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.

On May 25, 2022 we announced that our coalition conservative care bill (opioid bill), A273 sponsored by Assemblymember Gottfried and S4640 sponsored by Senator Rivera, had passed both the Assembly and the Senate.

We would like to take a moment to express our extreme gratitude to our lobbyist, Amy Kellogg, for her efforts in advancing and ultimately achieving passage of the Opioid Bill (A273/S4640) into law.

Last night, we sent an update that gave a general overview of the key takeaways from Election Day. We wanted to send another update that provides more granular detail on where we stand in the light of day. We want to note that there are still a number of races that are too close to call in the State Legislature, but there are additional key takeaways. We also wanted to note that Republican Gubernatorial candidate Representative Lee Zeldin has officially conceded the race to Governor Kathy Hochul.

Today was Election Day in New York and across the country. As it is an even numbered year, all statewide offices, seats in the New York State Senate and Assembly, U.S. House of Representatives, Senator Schumer’s senate seat and a variety of local races were on the ballot. There was also one ballot initiative for voters to decide on. This was the first election cycle for statewide candidates since New York adopted early voting. More than 1.1 million New Yorkers voted early, and thousands more cast absentee ballots. While we know the results of the early and election day votes, the absentee ballots will continue to be counted as they arrive at county boards of election throughout the state. The counting of the absentee ballots means that the results from many races will not be finalized for days, and perhaps weeks, to come. However, there are still many decisive results from today’s election.

Election Day is right around the corner. The General Election will happen on Tuesday, November 8. Friday, October 14 is the deadline to register to vote in New York. Absentee ballots must be requested by October 24, and early voting will run from Saturday, October 29 to Sunday, November 6.

The co-chairs of the Legislative Committee wanted to provide a legislative update on NYSCA’s legislative activities in Albany.  During the 2022 legislative session, our Legislative Committee worked actively with our government affairs attorney on several legislative priorities for the Association. 

Scope modernization remains our main legislative priority.  The scope bill numbers are A4358 and S1319.  The Assembly bill is sponsored by Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell and the Senate bill is sponsored by Senator James Gaughran.  Both our sponsors understand the need for scope modernization and for doctors of chiropractic to practice to the full extent of our education and training. While the scope bill did not see movement during this session, we had many conversations about the need for this legislation and have developed next steps to get this legislation advanced. We also wanted to note that for the next legislative session, we will have a new Senate sponsor as our current sponsor, Senator Gaughran, did not seek reelection to the Senate. We want to thank you him for his support of the profession over his tenure as a Senator, and we wish him the best in his next endeavor.