Legislative Bulletin: A Late Budget Expected for State Fiscal Year 2023-24

March 31, 2023

 

A Late Budget Expected for State Fiscal Year 2023-24

New York State’s Fiscal Year runs from April 1 to March 31, making today the final day of Fiscal Year 2022-23. Although we find ourselves at the close of March and the 2023-24 state budget is due today, it appears that the Legislature and the Governor are no where near a final budget agreement.

A main issue that has held up State Budget discussions is bail reform. Bail reform has been a focus of State legislative work for the last several years and during last year’s election cycle, it was clear that public safety and crime rates were a priority concern for constituents statewide, making it a top issue for legislators and the Governor. However, the two branches have had significant differences as to how these public safety concerns should be addressed. The Governor has proposed changes to New York’s 2019 bail laws while Democratic lawmakers, including Assembly Speaker Heastie, have insisted they do not want to make wholesale changes that would be seen as rolling back the law.

While this has hindered other budget talks, progress is now being made. On Thursday, top Democrats in the state Legislature signaled a willingness to "clarify" New York's 2019 bail law. While there appears to be more willingness to find compromise, the Legislature is still intent on ensuring that the integrity of the original law remains in place. Earlier today, Spectrum News published an article, reviewing the five major issues that are being dealt with as we find ourselves at the State budget deadline.  

With the major focus of discussions thus far being on bail reform and housing, there has not yet been much progress on resolving differences at the health budget table – the key area of interest for our LeadingAge New York membership. However, Speaker Heastie has signaled that legislators will remain in Albany over the weekend to continue these pressing budget negotiations. He also indicated that a “budget extender” may be passed on Monday to ensure the continuity of State operations and payments as we enter the new fiscal year.

LeadingAge New York will continue to keep members apprised of state budget developments and advocacy action needed; and we thank you in advance for staying engaged with us at this critical time!

 

Amplify NEW Social Media Messages of the Week!

Social media is an effective way to keep the pressure on lawmakers as they deliberate over what will be included in the Final NY State Budget for fiscal year 2023-24. In order to truly harness the power of social media, we ask ALL of our LeadingAge NY membership to take a few minutes to amplify our unified messages!

Please take a moment to LIKE & SHARE the below social media messages that have been posted by LeadingAge New York & Legislators in recent days.

PLEASE “LIKE” ALL OF THE POSTS and “SHARE” the ones that are most meaningful to you!

• Facebook Post from Assembly Member Woerner
• Twitter Post from Assembly Member Fahy
• Facebook Post from Assembly Member McDonald
• Facebook Post from LeadingAge New York – Medication Aides
• Twitter Post from LeadingAge New York – Medication Aides

When you “SHARE” a post, you can tag your local legislators and/or the Senate and Assembly Health Chairs to bring further attention to our budget priorities.

• Senate Health Chair Twitter is @NYSenatorRivera & Facebook is @Hon. Gustavo Rivera
• Asm. Health Chair Twitter is @AmyPaulin & Facebook is @Assemblywoman Amy R. Paulin
• Find your local legislators’ social media handles here: https://p2a.co/sLFV25Y

 

ACTION ALERT: Omit ALR Quality Reporting from State Budget

The Executive Budget proposal included an ambitious proposal to develop quality measures for Assisted Living Residences (ALRs), Enhanced Assisted Living Residences (EALRs) and Special Needs Assisted Living Residences (SNALRs), and begin reporting by Jan. 2024. The proposal would also require public posting of information including the monthly service rates, fees and staffing information. The Assembly omitted the Executive proposal from their one house budget bill, and the Senate modified the proposal only to eliminate the ability for ALRs that receive national accreditation to forgo state survey of their ALR. Ultimately, we need to ensure that neither the Senate nor the Executive’s proposal are in the final budget. Rather, we recommend it be addressed outside of the budget process to ensure the process is meaningful to the consumer.

If you have not already done so, PLEASE CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, and urge both your State Senator and Assembly Member to ensure that Part Z of the Article VII Health and Mental Hygiene Budget bill, the Assisted Living Residence Quality Reporting Initiative, is omitted from the final budget. Talking points to inform your phone call/voice message are below.

You can find your legislators’ contact information here. Please call the Albany office as a first option, but if you don’t speak to someone, you can also call the district.

PHONE CALL SCRIPT: OMIT ASSISTED LIVING RESIDENCE QUALITY REPORTING IN FINAL BUDGET

• The Executive Budget proposal included an ambitious proposal in Part Z of the Article VII Health and Mental Hygiene Budget bill to develop quality measures for Assisted Living Residences and public posting of information to begin Jan. 2024.
• I urge you to omit this proposal from the final budget agreement, and address this issue outside of the budget process.
• This initiative simply cannot be done well in the timeframe allotted and the framework offered.
• Sufficient time is needed to identify appropriate measures, develop mechanisms to collect the data consistently—and then collect the data for public reporting.
• To date, there has been no engagement with the provider community to develop quality measures.
• With significant variation in the services offered among Assisted Living providers, varying acuity of residents and subsequent staffing of the different models, this is a complex task.
• Careful thought is necessary to ensure meaningful information is available to the consumer.
• Please take this policy issue out of the budget discussion, and reject it’s inclusion in the Final Budget!

In addition, if you have not already done so, please take a moment to send our assisted living digital advocacy letter! It only takes a few clicks and is a great way to keep this issue top-of-mind for legislators. The letter is editable and is written very generally, so it can also be shared with your network of advocates – staff, board members, etc.

 

ACTION ALERT: Provide 20% Medicaid Rate Increase for Assisted Living Programs

While we are pleased that the Legislature improved upon the Executive Budget’s 5% proposed increase and proposed a 10% increase to the assisted living program Medicaid rate, a 10% increase is not enough after 15 years with no true rate increase and escalating costs.

If you have not already done so, PLEASE CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, and urge both your State Senator and Assembly Member to make sure the final state budget includes a 20% Medicaid increase for assisted living programs. Talking points to inform your phone call/voice message are below.

You can find your legislators’ contact information here. Please call the Albany office as a first option, but if you don’t speak to someone, you can also call the district.

PHONE CALL SCRIPT: ASSISTED LIVING PROGRAMS NEED 20% INCREASE IN FINAL STATE BUDGET

• After 15 years of no inflation adjustment to our Medicaid rates, 3 years of operating in a pandemic, a health care workforce emergency, and significant increases in worker wages and benefits, we NEED you and your colleagues to provide a 20% Medicaid increase for Assisted Living Programs in the Final State Budget!
• This 20% Medicaid increase is necessary for us to be able to sustainably compete for staff and raise wages.
• We MUST ensure that Medicaid eligible older adults have options when they can no longer remain at home. The ALP is the only Medicaid funded assisted living option in NY.
• While we appreciate the Legislature proposed a 10% increase to the assisted living program Medicaid rate increase in the budget, it is not enough to meaningfully address the chronic underfunding and the strains that are being felt throughout the health care continuum.
• Despite countless costly unfunded mandates over the past three years, and unfathomable challenges, the state has offered ALPs no financial support. Rather, a Medicaid rate CUT was implemented during the pandemic.
• New York MUST do better for the older adults that rely on Medicaid.
• Include any specifics for your organization RE: the increase in workforce costs, wages, benefits, bonuses, etc.
• Finally, we need to update the base year for ALP Medicaid rates - which are currently based on 1992 Nursing Home rates - to bring the rate closer to current costs.
• Please urge your colleagues to provide nothing less than a 20% Medicaid increase to assisted living programs in this year’s budget!!

Also, our assisted living digital advocacy letter is a great way to keep this issue top-of-mind for legislators. It only takes a few clicks to send, and the letter is written very generally, so it can be shared with your network of advocates – staff, board members, etc.

 

LeadingAge New York Members Continue the Push for 20%

This week, LeadingAge New York members statewide continued the grassroots push for a 20% nursing home Medicaid rate increase. While the State budget proposals so far reflect a 5% increase (proposed by the Executive) and a 10% increase (proposed by the Legislature), nursing homes are pointing out that neither of these amounts will be enough to bring the Medicaid rate to a level that allows long-term financial viability and access to care for older adults.

On Saturday, March 25^th, a news outlet based in Westchester County published an opinion piece written by Rita Mabli of United Hebrew and Laurence LaDue of Valley View. The lohud article expressed the financial and operational distress that non-profit and public nursing homes are experiencing as they work to serve vulnerable older adults on a Medicaid rate that is based on 2007 costs. The piece concludes with a strong and unified sentiment, “New York must provide a 20% across-the-board Medicaid increase for nursing homes in the Final Fiscal Year 2024 Budget. We need 20% in order to bring more nursing home beds back into operation and sustainably offer the wages and bonuses that a dedicated workforce demands and deserves.”

Following the publication of the piece, the Empire Report and Yahoo News also posted the article, bringing it to the attention to a wider audience.

Then, on Monday, March 27^th, Sate Assembly Members and several LeadingAge New York members from upstate New York joined together in the State Capitol to call for a 20% Medicaid rate increase and a more sustainable, long-term solution to the underfunding of nursing homes. Assembly Member Carrie Woerner who has been a champion for better funding of nursing homes and services for older adults explained, “while I am grateful that the Assembly's one-house budget doubled the Executive’s proposed paltry increase of only 5%, the need for a full 20% increase remains. Without that increase, many homes supporting the elders in our communities will be forced to shut their doors, and we cannot allow this to happen." The next day, the press conference was covered by Spectrum News among other news outlets.

 

Send UPDATED Budget Advocacy Letters & Social Media Messages TODAY!

Now that we have seen the one-house budget proposals, and the Governor, the Senate and the Assembly have begun their three-way budget negotiations, it is critical that we keep the needs of aging services providers and the people in our care top-of-mind for state lawmakers!

LeadingAge New York has UPDATED the below service-line specific digital advocacy letters to help us keep the pressure on legislators for the remainder of 2023-24 budget discussions. Each letter takes only a minute or two to send. Simply enter your information to automatically send an email to the Governor and your State Senator and Assembly Member! The letters can also be edited via the text box, to reflect any organization specific information or reflect the perspective of families and staff that wish to use them.

Please use the below links to send messages to your legislators and the Governor TODAY!

• Nursing Home Budget Letters – several letters available for family members, staff, residents, etc.
• ACF/ALP & Low-Income Seniors Budget Letter
• Home & Community-Based Services Budget Letter
• Managed Long-Term Care Budget Letter
•  Adult Day Health Care Budget Letter
• CCRC Budget Letter
• Affordable Senior Housing Budget Letter

After you send your letters, we strongly encourage members to share these links with residents, families, staff, board members and volunteers. This is a simple and easy way to amplify our message!

If you believe that your state legislators are well informed on your budget priorities, and you have also already enlisted family members, staff, and consumers in your advocacy, we encourage you to ask your network of advocates to take to social media! Tagging lawmakers in social media messages posted by constituents is an effective way to apply public pressure to your local legislators as well as legislative leaders. Check out our NEW General Public social media messages, which can be used in a variety of ways, including asking your network of advocates to share and like your social media posts, or ask them to post on their own! 

 

Countdown to LeadingAge National Leadership Summit & Lobby Day

LeadingAge National’s spring conference and lobby day is scheduled for April 17-19 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. During the 2023 LeadingAge Leadership Summit, attendees will have the opportunity to attend educational sessions and hear about pro-active solutions to the challenges of today and the future, explore ideas to help bolster and empower our workforce, and influence the nation’s decision-makers via a coordinated lobbying effort on Capitol Hill.

This year, the Leadership Summit is structured in a way that allows attendees to participate in lobby efforts without missing any educational sessions or opportunities. All education sessions will conclude by 12 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19^th, at which point an afternoon of lobby day meetings will begin for those that would like to participate.

Sarah Daly & Annalyse Komoroske Denio of LeadingAge New York will be attending the summit and lobby day, and will be attending meetings with any New York membership that plans to participate. All meetings will be organized and set up by LeadingAge National, so, all you need to do is register and book your flight!

Click here to register for the 2023 Leadership Summit and Lobby Day, today!

Just as we have worked so hard to educate our state elected officials about what not-for-profit and public long-term care providers, workers and consumers are experiencing, it is critical that we build strong relationships with our representatives in D.C. Their understanding of your challenges and successes will inform policy decisions that impact providers and older adults statewide. We hope to see you there!

 

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 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