Legislative Bulletin: 2022 Legislative Session Nears the Finish Line
June 3, 2022
2022 Legislative Session Nears the Finish Line
The final week of legislative work has kept national issues at the forefront, with the legislature introducing and passing a new package of gun laws as well as passing legal protections for abortion providers. Among the pieces of legislation in the gun reform package is a measure that raises the age for legally buying or possessing a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21. New York already requires people to be 21 to possess a handgun. Under the new proposed laws, people under 21 would still be allowed to have other types of rifles and shotguns, but the change would restrict ownership of the type of fast-firing rifles that were used by the 18-year-old gunmen in the recent mass shootings in Buffalo and at a Texas elementary school. Once the bills are signed into law, New York would join a handful of states — including Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Vermont and Washington - that require buyers to be at least 21 instead of 18 to purchase some types of long guns.
As expected, these last few days of the 2022 legislative session have been action-packed. The legislative session was scheduled to conclude yesterday, June 2nd. While the Senate wrapped up all of their legislative work and delivered their closing remarks around 2 a.m. this morning, the Assembly’s work continues. We expect that the Assembly will conclude all of their legislative work for this session and deliver their closing remarks sometime this evening. However, it’s not over ‘till it’s over – so LeadingAge NY will be providing another Legislative Bulletin to our members with final end-of-session notes next week.
Penalties for Nurse Mandatory Overtime Passes Both Houses
In the flurry of robust legislative activity over the last few days, a few bills which LeadingAge NY strongly opposed unfortunately were taken up and passed by both houses of the Legislature. Most notably, this week the Senate passed A.286-A (Gunther)/S.1997-A (Jackson), a bill which significantly increases penalties to hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities for requiring nurses to work more than their regularly scheduled hours. The bill proposes to increase civil penalties on providers, up-to $1,000 for a first violation, $2,000 for a second violation, or $3,000 for a third or subsequent violation. The employee would also receive an additional fifteen percent of the overtime payment from the employer for each violation as damages. With the Senate’s passage this week, the bill has now been approved by both houses of the Legislature and will be delivered to the Governor for action at some point over the summer or fall.
Following the passage of the above overtime penalties bill, the Senate opted to also take up a very similar, but more harmful overtime penalties bill, A.8874-B (Joyner)/ S.8063-A (Ramos). This bill goes even further than the above, increasing penalties up-to $5,000 for repeat mandatory overtime violations within three years. The bill also reinstates the prohibition on mandatory overtime within 3 days after a health care disaster and at the end of a declaration of emergency, or within 30 days, whichever is shorter. Based on LeadingAge NY analysis, this would mean that penalties would be effective immediately, despite the Governor’s declared health care workforce emergency.
Unfortunately, this afternoon the Assembly joined the Senate in passing A.8874-B (Joyner)/ S.8063-A (Ramos), despite its technical concerns and the conflicting nature of the two bills. LeadingAge NY’s memo of opposition to both mandatory overtime bills are available here and here.
While we are frustrated by the policy decisions of the Legislature in approving these bills and others, we are extremely thankful for the advocacy and engagement of our members. Thanks to you, amidst the mayhem of end of session, we have successfully blocked the passage of several harmful bills such as an increase in adult care facility penalties and further restrictions on the use of psychotropic medications.
Thank you for all of your advocacy this year! Our successes would not have been possible without your engagement in the legislative process. This session, LeadingAge NY closely tracked hundreds of pieces of Legislation. We will be providing a comprehensive breakdown of all priority bills we tracked this year, along with their end-of-session status, no later than July 1, 2022.
LeadingAge NY Letter to Health Commissioner on Workforce Bonuses
While the details of the health care worker bonuses enacted in the SFY 22-23 Budget and the mechanisms through which those dollars will be delivered to workers are still being considered and deliberated by the Department of Health (DOH)and stakeholders, LeadingAge NY has taken the opportunity to weigh in with the Department on the other long-term care workers that should be considered for bonuses.
On Tuesday, LeadingAge NY sent a letter to DOH Commissioner Mary Bassett, listing the additional job roles and positions in nursing homes, adult care facilities and home care that should be made eligible for bonuses.
ACTION ALERT: Congress Must Pass New COVID-19 Funding Now!
With COVID-19 cases, test positivity rates, and hospitalizations again on the rise, the country is not past
the pandemic. Now is the time to ask Congress to fully fund additional support for the nation’s ongoing efforts to fight COVID-19—especially for older adults who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
Experts are predicting new surges in the late Summer and Fall but additional funding is needed to make sure the country has enough vaccines, boosters, tests, and treatments to meet projected needs.
We know the tools we need to confront COVID-19; Congress must act now so communities across the nation are prepared to deal with the coming surges.
We must ensure that test kits and testing locations remain available and accessible to everyone who needs them and that vaccines (including boosters) are readily available and robustly promoted. Treatments and therapeutics must also be easy to find and access, while research to find new tests, vaccines, and treatments continue.
Please CLICK HERE to write to your members of Congress now and advocate for more COVID-19 relief! It only takes a few minutes!
Provider Survey on Financial Status to Inform National Advocacy Efforts
LeadingAge National is requesting members to complete this quick survey about the financial situation of member nursing homes, assisted living and HCBS services. The survey is being conducted to provide a “financial health snapshot” for use in national advocacy efforts to secure more funding and support for aging services. Following a similar survey, LeadingAge MN projected as many as 11% of nursing homes and 20% of assisted living may have to close due to the current financial stress.
Help LeadingAge National get a read on your financial health by completing the survey TODAY, so they can better tell your story to Congress. Please be sure to complete the survey before June 9th.
LeadingAge & LeadingAge New York 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.
LeadingAge National Coronavirus Resources Page
COVID-19 Group in the MyLeadingAge Member Community
LeadingAge National Coronavirus Policy Updates – Mondays and Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. Past call recordings are available here and you can register here for future calls.
Contact: Sarah Daly; 518.867.8845; sdaly@leadingageny.org