Legislative Bulletin: Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Negotiations Continue
April 7, 2023
Fiscal Year 2024 State Budget Negotiations Continue
As we find ourselves officially in the State Fiscal Year 2023-24, which runs from April 1st to March 31st of every year, a final state budget agreement has yet to be reached. Although we saw one-house budget proposals released at an appropriate time in mid-March, the subsequent three-way budget negotiations between the Legislature and the Governor have been slow-moving; largely delayed by hot-button issues such as bail reform, housing, and charter schools.
Because the budget deadline has come and gone, on Monday, lawmakers approved a stopgap budget measure to fund the government through April 10th. While this budget extender has bought lawmakers more time, discussions have continued at an extremely slow pace, indicating that an additional budget extender will need to be passed on Monday to allow for further deliberation and the continuation of state operations and payments. Governor Hochul has indicated that she expects negotiations to "pick up again in earnest" early next week.
While bail reform, the expansion of housing development, an expansion of charter schools, taxes, and minimum wage have been topics of budget discussions thus far, there are still no “table targets” for prominent budget table discussions such as health, education, economic development, etc. Table targets are a vital part of the budget process that involves a reconciling of the amount the final budget can spend.
We anticipate that budget discussions will indeed continue in earnest next week, but it is possible that we won’t see a final budget agreement until later in the month of April. A late budget could become a problem if the negotiations drag into the next month as school districts must also estimate how much they will be receiving from the state in order to set their own spending plans.
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!
Help Keep LTC & Aging Services Top-of-Mind for State Legislators!
With budget discussions continuing into mid-April, it is critical that we work together to keep long-term care and aging services top-of-mind for legislators. We have worked hard since January to educate the entire Legislature and the Governor on our budget priorities, and why the proper funding of long-term care is critical to ensuring the quality care of our most vulnerable and the efficacy of our health care system at large. Your advocacy has been incredibly impactful. However, we need to keep the pressure on to ensure these issues remain at the forefront as final decisions begin to be made over the coming weeks.
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!
Additionally, LeadingAge New York has created a new set of social media messages and graphics! These messages have been crafted for a general public, family member, resident, consumer audience, and are aimed at raising awareness of long-term care underfunding. If members choose, the messages can easily be tailored to capture the attention of the Governor & State Legislators OR they can be used to enlist your social media following in budget advocacy.
The NEW social media messages, graphics, and instructions for how we recommend members use these tools are available here. The messages themselves are crafted so you can simply copy & paste into your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. To add an image to your message, simply download & save the graphic and add it to your post. Please reach out to Sarah Daly at sdaly@leadingageny.org with any questions.
Registration OPEN for LeadingAge NY Annual Conference!
Join LeadingAge NY from May 22nd to 24th in Saratoga Springs for this year’s Annual Conference, packed with cutting-edge content from experts in the long term care field! Earn up to 15.5 hours of National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards (NAB) and other continuing education units (CEUs). You will not want to miss the NEW-THIS-YEAR Exposition Lounges, the Experience Center, or the Micro Learning Happy Hour!
The detailed program including registration, educational sessions, brochure and hotel information can be found on our website here, and registration is NOW OPEN! Early bird pricing is available until April 21st. Additionally, we will be hosting our Annual Golf Tournament at the Saratoga Lake Golf Club on the first day of the conference, May 22nd. We hope to see you there!
IGNITE Leadership Academy Application Now Available
After a brief hiatus, LeadingAge NY is delighted to resume the IGNITE Leadership Academy program IN PERSON! This professional development program is designed to facilitate the development and growth of the next generation of senior living leaders in the state. The Academy focuses on internal and external relationship building, the sharing of best practices, and a passion for continuous learning.
The Academy is open to any LeadingAge NY member staff, in any member category, that wishes to apply. There is no requirement of certain professional experience or type of position. It is far more important for an applicant to demonstrate deep leadership potential within their organization than it is for them to have a specific job title or tenure in the field. In addition, we strive for an exceptionally diverse cohort of fellows with a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, including but not limited to age, gender, race, ethnic, religious and geographic diversity.
The application for the 2023-2024 IGNITE Leadership Academy is now available here. Applications will be accepted until June 9, 2023. Click here for more information about the program. If you have any questions about the program, contact Diane Darbyshire at ddarbyshire@leadingageny.org or Nancy Caban at ncaban@leadingageny.org. Both can be reached at 518-867-8383.
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 19th, 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 nationwide. 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