March 3, 2025

ONE-HOUSE (STATE) BUDGET BILLS:

The spending proposals from the Democratic-controlled state Senate and Assembly will be out March 10. The non-binding one-house budget resolutions give a roadmap of how the negotiations will unfold in the coming weeks, and will give the public the first indication of how legislators will debate Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $252 billion plan submitted in January. Already, lawmakers have signaled they will not be on board with her $3 billion provision to send rebate checks to New York taxpayers, and they are also likely to hit on border affordability themes in their own budget measures. A final budget deal is due by April 1, the start of the state’s fiscal year. (Nice Reisman, Politico, 3/3/25)

FEDERAL ADVOCACY ALERT(The following note is from Medicaid Matters NY.  The NYS Council is a longtime member of this grassroots NYS-based statewide coalition devoted to protecting, preserving and enhancing Medicaid benefits for New Yorkers. When you open the Google folders (linked here) you can sign up to be contacted to participate in district-specific activities being organized by many coalitions across the state, to keep the pressure on in Washington):

We must continue our efforts to express how important it is to protect Medicaid from massive federal cuts.  One of the ways to better organize this work is to have (Medicaid Matters coalition members provide your availability to participate in district-specific activities to help amplify our message.  Activities may include district office meetings, rallies, town halls, letters to the editor, op-eds, social media, sign-on letters, and more.  If we can obtain a sense of who is where by Congressional district, Medicaid Matters will be able to ensure we are represented in these activities.

Please open this Google folder and find the spreadsheets for the Congressional districts you are in.  Please enter your information into these sheets so we can help plug you into activities by Congressional district.

Despite the House passage of the budget reconciliation bill that puts into motion a process to make massive cuts, we have heard our efforts are paying off.  We must keep up this fight to continue to convince anyone seeking to decimate critical programs like Medicaid that we need them to protect the social safety net, including Medicaid!
—————————————
From our government relations consultants at Reid, McNally and Savage:

3/3/25

Economic And Revenue Consensus Report FY 2026 Released

Over the weekend, the Governor and the Legislature announced a consensus agreement on revenues for SFY25-26.  The agreement provides for between $550 million  and $800 million higher revenues than expected for the two-year period covering the current and upcoming fiscal year. 

These are not new revenue sources by an agreed projection on the amount of monies the state is expected to receive from existing revenue sources. Next up are the One-House Budgets which we expect in the coming weeks.

Please find the NY Consensus Forecasting Conference Memo Attached