June 9, 2025
Heastie and ASC ask U.S. Senate to reject House-passed spending bill
The two Democratic leaders of the Assembly and Senate appeared together at the Capitol for a rare joint news conference Monday to speak on that spending package.
Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins brought members of both chambers together to call on the U.S. Senate to reject the bill as written because of its impact on Medicaid in New York. New York has estimated that nearly 1.5 million people would become uninsured because of cuts in tax credits for the state-subsidized Essential Plan, less federal funding for Medicaid and new eligibility standards, like work requirements for able-bodied adults. “Maybe it seems fine in a faraway place like Washington where you’re just kowtowing to the president, who wants you to do this and that so billionaires can have more money,” Stewart-Cousins said. “But these are real people.” If New York were to make whole the cuts included in the bill, the state has estimated that the cost would be about $13.5 billion. Lawmakers have already said that, if those cuts happen, they may return to Albany to soften the blow as much as they can, but have acknowledged that the state can’t backfill the entire cost. It was hard enough this year to find a few billion for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Heastie said he didn’t want to predict what their response would be to the cuts in Albany because that would assume they’re inevitable. “I don’t want to give the House Republicans, the president and the U.S. Senate, you know, don’t worry about whatever you do to us, we’ll come back and take it,” Heastie said. “I don’t want to have to come back to cut people’s health care and cut jobs and things people rely on.” Stefanik defended the changes in the bill while appearing with Republicans Monday, claiming it solely targets “waste, fraud and abuse.” “We are not taking away Medicaid benefits,” Stefanik said. “We are getting rid of Medicaid benefits for illegals specifically to improve them for New Yorkers who qualify.” It’s true that the benefits under Medicaid would not change but the eligibility and funding from the federal government for Medicaid would. New York is legally required to pay for the health insurance of lawfully present immigrants because of a 2001 decision from the Court of Appeals, Aliessa v. Novello. That’s done through the Essential Plan, but the bill in Congress would prohibit that.
That means those immigrants would lose their health insurance and New York would have to put them on state-only Medicaid coverage — a $3 billion annual cost to the state and its counties, according to the Greater New York Hospital Association.
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In related news, the Senate has teed up our OMIG Audit Reform bill for passage. Stand by.
S4955A – HARCKHAM
Relates to the functions of the Medicaid inspector general with respect to
audit and review of medical assistance program funds06/09/25 COMMITTEE DISCHARGED AND COMMITTED TO RULES
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Democrats have agreed to a big bill on prisons. Here’s what’s in it
On Friday, the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus announced the Robert Brooks Prison Reform package, which consists of 21 priority bills aimed at overhauling the state’s prison systems.
Democrats in the Senate and Assembly have now agreed to pass 10 prison-related bills that both chambers were mulling ahead of the end of this year’s legislative session, sources close to those discussions say.
It’s called the “Accountability Package”. All 10 will be combined into a single omnibus bill.
The latest news is that lawmakers have come to an agreement on which bills out of several that they plan to approve before the week’s end.
Here’s what’s in the package, broken down by part:
Video of incidents (S3653/A4028): Video footage related to a death in prison would have to be disclosed to the state attorney general’s office. (Part A)Surveillance cameras (S7312/A7014): Prisons would be required to have surveillance cameras in all areas of the facility except cells, showers and medical treatment rooms under this bill. (Part B)Notice of death (S5680/A1010A): This would set a strict deadline for when public notice is given of the death of someone in state custody. (Part C)Study of deaths in DOCCS (S3853/A5982): This would direct the state Commission of Correction to perform a study on deaths in state prisons. (Part D)Terry Cooper Autopsy Accountability Act (S2510/A5424): This would require autopsy reports given to the Medical Review Board to include photographs, microscopic slides and post-mortem X-rays. (Part E)Conflicts within the AG’s Office: This one, which was in the Assembly’s one-house budget, would set guardrails to alleviate conflicts of interest in the Office of Special Investigations in the state attorney general’s office. (Part F)Data from the DOCCS Office of Special Investigations: This would require the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to collect and report data quarterly to the Legislature on complaints received and their outcomes. (Part G)Commission of Correction expansion (S856/A2315): This would expand the number of commissioners on the Commission of Correction and require some of them to be from certain backgrounds. (Part H)Correctional Association (S651/A3781): The Correctional Association of New York, a nonprofit allowed by law to inspect state prisons, would be able to visit facilities without notice and expand their access to records. (Part I)Tolling the statute of limitations (S844/A649): This would suspend the statute of limitations for people while they’re incarcerated to ensure that any legal claims they have aren’t forfeited. (Part J)