April 20, 2024
More from our government relations consultants (below and attached) regarding the disposition of various budget proposals pertaining to Taxes and Businesses.
SFY 2024-25 Final Budget Business and Tax Update
April 20, 2024
Good morning from Albany,
The good news here is the final State Budget for fiscal year 2024-25 will be completed today (4/20/2024), late but done for the year. Below please find a general update, an employee benefit update and a tax detailing the final revenue/ tax bill.
We have embedded and attached this update in PDF. The successful results here should be attributed to all the hard work and countless meetings of our firm (Partners and Associates) and the incredible administrative support of Kelly Forster (Office Manager) and Christine Simonds (Scheduler extraordinary). We will resend this Monday AM.
The final spending plan totals $237 billion and is $3 billion more than proposed in the Executive Budget in January. The final deal does not have any broad-based tax increases for corporations or individuals. It includes a two-year extension of mayoral control through June 2026, changes to the Tier VI pension system in place since 2012, a housing package to increase housing stock and add new tenant protections, $1.3 billion in increased education funding, expansion of tuition assistance for college, a crackdown on organized retail theft and expansion of local authority to shut down illegal cannabis stores. The final budget also includes controversial changes to the state’s consumer directed personal assistance program (CDPAP) to move to one fiscal intermediary for the State, increased funding for distressed hospitals including a plan to save SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and a 2.84% cost of living adjustment for human services providers.
Important to many businesses was the defeat (for now) of PART JJ- UDAP – Expand Consumer Protection Deceptive Acts and Practices (General Business Law). The proposed law would have increased statutory penalties, expand the scope of the law to deceptive practices and require attorney’s fees and costs to be paid by the plaintiffs, and grant the Attorney General the ability to bring enforcement actions. The General Business Law prohibits deceptive practices in the conduct of any business, trade, commerce or furnishing of any service in the State. This bill would add unfair or abusive practices to that prohibition, increase statutory penalties for engaging in unfair and abusive as well as deceptive practices, and require attorneys’ fees and costs to be paid to prevailing plaintiffs. It would also empower the Attorney General to bring enforcement actions. While the proposed law was deleted from the final State Budget we expect the issue to be debated in the remaining portion of the legislative session (S795
Comrie/A7132 Weinstein).
Please find below details on Employee Benefits and the Tax/Revenue Table:
Employee Benefit Update
PPG-Public Protection General Government Final Budget Bill
Included:
Part M – Establish Paid Prenatal Leave to provide eligible pregnant employees the ability to take 20 additional hours of personal leave in a 52-week calendar period for prenatal medical appointments in addition to New York’s current 12 weeks of Paid Family Leave. Employers are not required to pay an employee for unused paid prenatal leave upon termination, resignation, retirement or other separation from employment and are prohibited from discharging, threatening, penalizing, or in any other manner discriminate against an employee for requesting or using paid prenatal leave. This will take effect on and after January 1, 2025.
ELFA -Education, Labor and Family Assistance Final Budget Bill
Included:
PART J- Require Paid Breaks for Breast Milk Expression in the Workplace– the new law would require breaks for up to 20 minutes for breast milk expression. Nursing employees who need more than 20 minutes would be permitted by using paid break time or meal time.
PART L- Expand Recovery Tools for Stolen Wages- Grants DOL– additional enforcement powers when an employer violates wage payment provisions(warrants).
PART M- Sunset the State’s COVID-19 Sick Leave Law– – the current law will expire on July 31, 2025
Omitted from the Public Protection and General Government Final Budget Bill:
Part N – Increases Short-Term Disability Leave Benefits to increase the maximum weekly payment for eligible employees on short term disability from $170 to two-thirds of an employee’s average weekly wage, capped at two-thirds of the Statewide Average Weekly Wage (SAWW) by 2029 for the first twelve weeks of disability.