Only Two Weeks Remaining of 2021 Legislative Session
May 28, 2021
Only Two Weeks Remaining of 2021 Legislative Session
There are seven session days left before the New York state Legislature leaves Albany for the summer on June 10th. Among the top-tier issues that legislative leaders and advocates want to push over the finish line are the Adult Survivors Act, parole reform and the Climate and Community Investment Act. Additionally, lawmakers are closely watching what will happen with an impeachment investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Earlier this week, Capital Tonight host Susan Arbetter talked with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie about his priorities, touching on the state’s ethics commission, as well as the impeachment investigation into the governor. “I would just hope that the public would just be patient and allow those [investigations] to unfold, because what people want is for us to get to the truth and the facts and I think those things can’t be rushed”, said the Speaker when asked about allegations that findings of the investigations are being withheld until the end of session.
As for LeadingAge New York, we are actively working on a variety of last-ditch legislative priorities, including the introduction of bills that would allow hospice services to be provided in an assisted living program (ALP), allow medication technicians in the nursing home and provide a more permanent solution to e-prescribing.
Additionally, there are still bills being introduced which we must continue to track and oppose such as a new bill S.6611 (May), which would enable the Department of Health (DOH) to establish publicly reported quality standards for Assisted Living Residences (ALRs), Enhanced Assisted Living Residences (EALRs), and Special Needs Assisted Living Residences (SNALRs), and requires that these quality measures be reported annually. LeadingAge NY has crafted a memo of opposition to this bill and will continue to watch all legislative activity closely throughout these final two weeks of session.
Urge Lawmakers to Support LHCSA RFO Repealer
The LHCSA Request for Offers (RFO) repealer legislation, A.7304 (Gottfried)/ S.6640 (May), would repeal last year's budget language which establishes a Request for Offers (RFO) authorization process for all Licensed Home Care Services Agencies (LHCSAs) delivering Medicaid services. A LHCSA RFO process, if implemented, would allow the State to arbitrarily cap the number of LHCSAs providing Medicaid services in the state, and likely deny many eligible and reputable LHCSAs currently delivering Medicaid services from continuing to operate. This will cause significant disruption to home care services and potentially create barriers to care when more and more people are relying on care and services in the home as people age in place in their homes and the community.
LeadingAge NY’s memo of support on the legislation is available here. We urge member LHCSAs to email their legislators in support of this bill TODAY! Click here to urge lawmakers to support A.7304/S.6640!
Ask Lawmakers to Assist in Reducing Testing Requirements
LeadingAge NY is continuing to make the reduction of testing requirements for nursing homes and assisted living a priority for the remainder of session. While we continue to work with the Department of Health on this issue, members are encouraged to contact their lawmakers and ask them to support our efforts and urge the Department to revise testing requirements and to adopt federal CMS guidance. Your advocacy will be essential in helping to bring attention to these important issues. Click here to send your lawmakers a letter today!
Additionally, if you haven’t already done so, please take a few minutes TODAY to share the following messages with your legislators on Facebook and Twitter:
Facebook Message:
[@legislator], please join me and @LeadingAgeNY in urging @NYSDOH and @GovernorAndrewCuomo to eliminate serial COVID-19 testing for vaccinated and recently recovered nursing home/ACF staff and reduce burdensome COVID-19-related data collection requirements. https://bit.ly/3eYZkZl
Twitter Message:
.[@legislator], please join me & @LeadingAgeNY in urging @HealthNYGov & @NYGovCuomo to eliminate serial #COVID19 testing for vaccinated & recently recovered nursing home/ACF staff & reduce burdensome #COVID19-related data collection requirements. https://bit.ly/3eYZkZl
White House Seeks $2 Billion for New Section 202 Housing
The White House is seeking $2 billion for HUD’s Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program as part of its American Jobs Plan infrastructure proposal to Congress, according to a May 26th fact sheet on the American Jobs Plan issued by the White House.
Previous White House and HUD descriptions of the broad housing-related funds included in the American Jobs Plan proposal did not provide a lot of detail beyond funding for public housing, the housing trust fund, the HOME program, and a few others. The May 26th announcement is a clear acknowledgement of the White House and HUD’s support for the Section 202 program and its role as a key piece of any infrastructure package.
LeadingAge National has been working hard to educate the White House, HUD, and Congress about the need to not overlook the nation’s flagship affordable senior housing program as part of infrastructure investments and we are very pleased to see the Section 202 program included in the White House's new fact sheet.
One of 11 bullets on the fact sheet summarizing HUD investments sought by the American Jobs Plan proposal is to “develop and operate affordable housing for older Americans.” “More than half of renters over the age of 65 are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing expenses. The American Jobs Plan would invest $2 billion in HUD's Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program, increasing the supply of affordable housing with supportive services for very low-income older Americans,” the fact sheet says.
Expanding the supply of affordable senior housing is LeadingAge’s top housing policy priority. As part of any infrastructure package passed by Congress, LeadingAge is seeking $2.5 billion to build and operate Section 202 homes.
Affordable Senior Housing is Part of the Country’s Infrastructure!
Congress is considering hundreds of billions for affordable housing as part of an infrastructure package. This package must include affordable housing for older adults.
Tell Congress to:
- Expand the supply. Invest at least $2.5 billion in HUD’s Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program to build 27,000 affordable senior homes. This $2.5 billion proposal is consistent with the 116th Congress’s S. 2951, H.R. 5187, and H.R. 2 (the House-passed Moving Forward Act).
- Fund more service coordinators. Invest $1 billion for 3,867 three-year Service Coordinator contracts for the HUD-assisted senior communities currently without one. Only half of HUD-assisted senior housing has a service coordinator, the mainstay between residents and home and community-based services.
- Provide internet access in affordable housing. Ensure that the more than 2.2 million older adults in federally-subsidized affordable housing buildings have basic internet access. We urge any package to include the Broadband Justice Act (H.R. 1904), which authorizes $5 billion for broadband as a utility and such sums as may be necessary for wiring and installation for all HUD, USDA, and Housing Credit homes.
- Establish a capital pool for age-friendly retrofits to meet building design needs in the HUD-subsidized housing stock. LeadingAge supports a $1 billion pool of capital funds, administered by HUD under a new Age-Friendly Retrofit Program, to help current and future older adult households live in independent housing for as long as they choose to do so. Funds can be used for COVID-responsive ventilation systems, to make more federally-subsidized units fully accessible to meet existing and future needs, and to create and/or modernize physical spaces for services.
Senior Housing Lease Termination Bill Passes State Senate
Earlier this week, bill A.5970 (Burdick)/S.1106 (Stewart-Cousins), which would prohibit the termination of tenancy for seniors residing in certain housing facilities, was passed in the Senate. According to the legislation, if 80% or more of the lessees or tenants occupying units in a rental building (defined as a building with 20 or more residential units) are over the age of sixty-five and/or are persons with disabilities, landlords would be required to receive court approval before terminating a lease agreement, failing to renew a lease agreement, or otherwise terminating a tenancy that is not subject to a lease agreement, unless they are doing so as a result of a tenant’s lease violation.
Landlords would be required to notify all lessees and tenants of the rental building who are over the age of sixty-five and/or are persons with disabilities of the filing of such an action if it would affect more than one lease. At the time of filing, the landlord would also be required to notify the village, town, city, and county. While such an action was pending, the landlord would be required to notify any prospective lessee or tenants of the action before they signed a lease agreement.
The second part of the bill would prohibit landlords in these buildings from increasing the rent by more than 1% above the percentage change in the consumer price index since either the start of the tenancy or the most recent renewal, whichever is more recent at the time of the lease renewal. Landlords would be prohibited from increasing the rent more than once annually.
LeadingAge NY has significant concerns with this legislation and has published a memo of opposition. Members that share our concerns with this bill are encouraged to contact your Assembly Member and express how this bill would affect your organization and impair your ability to function as a non-profit, mission driven senior housing provider.
Talking Points:
- Senior housing providers infrequently terminate a tenancy, but at times they need the ability to make these decisions to protect seniors from potentially dangerous or hazardous living conditions.
- This is an added expense for affordable housing providers who already struggle with the costs of operating an affordable property.
- Senior housing need flexibility in setting rent costs.
We will likely have more advocacy action items on this bill in the weeks, depending on the bill’s movement. If members have questions, they are encouraged to contact our policy team.
Urge Lawmakers to Provide Financial Relief to ACF/AL
New York’s senior living providers have incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses to procure gowns, gloves, masks, and other infection control supplies, to provide well-deserved hero pay to staff, to hire additional staff, and to provide weekly staff testing as mandated by DOH. Additionally, declining occupancy rates due to temporary discontinuation of admissions and limitations on visitation resulted in substantial revenue losses.
In recognition of the critical role all ACFs/ALRs/ALPs play in the long-term care continuum, LeadingAge New York, Argentum NY, Empire State Association of Assisted Living (ESAAL) and NYSCAL are urging the Legislature to provide a one-time request of $75 million to help preserve these essential services for New York’s seniors and their families.
CLICK HERE to urge lawmakers to provide critical financial relief to New York’s ACFs, ALRs and ALPs!
LeadingAge & LeadingAge NY Coronavirus Resources
LeadingAge NY continues to closely follow all COVID-19 news and we are doing our best to keep members informed of updates, recommendations and guidelines from the Department of Health (DOH).
LeadingAge NY and LeadingAge National Member resources are linked below.
LeadingAge NY Coronavirus Resources
LeadingAge NY COVID-19 Weekly Update calls – Mondays at 11 a.m. Click here to join the call from your computer, android or apple device. Or you can join the call by dialing in: 877 853 5257 (Toll Free); Webinar ID: 852 964 255.
*Please note that our next COVID-19 weekly update call will be held on Tuesday June, 1st at 11 AM in observation of Memorial Day. All other call information remains unchanged.
LeadingAge National Coronavirus Resources Page
LeadingAge National Pandemic Playbook
COVID-19 Group in the MyLeadingAge Member Community
Coronavirus Daily Member Update calls – Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Past call recordings are available here and you can register here for future calls.
Contact: Ami Schnauber; 518.867.8854; aschnauber@leadingageny.org
Sarah Daly; 518.867.8845; sdaly@leadingageny.org