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Legislative Bulletin: Governor Hochul Delivers State of the State Address

January 17, 2025

Governor Hochul Delivers State of the State Address

On Tuesday afternoon, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her 2025 State of the State address. Setting her agenda for the legislative session and State Budget, she called for tax relief and initiatives to reduce household expenses, create affordable housing, and improve community safety. Her address was accompanied by a lengthy policy agenda for the coming year, entitled State of the State: We are New York. Notably, although the address did not focus on long-term care, it did include a commitment to introduce legislation to authorize medication aides in nursing homes and several workforce development proposals that could expand the healthcare workforce.

LeadingAge NY provided a summary of the State of the State announcement on Tuesday, highlighting some of the specific measures that may impact LeadingAge NY members and the people they serve. A copy of that summary is now available on our website here.

We anticipate that many of the proposals mentioned in the State of the State will be reflected in greater detail in the Executive Budget and associated bills, due to be released next week on Jan. 21, 2025. In the hours following the announcement of the Executive Budget Proposal, LeadingAge NY will provide a short summary of the budget proposals that may impact LeadingAge NY membership. Then, our team will quickly begin our more in-depth analysis of the proposals, leading to the release of our comprehensive budget memo and the preparation of 2025 Advocacy Day materials, all of which will be made available no later than Jan. 31st.

 

REGISTER NOW for 2025 Advocacy Day in Albany!

With the New York State Legislature back in session, and the anticipated release of the 2025-26 Executive Budget Proposal next week, it is critical that we have as many members as possible join us in Albany for our 2025 Advocacy Day on Feb. 4th! During our in-person advocacy day, we will be urging State legislators to support and appropriately fund the entire continuum of long-term care/aging services providers; including nursing homes, assisted living/adult care facilities, home care agencies, senior housing, adult day health care, managed long-term care and more!

Please join us for our LeadingAge NY Advocacy Day to support our efforts!

When: Feb. 4, 2025

Where: Meeting Room 5, The Empire State Plaza Convention Center (279 Madison Ave., Albany, NY 12242)

How:

  1. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER for LeadingAge NY's 2025 Advocacy Day!
  2. Once you are registered, CALL YOUR STATE SENATOR AND ASSEMBLY MEMBER's Albany offices to request an in-person meeting on Tues., Feb. 4th. As an additional resource for individuals new to advocacy, we have developed this Legislative Scheduling Guide to assist members in setting up meetings.
  3. Once your meetings are scheduled, please send your meeting details to Sarah Daly at sdaly@leadingageny.org and Saleena Ali at sali@leadingageny.org. This is critical to enhancing our organization, collaboration, and overall advocacy impact.

Please note that we recommend members schedule their own legislative meetings, as it often results in a timelier response and the legislator themselves joining the meeting. LeadingAge NY is also happy to assist you in scheduling your meetings, but it is critical that you register as soon as possible!

During our Advocacy Day, LeadingAge NY will:

  • Provide breakfast & lunch;
  • be available to join you for your legislative meetings;
  • provide legislative materials and “handouts” for legislators;
  • assist in any necessary follow-up from meetings;
  • provide a meeting room, directions, parking information, logistical support and more!

Finally, to ensure that members are familiar with what is in the SFY 2025-26 Executive Budget Proposal (once released) and all details of our 2025 Advocacy Day, LeadingAge NY will be hosting a Budget and Advocacy Day Prep Call on Fri., Jan. 31st at 11 a.m. 

More information on our 2025 Advocacy Day can be found here. Please reach out to Sarah Daly (sdaly@leadingageny.org) with any questions.

 

ACTION ALERT: Keep Pressure on Gov. in Advance of Executive Budget Announcement!

Our LeadingAge NY member, St. John’s nursing home, has posted a NEW video on social media aimed at Governor Kathy Hochul, urging the State to better fund Medicaid and the care of nursing home residents. We are urging the Governor to provide a 20% increase in funding, and we need your help to hold her attention in advance of the Executive Budget Proposal announcement NEXT WEEK!

TODAY, please take a moment to LIKE & SHARE the below social media content created and posted by St. John’s!

Please SHARE the video on at least one platform – perhaps the one where you have the biggest following. It is highly recommended to actually TAG the Governor on Facebook and other platforms when you share it, so she sees our message. If you are sharing on your personal profiles, we encourage you to make the post “public”. If you’d like, you could also tag the social media accounts of your State legislators. When you tag the Governor and legislators, be sure that the tag lights up in blue so that the elected officials will see your message.

St. John’s Social Media Video Links:

  • Facebook – Please LIKE & SHARE ( Gov. Tag @Governor Kathy Hochul)
  • Twitter/X – Please LIKE & SHARE ( Gov. Tag @GovKathyHochul)
  • Instagram - Please LIKE & SHARE ( Gov. Tag @govkathyhochul)
  • LinkedIn – Please LIKE & SHARE

We also recommend you add an additional caption to your tag of Governor Hochul when you share the video. You could add:

“Nurses, aides, physical therapists, recreation therapists, dining teams and so many more important staff working in nursing homes play an important role. They are critical to offering residents good quality of life and high-quality care, and Medicaid contributes heavily to nursing home’s ability to support these staff and the essential services they provide. 

@Governor Kathy Hochul, help ensure residents like John can continue to receive compassionate care and life enriching services by providing a 20% increase in nursing home Medicaid rates. This funding is critical to enable nursing homes to compete for and retain quality staff while offering innovative services and programs. Rates have not reflected costs since 2007.  Medicaid funding matters, because #OlderAdultsMatter!

Click here to learn more: https://bit.ly/3OdUlFh”

Thank you for joining us in advocacy as we rapidly approach the release of the Executive Budget Proposal next week! And thanks to all of our members who have helped us in creating and amplifying social media videos over the last several months. Your work and contributions have been incredible!

 

LeadingAge NY Priority Legislation Re-Introduced

A new Legislature and two-year legislative cycle means new bill numbers! As LeadingAge NY has noted in other writings, only one bill that LeadingAge NY opposed in 2024 was ultimately passed by both houses and signed by the Governor to become law. While this means that our 2024 advocacy was quite effective, it also means that the dozens of bills that LeadingAge NY opposed in 2024 will be back this year and could threaten potential passage.

On a more positive note, the bills we support are also in the process of being re-introduced, and we will need to work together with our membership to vocalize our support for these pieces of legislation and urge legislators to prioritize their passage in the 2025 Legislative Session.

Below is a short list of just some of the pieces of legislation we have seen re-introduced so far this year:

 LeadingAge NY will call on our members to help us advocate for and against these pieces of legislation as we move through this year’s legislative work. Stay tuned!

 

Senate and Assembly Finalize Committee Membership Appointments

Last week, we reported that the leaders of the State Senate and Assembly announced new committee chair and leadership appointments. At the time of that writing, we had seen the full list of Assembly Committee Membership appointments, but we had not yet seen what members of the Senate would be sitting on which committees.

On Monday, the Senate Majority and the Senate Minority shared their full lists of committee appointments.

With over 20 new members of the State Legislature, and some prominent members of the Legislature such as Former Ways and Means Chair Weinstein retiring, there has been some changes to key committee appointments. LeadingAge NY members are strongly encouraged to review the lists linked above and see what committees your legislators are a part of. If they sit on key committees such as Health, Aging, Housing, Labor, Social Services, Higher Education, Finance, or Ways and Means, it means they could have an even more significant influence on advancing our priority legislation and opposing harmful proposals.

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

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