSeniors
We also ask that you encourage your colleagues, staff, families, consumers and board members, asking them to share the messages that are most impacting your community. The more people bringing these issues to the attention of the legislature, the better. And don’t forgot the importance of sharing these messages on social media - Facebook and Twitter offer an opportunity to vastly expand our influence.
For more ideas and updates on LeadingAge New York Advocacy efforts, please visit our Advocacy Page.
Prevailing Wage Included in Both One-houses
Both house’s budget bills include the language from bill, A.1261(Bronson)/S.1947(Ramos) , which would impose public works “prevailing wage” requirements on most types of private sector projects receiving any level of financial support from state or local entities. LeadingAge New York opposes this legislation, as prevailing wage requirements could increase labor costs by 25 percent or more, thereby increasing overall construction project costs by 15-20 percent for many projects. LeadingAge New York’s official memo of opposition can be found here.
- Tell your Legislators: Non-profit providers cannot afford prevailing wage requirements that will increase the costs of construction. Share the impact this proposal would have on your development plans.
E-Prescribing Legislation Moves for Consideration in the Senate
LeadingAge New York’s e-prescribing bill (A.1034-A/S.4183) which exempts nursing homes from the electronic prescription mandate has passed the Assembly and was added to the Senate calendar on Thursday. If the bill is passed in the Senate, it will extend the current exemption to October 31, 2021. While we are happy to see the bill move and will continue to advocate for its passing, nursing homes need a more permanent solution to the e-prescribe mandate. LeadingAge New York will continue to pursue those solutions with the Department of Health.
State Executive Reconsiders Cuts to Medicaid in Light of Federal Budget Proposals
In a press release issued on Wednesday, Governor Cuomo announced the results of a preliminary analysis outlining the impact of President Trump’s federal budget proposal. The analysis shows that the federal budget would cut $4.3 billion in health care funding for New York in the first year and would ultimately lead to a 20 percent reduction in federal health care funding, amounting to a $65 billion loss by 2026.
The healthcare cuts proposed by the President go beyond that of previous attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This year’s budget proposal eliminates Medicaid expansion/ACA funding, eliminates funding for the Essential Plan, which serves 800,000 New Yorkers, eliminates tax credits for purchasing healthcare on the exchange and extends Medicaid DSH cuts for four more years.
Last month, Governor Cuomo’s administration had proposed and supported cutting Medicaid by $550 million in this year’s state budget. In light of the federal budget, the administration has since signaled reversing the support of those cuts, recognizing that cuts from both the federal and state government would be unsustainable for New York’s healthcare providers.
Resident Assistance Bill is Reintroduced with New Senate Sponsor
Senator Brian Kavanagh, chair of the Senate Housing committee, reintroduced the Affordable Independent Senior Housing Assistance Program A.4358(Cymbrowitz)/S.4538(Kavanagh) bill on Thursday. The legislation would provide $10 million over five years to invest in senior housing with services. While the program would be difficult to establish without allocated funds in the state budget, the legislation will generate support in the legislature and if passed, could be signed into law by the governor. You can click here to urge your lawmakers to support this legislation now!
Congressional Hill Visits Are Next Week!
The 2019 LeadingAge Leadership Summit will kick off in Washington, DC early next week, with a full day of Hill visits set for Wednesday, March 20th. LeadingAge NY staff and members will be participating in more than a dozen meetings with the New York congressional delegation, beginning with Congressman Lee Zeldin’s office at 10 am and ending with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s office at 3:30 pm. LeadingAge National hosted a “Know Before You Go” webinar last week to prepare advocates for these meetings, covering important details such as the background on our key agenda items, the importance of using your story in your advocacy efforts, and other logistics for the day. Participants are encouraged to review the webinar recording again and are reminded that additional training and information will be provided during the Lobby Day breakfast briefing on Wednesday morning.
LeadingAge National has also circulated four issue briefs, all linked below, that provide background on our key issues and describe our legislative asks. These documents and our tentative Lobby Day meeting schedule will be emailed directly to advocates prior to Wednesday.
If you are unable to join us in Washington next week but would like to work with Congress on the issues affecting your organization, there is luckily plenty of time that Congress members are at home in the district. The House Session Calendar and the Senate Session Calendar are great tools for planning an in-district meeting with lawmakers. The LeadingAge issue briefs linked above are also good tools for planning your meeting and focusing on issues of importance.
Ami Schnauber, aschnauber@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8854
Sarah Daly, sdaly@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8845