Budget moves further forward Friday, but most controversial bill saved for last
Alex Gault, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
5 min read
Apr. 19—ALBANY — Progress on passing the 2024-25 New York state budget continued on Friday, with eight of the 10 bills that make up the spending plan printed by 5 p.m., and lawmakers almost immediately taking up votes on the dense spending and policy legislation between party meetings and committee hearings.
The bills printed by press time Friday include those regarding physical and mental health policy, as well as spending bills for general state operations, the legislature and the courts, state aid to local governments and the capital projects bill that funds state investments in infrastructure at state-owned properties, agencies and authorities.
The education, labor and family assistance bill, meant to address some of the most controversial aspects of this year's budget process — housing policy, education funding and various other topics — remained unprinted by Friday afternoon, with lawmakers considering either working overnight to complete the budget votes, or returning for a half day of debate and voting.
The bills that were printed by Friday afternoon covered a wide range of issues.
One included a key provision that local leaders from across the state have been advocating for movement on for years — the Aid and Incentives to Municipalities program, which provides state funding to local governments, which can be used to cover a wide range of costs from salaries to infrastructure.
Since 2009, the AIM program has seen no increases, pegged at about $666 million, but in the budget bill introduced on Friday, the program would receive about $758 million, a $43 million increase, although the boost is attributed only to a $50 million one-time special grant to be distributed proportionally among municipalities that received AIM last year.
At a rally held in March, the New York Conference of Mayors and the state Association of Towns called for the AIM total this year to reach $1.02 billion, which they said adjusted for inflation would put the aid program back at the same level as 2009.
Not accounting for inflation, this AIM total is the single largest in New York state history — the second largest was in 2011, the first year New York City was removed from the program, when towns and villages received about $720 million in AIM funding.
Other topics of importance that saw a vote on Friday included health policies. Lawmakers approved the health and mental hygiene bill that will establish a single fiscal intermediary for home health care provided to aging and disabled people. Under the current system, more than 600 individual local groups work as financial intermediaries for home health care providers and insurers, including Medicare and Medicaid.
Under the new system, set to take effect April 2025, only one such group will be allowed to operate in New York, something that home health care advocates including patients have said could spell disaster. Supporters of the measure have said it could save at least $500 million.
Other policies included are a new regulation on hospitals — they will be required to waive all charges for patients who make less than 200% of the federal poverty level, and caps the charges that patients making between 200% and 400% of the federal poverty line. For all patients who make up to 400% of the FPL, hospitals and medical debt servicers are barred from suing patients for unpaid bills.
For all patients, hospitals will be barred from bringing civil suits for unpaid bills within the first 180 days after the first bill is sent, and they must check all patients for eligibility to receive financial assistance first.
Another inclusion in the health care bill creates a doula expansion program, which will create a grant program for health care providers to offer recruitment, training and ongoing employment for doulas, which are people employed and offered training to provide guidance and support to pregnant people during and after labor.
The bills approved Friday contain hundreds of pages of policy. The Times is continuing to review the bills as they are printed, and will provide further analysis in the coming days and weeks.
Meanwhile, the north country's lawmakers in Albany were widely dismissive of much of the policy approved by Friday afternoon.
Sen. Daniel G. Stec, R-Queensbury, issued a statement specific to the issue of nursing home Medicaid reimbursement rates. The health budget bill sets aside $285 million for Medicaid reimbursements this year, which he said was woefully inadequate considering the $810 million annual gap between Medicaid rates and the costs borne by nonprofit nursing homes.
Stec noted that 11 nursing homes across New York have closed since 2020, and as of September, about 14,500 nursing home beds are unavailable because of low staffing numbers.
"This trend of closures and dwindling access to services is unsustainable," he said. "Given the demographic changes of New York State, the need for nursing homes and assisted living facilities continues to grow."
Assemblyman Kenneth D. Blankenbush, R-Black River, issued a statement at about 4:15 p.m., when five bills had been passed.
"I found it impossible to vote YES to any of them," he said. "While these bills contain some good policies, the negatives outweigh the positives. These bills are packed with what we call 'poison pills,' and there are just too many to swallow."
Blankenbush said cuts were made to volunteer fire department budgets, even after advocates for the volunteer departments have rallied repeatedly in Albany for increases, and warned of ongoing cuts to service and low volunteer turnout. He also said that the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program that provides state cash to maintain highways, bridges and other road infrastructure saw no increase this year.
"While there is still funding for CHIPS, the bill does not accommodate inflation, so CHIPS funding has essentially been cut," he said.
Blankenbush said negotiations are still ongoing and will move into the weekend, with a final agreement struck by Sunday if all goes as planned.
