August 14, 2025

From the NY Post story linked below:

“Mayor Eric Adams wants to make it easier to take drug addicts off the streets — and into treatment against their will.

Adams on Wednesday will unveil the “Compassionate Interventions Act,” a proposed state law that would expand involuntary commitment for people suffering substance abuse disorder, The Post has learned.

The change would help New York City fight public drug use, officials said — a scourge in places such as the Hub in the Bronx, where addicts openly inject heroin and other narcotics…”NY Post story: Exclusive | Eric Adams advances fight against NYC public drug use with new law allowing doctors to involuntarily commit addicts.

————–
In case you missed it, I would recommend that you view the keynote address given by State Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri at UHF’s Annual Medicaid Conference held last month in Manhattan.

The NYS Council posted the slides from the presentations online the same day as the event along with our notes regarding the keynote.  Later we sent you summary notes from our government relations firm, Reid, McNally and Savage.  

Now you can find both the recording of the event and the slides used by the presenters on the UHF website.  See below.

Note from UHF:

Thank you for registering for the 2025 Medicaid Conference, Celebrating Medicaid’s 60th Anniversary. A recording and the slides are available on our website.

—————— 

How the state’s fiscal fiasco could trickle down to New York City, Dan Clark, Capitol Confidential

If you’re like me, your primary care doctor likes to see you once a year for a checkup.

The same is required for the finances of New York City, which have been monitored each year for the last half century through what’s now become an annual meeting of the State Financial Control Board.

That meeting was held Wednesday and brought together some of New York’s top elected officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and City Comptroller Brad Lander.

Despite its name, the board is focused exclusively on the finances of New York City. It was born in 1975, when the city was in the throes of a major financial crisis following a drop in federal revenue. Happy anniversary, I guess.

That situation might sound familiar because it’s exactly what the city is anticipating right now.

“There’s a saying that history does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” DiNapoli said at the meeting. “I believe some of the lessons from that time are worth reviewing today.”

There is good news and bad news about New York City’s finances. The good news is that they’re doing fine at the moment, with billions of dollars more in revenue than city budget officials had projected for the most recent fiscal year, which ended in June.

The bad news is that there are storm clouds on the horizon. By fiscal year 2027, the city’s budget gap may exceed $10 billion, DiNapoli said.

It’s been a rough few years for New York City. Just as it was recovering from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, tens of thousands of immigrants were bussed into the five boroughs with little more than the clothes on their backs.

More than $8 billion has been spent since then to house and care for those immigrants — a cost that wasn’t anticipated and led Adams to consider deep cuts in city spending.

Hochul and the state Legislature heard the city’s call for help and approved about $4.3 billion in aid to help manage the crisis. Not all of that funding has been spent but it’s been appropriated, city officials have told state lawmakers.

That’s when the state was in a relatively good financial position compared to what it’s facing now. Hochul said during the meeting that the next few years will be different…

New York facing budget gaps not seen since Great Recession

New York is facing a cumulative budget gap of $34.3 billion through fiscal year 2029, which ends in 2030.

That is not new information: It was included in the financial plan for the current state budget. The gap is largely because the state is projecting to spend significantly more through fiscal year 2029 than it collects in revenue.

New York is also projecting a weaker economic forecast than what was recorded in recent years, meaning revenue was already at risk.

That was before the new federal spending bill was approved by Congress and signed into law by Trump in July. As you know, the state is now on the hook for more if it wants to replace expected cuts in federal funding.

The state doesn’t have to fill most of the gaps caused by that bill. It could choose to change state policies for Medicaid to cut costs — but that would likely lead to some residents losing coverage.

Democrats expect to try to soften the blow next year but we have no idea what’s on their menu of options. (They don’t either, to be frank.)

But a report from state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office released Friday provides some new context to those numbers.

The report shows when the outyear budget gaps that were already anticipated are combined with the new shortfall in federal spending, the state will face its greatest financial challenge in nearly two decades.

“The State is facing gaps relative to spending projections that are comparable to those faced in April 2009 — when the State was reeling from the Global Financial Crisis,” DiNapoli wrote in the report.

The original outyear gaps combined with the impact of the federal spending bill is expected to total $46.7 billion through fiscal year 2029, the report found. That’s a lot of money.

And to clarify: that doesn’t mean New York will need $46.7 billion above this year’s spending to be made whole. The original outyear gaps already take into account projected increases in spending and revenue.

If you’re eager for details on any of the above, here’s a link to the full report.