BILL NUMBER: S5734

SPONSOR: RYAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act authorizing and directing the commissioner of labor to conduct a
multi-agency study on the issues impacting the continuum of caregiving
in the state of New York

 
PURPOSE OF THE BILL:

This bill will direct a multi-agency study to be conducted by the
Commissioner of the Department of Labor to identify the various issues
impacting formal and informal caregivers to ultimately determine the
best approach to address the ever-increasing statewide continuum of
caregiving workforce shortage.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

§ 1- Directs the Commissioner of the Department of Labor to conduct a
multi-agency study, in consultation with the Director of the Office for
              

the Aging, the Commissioner of the Office of Children and Family
Services, the Commissioner of the Office for People with Developmental
Disabilities, the Commissioner of the Office of Mental Health and the
Chancellor of the State University of New York, to conduct a study
regarding the issues impacting the continuum of caregiving workforce
across the State of New York.

§ 2- Within one year of the effective date of this act, the Commissioner
of Labor shall submit a report of his or her findings, conclusions and
recommendations to the Governor, the Temporary President of the Senate,
the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Chairs of the Senate and Assembly
Committees on Labor. Such report shall also include such legislative
proposals as such commissioner deems necessary to implement his or her
recommendations.

§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New York State continues to face an ever-increasing continuum of care-
giving workforce shortage. Caregiving -- paid and unpaid -- is the
infrastructure that supports our families. The need runs across the
life-cycle from childcare (which has come to include school age children
learning remotely) to long term care for children and adults with
special needs to military spouses suddenly tasked with caring for an
injured veteran to attending to aging parents and eldercare.

Thus far, much of the actions taken to address the critical issues
surrounding the caregiving infrastructure, including the workforce shor-
tage, have been piecemeal. These individual and specifically targeted
"band-aids" can no longer be relied on to respond to the needs of this
vital industry and the individuals, children and families that need
trained, qualified and appropriately paid people to provide their care.

While the need -- from childcare to eldercare -- has made headlines
throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become especially acute in more
rural areas where greater distances, smaller workforce and poor trans-
portation options make the challenges even greater.
Without a thoughtful multi-pronged plan that breaks down the funding and
programmatic silos of the many state agencies that are involved in order
to meet the caregiving crisis head-on, the workforce shortage will wors-
en and further inflame the existing battles over small pools of state
money that pit childcare against long term care against the development
disabilities communities, while still not addressing the needs of huge
numbers of New York families.

This study will require the review of the current workforce of paid
caregivers, an estimate of the numbers of informal caregivers, an
assessment of the need for caregivers to meet the needs of residents of
the various regions of the state at the present time and over the next
ten years, a review of the adequacy of compensation for paid caregivers,
a review of the current state programs available to support training,
recruitment and retention of paid caregivers, programs to support unpaid
caregivers, workforce issues related to the availability and cost of
caregiver services, and issues related to licensing, worker protections,
protections for persons in need of caregiving services, and opportu-
nities for the consolidation of duplicative programs, coordination of
programs administered by various government agencies, and development or
expansion of programs to support formal and informal caregivers.

The results and recommendations of the study will allow New York State
to move forward with a holistic approach to meet the continuum of care-
giving needs and address workforce shortages statewide.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.   
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.