Legislative Bulletin: Urge Legislators to Protect Older Adults and Fund Long Term Care!
February 6, 2026
Advocacy Day Recap: LeadingAge NY Members Participate in Over 100 Meetings
Thank you to all members and advocates who joined us for our 2026 Advocacy Day in Albany this week! In just one day, we met with approximately 43% of the entire Legislature. With 100 member advocates attending more than 100 meetings. Your participation and commitment to advocacy helped us surpass the registration and meeting goals we established earlier this year! Thank you for lending your time, energy and voices to our efforts!
Tuesday was a powerful kickstart to our budget advocacy. Throughout the day, we met with key legislative leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Stewart‑Cousins, Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means leadership, the Chairs of Health, Aging, Housing, and Social Services, Health Rankers Jensen and Gallivan, and many other offices essential to shaping the State budget. It was a full, productive day that set a strong foundation for the work ahead.
Your stories and firsthand experiences made a real impact. Showing up early in the budget process ensures our priorities are heard and understood before major decisions are made.
However, this is only the beginning. With one‑house budget proposals expected in early March, the next few weeks are essential. Now is the time to keep up the pressure on state legislators, urging them to strengthen investments and provide key restorations to existing and proposed cuts to long-term care.
Below, you’ll find action items to help keep this momentum going. Your continued advocacy is critical as the Legislature crafts its one‑house budgets.
ACTION ALERT: Urge Legislators to Protect Older Adults and Fund Long Term Care!
Our 2026 advocacy day was a huge success, but it is critical we build upon our advocacy momentum. Please take a moment to call your State Senators and Assembly Members on Monday, Feb. 9th, and urge them to prioritize adequate funding for long-term and post-acute care in the Senate and Assembly one-house budget proposals.
We have heard that State Senators are submitting budget letters to Senate leadership on Feb. 9th, and Assembly Members are submitting budget letters to Assembly leadership by Feb. 14th. Now is a critical time to make sure your state legislators understand the budget requests most important to you and their constituents.
Please call legislators on Monday, Feb. 9th!
- Find your state Senator and Assembly Member here.
- Call their Albany Office on Monday, Feb. 9th, and ask them to include your top 3 budget requests in their budget letters to leadership.
- Use LeadingAge NY Budget Issue Briefs to inform your conversations and budget requests.
- The second page of this General Issue Brief provides simple bullets that can be used as talking points during phone calls and emailed to your representatives as a follow up.
Please reach out to Sarah Daly at sdaly@leadingageny.org with any questions.
ACTION ALERT: Resident Assistants in Affordable Senior Housing Bill Added to Senate Housing Agenda
A piece of legislation that LeadingAge NY and our members strongly support, A.1948 (Rosenthal)/S.956 (Kavanagh), has been added to the Senate Housing Committee Agenda for Tues., Feb. 10th. The bill would create the framework for the Affordable Independent Senior Housing Assistance Program, directing the State to administer grants to allow more affordable senior housing properties to hire and maintain a “Resident Assistant” who can help residents connect with existing programs and resources that promote their health and independence.
With the bill moving in the Senate, it is a perfect time for members to contact their state legislators and members of the Senate Housing Committee to vocalize their support for Resident Assistants in Affordable Senior Housing!
Please take a moment to contact legislators!
- Send this digital advocacy letter to the Governor and State Legislators. Members are encouraged to customize this letter with any details you would like. You can do so by simply editing the content available in the text box.
- Call Senate Housing Committee members (scroll to near bottom of page to see Senators who sit on the committee and access contact information).
- Call Senators to express your support of S.956 (Kavanagh) and how it would serve the older adults in your buildings and in your region of the state.
- Urge legislators to also support the funding for this program in the NYS Budget.
- Members can use talking points from our housing budget brief to explain why you support the affordable senior housing resident assistance bill and our budget proposal that accompanies it.
LeadingAge NY is urging that the funding for this program be provided in the Final NYS Budget. In fact, we are partnering with LiveOn NY to host a Resident Assistance Advocacy Day at the NYS Capitol in Albany on Feb. 25th, and we hope you can join us! During this targeted advocacy day, we will be urging State legislators to invest $10M over five years (just $2M in SFY27) to support this program, but we need your help to make this concept for a statewide program a reality!
Please register now to join us and lend your voice to the need for Affordable Senior Housing Resident Assistance in NYS!
Thank you for your advocacy.
ACTION ALERT: Amplify Nursing Home Social Media Message!
LeadingAge New York is leveraging the power of social media to keep the funding needs of long-term care providers front-of-mind for state policymakers. Please join us in amplifying our unified message on social media!
Today, please take a moment to LIKE & SHARE the below social media content:
Please share on at least one platform or more.
- 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
Add an additional caption when you share! Copy and paste the below caption when you share this post to your social media, and tag you state senators and assembly members so they see what you have to say!
Caption:
Nursing homes play a critical role in New York’s health care system, providing long‑term and post‑acute care to more than 300,000 vulnerable individuals each year. New Yorkers rely on quality nursing homes for short‑term rehabilitation after illness or injury, as well as for long‑term, around‑the‑clock care.
@TAG LEGISLATORS — please preserve access to quality care by ensuring that nursing homes receive at least $750M of the #NYBudget’s proposed investments in hospitals and nursing homes.
Additional Reminders:
- It is highly recommended to TAG the accounts of your state legislators when you share. When you tag the governor and legislators, be sure that the tag lights up in blue so elected officials will see your message.
- If you are sharing on your personal profiles, we encourage you to make the post “public”.
Thank you for your advocacy. Your participation strengthens our message and helps ensure the needs of our communities are clearly heard.”
SFY 2026-27 Executive Budget Resources from LeadingAge New York
- Comprehensive Executive Budget Summary
- Budget Issue Briefs
- Budget Advocacy Prep Call
- Updated digital advocacy letters on the way!
Early next week, LeadingAge NY plans to launch a new round of budget advocacy resources, including updated digital advocacy letters for members to use and share with your network of advocates. In addition, we strongly encourage members to continue to share our Budget Issue Briefs with legislative offices, and, if you haven’t already watched the recording of our Budget and Advocacy Day Prep Call, the messaging and focus of our advocacy that we reviewed on the call remain relevant.
Next Public Affairs Council Meeting Scheduled for Feb. 19th
After a short hiatus, LeadingAge NY is resuming our regularly scheduled Public Affairs Council meetings! Our February Public Affairs Council meeting will be held on Thurs., Feb. 19th at 3 p.m. During this month’s meeting, the Council will review the latest budget advocacy resources and social media/press activities. We have a lot to share with you about the work we have been doing in the press, and how we can work together to garner more public attention to our issues.
If you have not already done so, you can sign up for the Public Affairs Council here! All Public Affairs Council meetings are held over Zoom. Please reach out to Sarah Daly at sdaly@leadingageny.org with any questions about the Council or PR/advocacy resources.
Contact: Sarah Daly; 518.867.8845; sdaly@leadingageny.org