Legislative Bulletin: State Budget Negotiations Expected to Extend Past April 1 Deadline
March 28, 2025
State Budget Negotiations Expected to Extend Past April 1 Deadline
New York State’s Fiscal Year runs from April 1st to March 31st, making April 1st the typical deadline for an “on-time budget”. As March winds down to a close and the deadline for the 2025-26 state budget agreement nears, it is becoming clear that the budget negotiations between the Legislature and the Governor will extend into the first week of April.
While officials had previously expressed interest in avoiding a repeat of recent years’ budget delays, executive policy priorities appear to be delaying a final budget agreement once again. There are only a few specific policy issues that appear to be delaying negotiations: statewide standards for a cellphone ban in schools, restrictions on wearing masks in public, and the reform of pre-trial discovery laws originally established in 2020. We are hearing that there is a general commitment among officials to come to a comprehensive budget agreement that makes New York safer and more affordable in a timely manner, and State legislators are expected to return to Albany and resume budget work on Tues., April 1. However, based on recent years, it is possible that budget work could extend as far as April 11, the final week before legislators return to their districts for spring holidays and legislative recess.
LeadingAge New York will continue to keep members apprised of state budget developments. With budget work ongoing, we ask you to please continue to use your voice to keep the pressure on policy makers, early and often, throughout next week!
Please Continue to Advocate as State Budget Deliberations Continue!
With New York State budget work expected to continue past the April 1st deadline, we now have some extra time to advocate for LeadingAge NY’s top budget priorities to be included in the final budget for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2025-26. It is crucial that we maintain the urgency and frequency of our message to ensure that these priorities do not fall off the negotiating table.
Please continue to push for the investments and restorations that long-term care providers need, and the funding that the people you serve deserve; use the tools below to continue to advocate with your state legislators and the governor now!
Please take a moment to click one or more of the below links to send an email to elected officials today! It only takes a few clicks!
- Nursing Home Budget Letter – additional letters for board members, staff teams, family members, etc. are here.
- Adult Care Facilities/Assisted Living Budget Letter
- Home & Community-Based Services Budget Letter
- Managed Long-Term Care Budget Letter
- Adult Day Health Care Budget Letter
Engage others in advocacy! Print and share advocacy flyers to increase our digital advocacy reach. Flyers can be printed and left in lobby areas or shared digitally with families and volunteers:
Finally, social media advocacy is a great way to capture the attention of lawmakers and urge them to prioritize the care and service needs of older adults! LeadingAge NY has a state budget social media toolkit, which provides pre-written social media posts, along with graphics and videos created by members, residents and staff; and we are adding new graphics and messages to this toolkit throughout the remainder of state budget work. Using imagery and videos on social media to tell our story has proven effective in recent years, but we need our members to help us get our message out there in front of elected officials and the public!
The social media toolkit makes social media advocacy easy: simply download the image that you wish to use, copy the caption from the toolkit, and create a new post on your personal or professional social media accounts. Just be sure that your post “tags” the elected officials we are trying to focus our advocacy on. You will know the legislator has been tagged when their name lights up in blue.
Thank you to all our members who have advocated with us so far this year! We appreciate any energies you can dedicate toward advocacy during these final days of state budget negotiations. Your advocacy now will make all the difference!
Please reach out to Sarah Daly at sdaly@leadingageny.org with any questions.
Please Join Us in Washington D.C. for Federal Advocacy Effort!
In recent editions of Legislative Bulletin, LeadingAge NY has reported on Federal budget updates and the budget reconciliation process which aims to reduce Federal spending and poses significant threats to Medicaid and other aging services funding sources. Unfortunately, the Federal savings required by the late-Feb. House resolution cannot be achieved without deep cuts to Medicaid. In addition to Medicaid cuts, lawmakers are considering the elimination of the tax exemption of municipal bonds that are often used to finance capital improvements in non-profit health care facilities and affordable senior housing.
Fortunately, LeadingAge National and LeadingAge NY have been working together to advocate against potential cuts to Federal funding, and there are many opportunities for our members to join us in this critical Federal advocacy.
First, members are strongly encouraged to join us in D.C. on April 9 for LeadingAge Lobby Day!
Join us in Washington D.C. from April 7 – 9 for LeadingAge National’s 2025 Leadership Summit and Lobby Day! The Leadership Summit provides valuable networking and educational opportunities, but most importantly, the final day of the summit (April 9) will offer attendees the chance to join a coordinated lobbying effort on Capitol Hill. During the National Lobby Day, LeadingAge members will meet face-to-face with members of Congress to advocate against potential cuts to Medicaid and stress the need for enhanced federal funding and policies supporting long-term care and aging services for older adults. There is still time to join us in D.C.! Click here to register for the Leadership Summit and/or Lobby Day!
LeadingAge NY and LeadingAge National will be preparing meeting materials for the lobby day effort, and New York staff will be preparing handouts specific to NY funding concerns and dynamics. In addition, LeadingAge National is hosting a “Know Before You Go Virtual Lobby Day Training” webinar on April 1, from 2 – 3 p.m. All lobby day registrants will receive an invitation to this virtual training, but you must register for lobby day before the end of the day on Monday, March 31st!
Finally, LeadingAge National has created several different letters that members can send to their Members of Congress with just a few clicks. Click here to write to your members of Congress TODAY!
ACTION ALERT: Share Member Video Calling for Better Nursing Home Funding!
LeadingAge NY urges all members to take your advocacy to social media!
TAKE ACTION NOW! Please take a moment to share the below social media content to help us amplify the voices of New York’s nursing home residents!
Please SHARE the below video and make sure to TAG the Governor, Legislative Leadership AND your state legislators on Facebook so we can be sure that they see our message.
- Share this video on Facebook!
- If you are sharing on your personal profiles, we encourage you to make the post “public”.
- When you click “Share”, add the below caption, and include the tags (@) of state legislators. When you post the video, please be sure that the names of the legislators turn blue. This indicates that the individual has been tagged in the post and will see it. Please also be sure to include the tags (@) of your state legislators!
New Caption:
Amanda, a nursing home employee, is warning fellow New Yorkers about the underfunding of nursing homes and the impact she sees on families. Unfortunately, 70% of nursing homes in the State are losing money on operations due to inadequate Medicaid rates, and homes are closing as a result.
She explains that without significant increases in Medicaid funding, families will face heartbreak as nursing homes are forced to turn away people seeking skilled nursing home care. "Our grandparents and parents deserve quality care," she says. "Medicaid funding matters because older adults matter."
Thank you @Andrea Stewart-Cousins, @NYSAssemblyMajority Speaker @Carl E. Heastie & @Governor Kathy Hochul for proposing Medicaid investments to support nursing home residents and staff. It is critical that the final budget includes every dollar possible to substantially increase Medicaid funding and restore the 10% capital cut enacted last year. Please #PrioritizeOlderAdults by working to provide a Medicaid rate that matches the cost of care in this year’s budget! #NursingHomeSOS
- Share this message with your board members, staff, and family members, and ask them to share it on their socials, tagging legislators! This could help expand our advocacy reach and allow legislators to hear from new advocates.
And of course, be sure to check out our social media toolkit to help amplify our unified social media messages, graphics, and other member videos! We are encouraging members to post on social media at least twice every week until the state budget is made final.
Thank you for your budget advocacy and for staying engaged with us throughout this process!
Contact: Sarah Daly; 518.867.8845; sdaly@leadingageny.org