Legislative Bulletin: Resident Assistance in Affordable Senior Housing Bill on Senate Housing Agenda!
February 24, 2023
Share and Send Digital Budget Advocacy Letters TODAY!
State legislators are returning to Albany next week to resume budget discussions, joint legislative budget hearings, and session activity. We have heard that one-house budget discussions have continued over the President’s week legislative recess, and it is likely that the Senate and Assembly will release their budget proposals by March 15th.
It is critical that we keep the funding needs of long-term care and aging services providers top-of-mind for legislators as they begin to solidify the details of one-house budgets. LeadingAge New York has crafted 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!
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.
- Affordable Senior Housing Budget Letter
- ACF/ALP & Low-Income Seniors Budget Letter
- ALR Budget Letter
- Home & Community-Based Services Budget Letter
- Managed Long-Term Care Budget Letter
- Adult Day Health Care 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 strengthen our collective message to the Legislature at this critical time.
ACTION ALERT: Resident Assistance in Affordable Senior Housing Bill on Senate Housing Agenda
Last night, the Senate posted its Housing Committee meeting agenda for Monday, Feb. 27th. The short agenda includes LeadingAge New York priority legislation, A.4716 (Rosenthal L.)/S.2080 (Kavanagh), which would establish an affordable independent senior housing assistance program. While the legislation requires funding that would need to be appropriated in this year’s state budget in order to allow the program to come into effect, seeing the bill garner support and movement within the Senate is a positive development amidst ongoing state budget discussions. LeadingAge New York’s Memo in support of this legislation is available here.
Please take a moment to send this digital advocacy letter, urging the Legislature to fund Resident Assistants in Affordable Senior Housing in SFY 2024! The letter only takes a few minutes to send, and it will automatically email your local legislators and the Governor.
Additionally, earlier this week, LeadingAge New York posted on Twitter and Facebook, thanking Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal and Senator Kavanagh for their support of this critical program. If you have not already done so, please take a moment to “like” and/or “share” this Facebook post and this Twitter post! It only takes a few minutes of your time but will help ensure these key legislators recognize the robust support for this common-sense legislation!
Members are also encouraged to copy and paste the below social media message on your social media platforms – Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter – and TAG YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATORS! Find your legislators’ social media handles here: https://p2a.co/sLFV25Y
“Thank you @LindaBRosenthal & @BrianKavanaghNY for introducing legislation to establish an Affordable Independent Senior Housing Resident Assistance Program! I urge the Legislature to fund this program with a modest investment of $25M/5 years in this year’s budget! TAG YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATORS”
Help Us Amplify Our Social Media Messages of the Week!
LeadingAge New York is harnessing the power of social media during this year’s state budget cycle, but in order to have the most impact, we need the participation of ALL of our LeadingAge New York membership and your network of advocates!
Please take a moment to help us amplify the below messages in advance of next week’s Health & Medicaid Budget Hearing, set for Tuesday, Feb. 28th!
- Please “like” and/or “share” this Facebook post and this Twitter post! This will only take a few clicks!
- Please copy and paste the below social media message on your social media platforms – Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter!
“Our most vulnerable depend on the state to ensure access to quality care, close to home. Medicaid pays for the nursing home care of 60,000 New Yorkers, but the rates are based on 2007 costs. @NYSenatorRivera & @AmyPaulin, NY MUST Provide a 20% Increase to Nursing Homes! #nybudget”
- After you post the above message, ask your network of staff and family advocates to do the same!!
If you are looking to do more with social media beyond the above action items, please take a look at LeadingAge New York’s new suite of pre-written social media messages and resources. These messages are part of “Phase 3” of our coordinated PR campaign. Members are strongly encouraged to post at least 1-2 budget related social media messages throughout the remainder of state budget negotiations! For more information, visit our Public Affairs Council website.
February Advocacy Activity Update
Since February 1st and the announcement of the 2023-24 Executive Budget Proposal, LeadingAge New York and its members have held 90 meetings with state legislators and central staff - and our work is not done yet! We have 10 more meetings already scheduled for next week, which means we are poised to conduct at least 100 meetings over the course of just four weeks!
This is the most grassroots advocacy activity we have ever seen at this stage of the state budget process and we thank our members for all you are doing. We thank you and we urge you to stay engaged with us throughout the remainder of the state budget process, expected to conclude April 1st. If you have not already sent a note sharing what legislators you are meeting with, please email Sarah Daly at sdaly@leadingageny.org and share your activity with us! Tracking our joint advocacy activity is critical to amplifying our message, addressing any gaps in advocacy and ensuring effective legislative follow up.
THANK YOU to our LeadingAge NY membership who have helped to organize and participate in these meetings; and thank you for sharing your experiences and concerns with lawmakers.
To help support your ongoing advocacy, LeadingAge New York’s state budget legislative handouts are available here. Additionally, our Virtual Advocacy Week website will remain active, providing materials and resources through-out the state budget process.
Health Budget Hearing Set for Tuesday, Feb. 28th
On Tuesday, Feb. 28th, the Joint-Legislative Budget Hearing on the Health and Medicaid Budget will be held by the Senate and Assembly Health Committees, as well as Assembly Ways and Means Chair Helene Weinstein and Senate Finance Chair Liz Krueger. LeadingAge New York has submitted to provide both written and in-person testimony at the health hearing, which is expected to begin at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. The health hearing is notoriously known to be a long day, involving hours of testimony from state agencies and key stakeholders. For members interested in watching the hearing, it will be live streamed on the Assembly website.
Additionally, the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on the Housing Budget is set for the following day, March 1st. Unfortunately, the Legislature is only allowing stakeholders to testify in-person at one hearing per budget cycle. So, while we cannot offer in-person testimony at the housing hearing, we will be submitting written testimony to urge for better funding and support of all housing models that serve older adults. In this written testimony, we will also emphasize the need to fund and establish an Affordable Independent Senior Housing Resident Assistance Program in the State of New York. If you’d like to watch the housing hearing on March 1st, members may tune in on the Assembly website.
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