Legislative Bulletin: The Final Month of 2024 Legislative Session

May 3, 2024

LeadingAge NY Publishes Comprehensive Budget Memo

On April 19^th, Governor Hochul and legislative leaders reached a budget agreement and approved the final spending plan for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2024-25, effective for the period April 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025. On Tuesday morning, LeadingAge New York published a comprehensive overview of the enacted 2024-25 State Budget, summarizing provisions that affect long term care, post-acute care, senior housing and aging services providers and the people you serve. Members are encouraged to review the comprehensive budget memo on our website here.

During this year’s budget cycle, LeadingAge New York mobilized our members and saw greater engagement than ever before in coordinated advocacy efforts. Activities included in-person and virtual legislative meetings, press events, social media messaging, grassroots advocacy flyers and more. In the end, our network of advocates sent close to 25,000 digital budget letters to the Governor and legislators, nearly doubling our letter-writing campaigns from last year.

However, despite our collective efforts, the final state budget fell short. The budget’s Medicaid rate increases for long-term care are inadequate, and the nursing home capital cut and retroactive case mix freeze are significant blows, threatening the quality and availability of long-term care in New York. While LeadingAge New York’s advocacy produced several successes for members, we are also keenly aware that the budget does not provide the level of funding or support for older adults that we fought so hard for.

The shortcomings in this year’s budget underscore the urgent need for ongoing education of our policymakers and your continued advocacy! While this year’s budget outcomes aren’t what we fought for, the outcome would have been far worse if LeadingAge New York members, advocates and allies did not stand up for the care and needs of older adults. Thank you for your advocacy and for using your voice!

LeadingAge New York remains committed to advocating for policies that uphold the dignity and well-being of older adults. As we begin to move forward from this year’s State budget process and approach the final four weeks of the 2024 legislative session, we will continue to advance our policy priorities, and we will continue to need your active participation.

ACTION ALERT: Psychotropic Medications Bill Added to Senate Health Agenda

A bill LeadingAge New York opposes, A.7467 (Paulin)/S.466 (Sepulveda), has been added to the Senate health Agenda for Tues., May 7^th. The bill would require an enhanced level of informed consent before psychotropic medications can be prescribed for residents of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) or adult care facilities (ACFs). The legislation makes two major changes in an effort to reduce the use of psychotropic medications:

Requires health care professionals to receive written consent from the resident or the resident’s "lawful representative" before ordering or increasing the order of any psychotropic medication; and
Limits all orders for psychotropic medications to 14 days.

LeadingAge New York is actively pursuing more workable amendments to the bill, but it is critical that we stop this version from advancing further. Because the bill is on Senate Health Agenda for next week, we need members to weigh in with their opposition! CLICK HERE to send an email to your legislators TODAY in opposition!

Further, if your Senator sits on the Senate Health Committee (scroll down on the website), we encourage you to call their Albany office TODAY and vocalize your opposition to the bill, and why. LeadingAge NY's memo of opposition here.

Thank you for your advocacy and let us know if you have any questions!

The Final Month of 2024 Legislative Session

While this year's budget work has officially concluded, our work for the 2024 Legislative Session is far from over. Session is scheduled to conclude on June 6^th, and State legislators will return to Albany for the final month of session on Monday. During the final month of session, lawmakers will be taking up their remaining legislative priorities and attempting to address issues that were not included in the final budget agreement.

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! We will keep you apprised of the latest advocacy action items via our Friday Legislative Bulletins and other more urgent updates as needed.

Join Us for Next Week’s Public Affairs Council Meeting!

With one month left of session, this is a critical time to ensure that LeadingAge New York and its members are well-coordinated on all advocacy and press strategies. The Public Affairs Council’s goal and intention is to allow for better communication and collaboration among LeadingAge New York and our membership as we work together to educate both the public and policymakers about the importance and value of quality, mission-driven long-term care and aging services.

The next Public Affairs Council meeting is set for Thursday, May 9^th at 3 p.m. During this month’s meeting, we will discuss important advocacy tools and strategies to implement for the final days of state legislative work. In addition, we will take some time to coordinate and discuss regional press efforts in response to the Final State Budget. The objective of this month’s meeting is to identify and refine compelling messages that will help us accomplish our legislative goals, while simultaneously educating the general public.

If you have not already signed up to be a part of our Public Affairs Council, or would like to make sure someone in your organization is a part of the council, you can sign up for emails and Zoom meeting invitations here! We hope to see you on Thursday!

REGISTER NOW for LeadingAge NY Annual Conference & Expo in Saratoga Springs!

Have you registered for the Annual Conference & Expo on May 20-22 in Saratoga Springs?

If not, we hope you will consider joining LeadingAge NY in Saratoga Springs, May 20-22nd, for this year’s Annual Conference, packed with cutting-edge content from experts in the long term care field! Earn your National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards (NAB) and other continuing education units (CEUs) while networking and problem-solving with leaders of our sector.

The detailed program including registration, educational sessions, brochure and hotel information can be found on our website here, and registration is NOW OPEN!

Any questions may be directed to Cathy Bongermino at cbongermino@leadingageny.org.

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