New York’s 2025-2026 budget was due on April 1. Certain policy issues delayed the final budget, as the Governor proposed a series of major policy changes that took some time for the Governor and Legislature to negotiate. As of this writing, we still do not have a finalized budget, but we expect the budget to be finalized in early May. The Governor announced a general budget agreement between herself, the Senate and the Assembly on Monday, April 28. The big policy issues that we have a broad agreement on include a bell-to-bell ban of cell phones in schools, discovery reforms, involuntary confinement rules, and enhanced criminal penalties for those committing a crime while wearing a mask.
The final budget will total $254 billion, which is $2 billion more than was proposed in Governor Hochul’s budget proposal. In addition to the above policy items, the final budget will include middle class tax credits, an increase in the child tax credit, free school breakfast and lunch for all New York schoolchildren, inflation refund checks that will be sent to 8.2 million New Yorkers, and $400 million will be included for childcare vouchers.
While we will have a final budget in place in early May, it is likely that the Legislature will need to return in the fall to amend the enacted State budget to respond to any budgetary actions taken by the federal government. The federal government passed a continuing resolution in March that will keep the federal government functioning until September. The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are now working on putting together a proposed federal budget. Nothing is finalized at this point but based on statements from leadership in both houses and President Trump, the federal government is contemplating significant funding cuts to state and local governments. The amount of these cuts, and which agencies and programs are most likely to be targeted, are not yet clear. Without clarity on the federal cuts, the State leaders in both houses and the Governor enacted a budget that is based on current funding numbers. The New York State leaders were clear that they didn’t want to make preemptive cuts because there is no clear line of site on which areas should be targeted for cuts or how much in cuts will be needed.
Despite the delay in the budget, the ANA-NY board and legislative committee were in Albany on Tuesday, April 29 for the ANA-NY Lobby Day to discuss non-budget legislation of interest to the nursing profession. One bill that was a focus of the lobby day, and is a main legislative priority, would require hospitals to add a voting seat to their governing board for a registered professional nurse who is clinically active. This bill, S2278/A5208, is sponsored by Senator Lea Webb and Assemblymember Karines Reyes. (Senator Webb). Although some hospital boards already have a representative of the nursing profession on their boards, not all of these positions are voting positions, and the nurse involvement is not consistent across the State. We believe that every board would benefit from the experience and expertise of a nurse.
We also discussed the healthcare worker shortage and ways to address this shortage including the nurse licensure compact and legislation to reduce workplace violence. We also focused on the critical importance for New York to recognize registered nurses in all specialties and roles and allow them to practice to the full extent of their education and training. Specifically, we talked about the need for S357-A/A6771, which would create a scope of practice for certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) and S2360/A1220, which remove the sunset provisions related to the practice and licensure of nurse practitioners in New York.
We are also supporting legislation to further enhance enforcement of the ban on flavored vapes. S5196/A2128 (Senator Hoylman-Sigal, Assemblymember Rosenthal) would prohibit the storage of flavored vapes where tobacco products and vapes are sold for retail or wholesale operations. The bill would close loopholes in State law restricting the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. We support this bill with other partners in the Tobacco Free New York coalition.
Another bill we are supporting is S453-A/A765 (Senator Hoylman-Sigal, Assemblymember McDonald). This bill would require health care providers who administer vaccines to a person 19 years or older to report such information to the Department of Health unless the person opts out of this reporting. The current adult immunization registry is opt-in. The intent here is to create a more complete adult vaccination registry, which would benefit patients by giving them access to this information and public health officials tracking vaccine-preventable diseases. ANA-NY supports this legislation through the Let’s Get Immunized Coalition.
ANA-NY also strongly supports S1893/A3482 (Senator Sanders, Assemblymember Bronson), which would establish a civil cause of action for employees subject to an abusive working environment. Employers in New York must create a safe and healthy work environment for their employees. While current law requires employers to ensure workplaces are free from safety and health hazards, workplace violence, sexual harassment and other dangers, there is a gap in these laws as protection from workplace bullying is not specifically covered. This legislation will address the oversight in current law.
We are grateful to have had the board and the Legislative Committee in Albany for ANA-NY’s lobby day. We are also grateful to all of you who participated in the Voter Voice campaign and sent messages to your legislators about the ANA-NY legislative agenda and the importance of the bills that we support. Elected officials like to hear from their constituents, and every message sent makes a real impact on our efforts here in Albany. If you would like to read more information regarding ANA-NY’s legislative priorities, please see the legislative priorities page on the ANA-NY website, which may be found here.
Finally, we would like to remind you that ANA-NY has a Political Action Committee (PAC). The ANA-NY PAC will be supporting candidates that support the profession and issues of importance to our members. We urge you to visit the ANA-NY PAC web site and donate.
If you have any questions about the legislative process or the priorities of ANA-NY, please contact a member of the Legislative Committee. As always, we welcome your questions, thoughts, ideas or comments on legislative ideas.
