NYAPRS Note: There’s speculation from several corners that Albany will not meet the traditional April 1 budget deadline. Also, since a number of the state’s Medicaid Redesign Team recommendations would make NYS ineligible to receive virus-related enhanced federal Medicaid dollars, some have suggested that the implementation of those measures could be delayed to address this. Per the article below: “Robert Mujica, Cuomo’s budget director, has told MRT members that the state intended to use a portion of the enhanced federal Medicaid matching rate dollars to “soften the edges” and delay some of the panel’s proposals.”
Lots Of Unanswered Questions With Budget Deadline A Day Away
By Bill Mahoney, Shannon Young And Marie J. French March 31, 2020
ALBANY — There’s a growing acknowledgment among legislators that the new state budget, which is due by midnight on Tuesday, may be late.
“I can’t make that commitment to you that it will be done by April 1,” Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes said during a floor debate. “I would love to see the budget be done on time. I can’t commit to you that it will be. That’s a question for those who are at a different level than I am.”
Advertisement
The only legislative action on Monday took place in the Assembly, where members approved a resolution that changes the way the chamber votes during states of emergency. That measure, notably, creates the possibility of remote voting in the coming weeks.
The Senate, which passed a similar resolution on Sunday, did not have any new budget bills to pass and thus did not convene.
The day before the budget’s March 31 due date was entirely different from comparable days in past years.
Typically, people know little more than scattered pieces about what might be in the final product until moments before the voting starts. This year — with the Capitol largely on lockdown, and reporters and lobbyists no longer able to corner legislators in the hallways — they know even less.
And the financial uncertainties looming over the state seem to suggest there are even more topics that normal that aren’t quite wrapped up.
Ads by Teads
“It’s a tossup on so many issues; nothing has been fully locked down other than the couple of things you’ve heard about in the press,” Assemblywoman Pat Fahy (D-Albany) said.
One issue that seems to definitely not be in the budget is legalized recreational marijuana.
“As the sponsor of the bill that would legalize the adult use of cannabis, I wish that it was, but I don’t believe that it is,” Peoples-Stokes said during the debate on remote voting.
The final budget is expected to include several proposals recommended by Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team II, which was tasked with identifying $2.5 billion in program savings to be included in the fiscal 2021 spending bill.
Budget officials, however, have suggested that the implementation of those overhauls could be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic as well as federal legislation which prevents states from accessing enhanced Medicaid matching dollars if they make certain changes to their Medicaid programs during the national health emergency.
Robert Mujica, Cuomo’s budget director, told MRT members on March 19 that the state intended to use a portion of the enhanced federal Medicaid matching rate dollars to “soften the edges” and delay some of the panel’s proposals because of the coronavirus outbreak. Budget spokesman Freeman Klopott reiterated that message late last week.
Cuomo has threatened to forgo the funds in favor of implementing the redesign team’s recommendations.
The debate over bail reform hit a notable milestone on Monday, as the New York State Sheriffs’ Association and the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police — two groups that have been seeking changes to last year’s law — joined with the law’s supporters in asking that it not be included in the budget.
“We have been calling strongly for necessary amendments to last year’s criminal justice reforms, but we would prefer that they be done in a calm, deliberative process after this crisis has waned,” Greece Police Department Chief Patrick Phelan said in a statement. “Pushing something through in the budget, without an opportunity for input or guidance from the law enforcement professionals which we represent will, we fear, just result in additional unworkable, dangerous public policies.”
New York lawmakers are also working to include a ban on flavored vaping products in the budget, but those close to the negotiations say the final version of the prohibition could be watered down from previous proposals.
Language that is reportedly being discussed between Cuomo and legislative leaders would tie a prohibition on the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes and e-liquids in New York to an FDA review of the devices.
The proposal, which is similar to a bill that Florida lawmakers passed earlier this month, has led to infighting in the Legislature, with neither the Senate nor the Assembly taking responsibility it. But flavored vape ban advocates — including proponents in both chambers — have argued that the source of the contentious proposal is clear: the tobacco industry.
“I think it’s great that they’re trying to blame each other for where it came from. If neither one wants to own it, then why would they do it?” said Kevin O’Flaherty, the director of advocacy at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “The reality is, it’s big tobacco or big vape — if you want to call them that — that is pushing these policies.”
Some key environmental funding issues still were being discussed on Monday, including Cuomo’s proposed $3 billion bond act. There is some consideration of including an emergency proviso to delay the bond act if the financial picture worsens.
“It’s a really sensible discussion to be having. I would need to learn more about the legality and functionality of how you would implement a clause like that,” said The Nature Conservancy’s Jessica Ottney Mahar of that possibility. “It’s worth the discussion … so we build in the flexibility to pursue this and the flexibility to make sure it is the right time.”
Details of the Environmental Protection Fund were still not finalized early Monday afternoon, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
The details of a plan to speed up siting of new renewables have been pinned down and agreed to, according to one source. Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn) confirmed an agreement is expected.
“I think considering the financial state New York is in, I think this will be a very important and significant [environmental] budget because there’s still a tremendous commitment to investing in our environment and continuing our work fighting global warming and protecting clean water and the fact there’s an ability to focus on that in the midst of this pandemic is remarkable,” Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Nassau), chair of the Environmental Conservation Committee, said.
He said details are still being ironed out but he anticipated a “significant” level of money for environmental issues, including to help municipalities with their own stewardship efforts.
As legislators continued to debate these issues, a likely problem came to light — many state workers are now guaranteed to receive their paychecks late.
About 120,000 of the state’s 258,000 employees are on the “administrative payroll.” They generally are people who work for agencies, rather than institutions such as correctional facilities. They’re due to be paid on April 1, and the comptroller’s office won’t be able to process the checks on time unless pieces of a budget are passed by Monday night.
“Without this action, state employees scheduled to receive a direct deposit or paycheck on April 1, 2020 should now anticipate that this payment will be delayed until a new state budget is in place,” said Jennifer Freeman, spokeswoman for Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
One reason for some optimism for these workers and others who want to see the budget done as quickly as possible is that the Legislature now has the potential to move more quickly on passing bills than it has in the past.
In addition to authorizing the potential use of remote voting, the Assembly resolution limited the time members have to speak on bills from two 15-minute blocks to one of them. The chamber will also temporarily use “fast roll calls,” in which members are automatically counted as yes votes unless they specifically vote no.
Those changes did not sit well with the Republican minority, which casts most of the no votes.
“We have to be brought to the chamber to cast our ‘no’ vote,” said Assemblyman Brian Kolb (R-Canandaigua). “All the members on our side of the aisle that may have a problem, or may want to cast a vote ‘no,’ we’re now going to have to come to the chamber and risk our health.”
“We’re in the midst of a major crisis,” Peoples-Stokes said. “Some of us had family that didn’t even want us to leave to come here … The idea is not to limit members’ opportunities, the idea is to limit the time that we’re in the chambers having discussion. So it’s not taking anything away from the members; I think it’s actually adding value to the quality of our lives to come in, do what we have to do, and get back to our families.”
———
Stakeholders On Budget Watch After Medicaid Redesign Proposals
Crain’s Health Pulse March 31, 2020
As health care providers, insurers and advocates await Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget, concerns over Medicaid redesign recommendations may be more heightened than ever.
Though long-term care is slated for the largest amount of potential cuts—$715 million—physicians and community health centers are among the groups concerned.
Dr. Art Fougner, president of the Medical Society of the State of New York, said in a statement that, as the Legislature and the governor work to finalize a budget during the Covid-19 pandemic, the society urges them to “reject problematic proposals” advanced by the Medicaid redesign team.
In particular, those include imposing new costs on 17,000 physicians participating in the Excess Medical Malpractice Insurance Program, which provides an additional layer of insurance for local physicians who incur high liability costs compared to the rest of the country.
“It is imperative to maintain stability as well as patient safety in our health care system as we manage this current crisis and its aftermath,” Fougner said.
Community health centers are also concerned. They say the Medicaid redesign recommendation—valued at $125 million in savings—that would shift the Medicaid pharmacy benefit from managed care to fee for service would result in a loss of 340b rebate revenue to community health centers and hospitals.
As for long-term care providers and advocates, their message has gotten even stronger during the coronavirus outbreak.
Bryan O’Malley, executive director of the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Association of New York State, told Crain’s he thinks the cuts make even less sense now than they did just weeks ago.
The scope of the cuts—in combination with elderly and disabled enrollees facing long-term isolation due to Covid-19—is “appalling and devastating,” he said. —J.H.