The Assembly and Senate have released their one-house budget proposals. Each house will now pass a resolution, which will memorialize their one-house budget proposals. These proposals were compiled after the Assembly and Senate held weeks of joint budget hearings and scores of meetings with a variety of stakeholders, who weighed in on the proposals contained in the Governor’s proposed budget. Each one-house budget accepts, rejects or modifies the Governor’s budget proposals that were released in January and adds priority issues for each respective house.

A lot has changed since the 1960’s.  One thing that hasn’t changed is the chiropractic scope of practice, which is why this is one of the  legislative priorities for the New York State Chiropractic Association on behalf of the chiropractic profession. 

Today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her budget address outlining her priorities for her 2025 – 2026 proposed budget. Building on the themes from her State of the State address last week, she continued to focus on making New York a more affordable place to live. She also highlighted a line from her State of the State last week that “Your Family is My Fight.”

Today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her fourth State of the State address from the Hart Theater at the Egg in Albany. During the State of the State, the Governor mainly focused on making New York a more affordable place to live. The speech contained numerous policy proposals, and the Governor also released a briefing book containing over 200 distinct proposals organized in fifteen main topics areas, including:  supporting families, helping children thrive, public safety, economic development, housing, health, and sustainability.  We are reviewing this briefing book and will send along proposals of interest.

Legislation championed by ACA to increase Medicare coverage of chiropractic services is attracting cosponsors faster than ever in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

Thursday, June 6, was the last scheduled day of New York’s 2024 legislative session, but we went into overtime. The Senate completed their business on Friday, June 7 around 8:30 p.m. while the Assembly worked through the night and completed their work just after 7:00 a.m.
Saturday, June 8.

This week, the Assembly and Senate released their one-house budget proposals. Today, each house passed resolutions, which memorialized their one-house budget proposals. These proposals were compiled after the Assembly and Senate held weeks of joint budget hearings and scores of meetings with a variety of stakeholders, who weighed in on the proposals contained in the Governor’s proposed budget. Each one-house budget accepts, rejects or modifies the Governor’s budget proposals that were released in January and adds priority issues for each respective house.

Today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her third State of the State address from the Assembly chamber in the Capitol during a joint session of the Assembly and Senate. During the State of the State, the Governor focused on a goal of making New York a more affordable place to live. The State of the State contained numerous policy proposals, and the Governor also made clear that the economic outlook for 2024 is far less rosy than it was in 2023.  Nonetheless, the Governor announced that she will not be proposing or supporting an increase in personal income taxes.

Today was the first day of the 2024 legislative session. Normally, this day would be marked with the Governor’s State of the State address, but a few weeks ago, Governor Hochul announced that she would hold that address next Tuesday, January 9. Both the Senate and Assembly still held their opening day receptions, and the Capitol was bustling with Legislators and visitors.

The NYSCA Legislative Committee is pleased to share a legislative update regarding the passage of a bill (S2997/A6065) that will create a level playing field for all health care providers who are assisting a patient in a lawsuit. Chapter 585 of the Laws of 2023 amend New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules to extend provisions that allow for the submission of health care statements under the penalty of perjury instead of requiring a notarized statement from the health care provider.

Tuesday, November 7 was Election Day in New York. Since it is an odd-numbered year, most races on the ballot were for local elections. There were also two proposed amendments to the New York State Constitution that appeared on the ballot as statewide voter referendums.
Voters approved both Constitutional Amendments on Tuesday.

New York’s legislative session was scheduled to end on Thursday, June 8; however, both houses remained in session into the weekend. The Senate finished around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 10th. The Assembly worked until Saturday at 4:30 p.m. but then adjourned without concluding their business. The Assembly returned on June 20th to wrap up remaining issues and concluded their business late in the evening of June 21. This session was limited in scope, mainly focusing on passing local bills.

The last day of the legislative session was scheduled to be Thursday, June 8, however, both houses remained in session into the weekend. The Senate finished around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 10. The Assembly was planning to work through the day on Saturday and wrap up late in the evening/Sunday morning. However, in a change of plans, the Assembly ended up adjourning mid-afternoon after deciding that they would come back in two weeks to wrap up the remaining issues. It is unclear at this point if the return in two weeks will be just the Assembly or if the Senate will return as well. The hope is that an agreement may be reached on several outstanding issues that could not be resolved before the scheduled end of session.

On Monday May 2nd, over 40 members of the New York State Chiropractic Association participated with the New York Chiropractic Council through the Joint Legislative Task Force in Chiropractic Lobby Day. We were also joined by representatives from New York’s two Chiropractic colleges, and we converged on Albany to support our legislative agenda and educate lawmakers regarding issues affecting the profession in our state.

The 2023 legislative session began on January 9, 2023, and the legislative committee has been hard at work on the legislative priorities for NYSCA. As a reminder, all legislation in New York operates on a two-year cycle. At the end of the two-years, all bills must be reintroduced again in the new cycle. This year marks the start of a new cycle, so our priority bills will have new bill numbers.

Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her second State Budget address this afternoon.  The Governor began the address by noting that the general economic outlook is far less rosy than it was last year.  Nonetheless, the Governor presented an optimistic vison of the State’s finances and progress for the upcoming year, as New York expects to end its current fiscal year with an $8.7 billion surplus as the result of increased tax collections throughout the prior fiscal year.  For Fiscal Year 2024, the Governor is proposing a $227 billion budget, which represents a 2.4% increase over the prior year budget.

Today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her second State of the State address.  While this was her second address, it was her first address as the elected Governor.  During her address, Governor Hochul laid out her vision for leading New York State. The Governor set an optimistic and hopeful tone for the future of the State but noted that there was much to be done to reach that future.  The Governor pledged a collaborative approach, aiming to work with the Legislature, municipalities, and businesses across New York for the people of New York State.