Senator Rivera on Senate’s One House Budget Resolution

"The Senate Majority’s One House Budget Resolution demonstrates our clear commitment to help New York recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought so much devastation to our State. Further, we fully understand that New York will not recover adequately if we do not prioritize providing relief to our working and middle class families who have borne the brunt of this pandemic.
 
As the Chair of the Health Committee, I am proud that many of the measures proposed by the Senate Health Workgroup were included in this resolution, among them the restoration of Medicaid cuts to hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other Medicaid-supported programs. Without a doubt, the pandemic has brought to the forefront the deep disparities embattling our healthcare system. Our communities simply cannot afford further cuts to Medicaid and other critically important health services, so instead, it is our responsibility to ensure that New Yorkers receive quality and affordable healthcare. I am in particular very proud of the inclusion of my bill that grants otherwise ineligible New Yorkers with confirmed cases of COVID-19, regardless of their immigration status, eligibility to the Essential Plan. 

The Senate Majority has crafted a balanced and ethical budget that will improve the lives of all New Yorkers. We are certain that the measures included in this budget proposal for healthcare, school aid, transportation, or housing, will move New York State forward.”

Highlights in the Senate Majority One House State Budget Proposal:

Ensuring Wealthy New Yorkers Pay Their Fair Share 

• Requires the ultra-wealthy New Yorkers pay their fair share, the same way working and middle class New Yorkers have done, especially during this pandemic to secure funding for crucial services such as public education, infrastructure, healthcare, among others.
• The total revenue raised by the Senate’s different tax proposals is $8.2 billion for the 2021-2022 budget year. 

Safeguarding Medicaid and Protecting New Yorkers’ Health

• Restores $180.5 million in Medicaid cuts to hospitals, $74.25 million to long-term care, $60 million to mainstream managed care, and millions more to various other Medicaid-supported programs.
• Protects the financial viability of health centers and safety net providers that are currently part of the 340B program by repealing the pharmacy benefit carve out from Medicaid Managed Care that was enacted in last year’s budget. 
• Allow individuals with confirmed cases of COVID-19 to be eligible for the Essential Plan if they would otherwise be ineligible due to their immigration status, which is a bill I proudly sponsor (S.2549).
• Reject the extension of the Medicaid Global Cap through State Fiscal Year 2022-23 while calling on the Department of Health to develop alternatives to the current Medicaid Global Cap. 
• Create an Opioid Settlement Fund that will consist of state monies received through settlements of litigation related to prescription opioids and to establish an Advisory Board to make recommendations for distribution of the funds. 
• Provide $200 million for acute care facilities and nursing homes to increase nurse staffing levels to provide better quality of care for nursing home patients.
• Provide $624 million to increase the minimum wages for the lowest paid home health care workers.

Keeping New Yorkers Home  

• $750 million in new funding for the New York City Housing Authority and $200 million for statewide public housing authorities. 
• $250 million to support the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Program, which allows the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) to acquire vacant commercial properties and distressed hotel properties with fewer than 150 rooms in New York City and convert them into permanently affordable residential housing.
• Establishes a federally funded COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program (S.2742-C), to provide rent arrears vouchers to landlords on behalf of tenants experiencing financial hardship due, directly or indirectly, to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
• Providing $400 million for additional rental assistance, in addition to available federal funds.
• Adding $200 million for homeowner assistance.

Investing in New Yorkers

• $500 million to fully-fund four-year-old full-day prekindergarten statewide.
• Provides every student and school with free broadband access to ensure that all children have access to education for the duration of the pandemic (S.3184).
• Provides $4 million to CUNY and $4 million to SUNY for student mental health supports.
• $2.1 billion for a new Excluded Worker Fund to provide unemployment benefits to workers who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic but were ineligible for Unemployment Insurance.
• $10 million to establish a statewide hospital and community-based gun violence prevention program.

To review the full Senate Majority One-house State Budget Resolution, please visit: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/resolutions/2021/r504