Legislative Bulletin: Final 2024-25 NYS Budget Advocacy, Outcomes, and Next Steps

April 26, 2024

Final 2024-25 NYS Budget: Advocacy, Outcomes, and Next Steps

Over the weekend, the State finalized its budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-25. The final budget, delayed by several weeks, failed to address the significant needs of LeadingAge NY's nursing home members and the people you serve. However, there were some victories in other segments of the membership.

LeadingAge NY has published two different initial analyses of the budget – one for health measures and one for housing. Both analyses and coverage of LeadingAge New York’s initial takeaways from this year’s budget process are available in this article. It is important to note that we are still learning more about some of the budget initiatives. LeadingAge NY is analyzing the budget bills and will issue a comprehensive memo to members by Monday, April 29^th.

We deeply appreciate all the advocacy our members have done this year to protect against massive cuts and fight for better funding. In total, our network of advocates sent nearly 25,000 digital budget letters to legislators and the governor. Your advocacy was robust, creative, and impressive all-around, and it will be important for us to build upon our advocacy work going forward.

As we begin to formulate our next steps, it will be crucial to channel our frustration into action to amplify a unified message to NY policymakers and to the public. The 2024 Legislative Session is scheduled to resume on May 6^th and will conclude on June 6^th. The Legislature will be considering several pieces of legislation that would impact our membership, and we will need members to stay engaged in advocacy over the final month of session. Members are encouraged to stay up to date with all advocacy opportunities and legislative developments via this publication, our weekly Legislative Bulletin.

Bills to Watch: One Month Left of 2024 Legislative Session

With many long term care-related issues still front-of-mind for lawmakers, and with some of LeadingAge New York's own policy priorities remaining unaddressed, it is certain that we will need your continued advocacy throughout the remainder of this legislative session.

Below are digital advocacy campaigns for some of the top legislative issues that LeadingAge NY will be working on over the next several weeks, and there will be more to come! Each link will bring you to a webpage where you can learn about the issue, read our legislative memo, and enter your information to send an email to legislators and the governor. While we are not mobilizing our members to take action in a robust manner at this moment, we encourage our membership to get re-acquainted with some of the below-listed issues that are likely to arise over the coming weeks.

In addition to engaging in advocacy action alerts, it is important that members maintain connection with legislative offices. When connecting with legislators over the remainder of session, thank them for the funding that is being provided in this year’s budget – but also express your persistent workforce and financing challenges. Say that you are grateful for the support and attention that has come this year, but explain that the long-term care sector still needs significant resources and support to make up for over a decade of under-funding.

Thank you in advance for sticking with us for the remainder of the 2024 Legislative Session!

Contact: Sarah Daly; 518.867.8845; sdaly@leadingageny.org