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Accomplishments, Challenges and Change
New York’s New Political Landscape
By Ryan Gregoire, NYSAC Legislative Director
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While 2021 presented many successes for counties to applaud, this past year certainly wasn’t without challenges. As counties continue to vaccinate New Yorkers against COVID-19, stand-up school based COVID-19 testing, and respond to community needs in an evolving world, our state’s economic outlook remains uncertain and policy leaders in Albany will need to be laser focused on rebuilding, reimaging, and reforming government to work for everyone.
The NYS Capitol had been closed to visitors, but as COVID cases declined over the late spring and summer, the building, a symbol of state government, has begun to return to normal. As this building re-opens to the public, so does a renewed sense of advocacy and engagement with our executive.
Governor Kathy Hochul has assumed the reins of power and has promised to use her platform to usher in a new era of transparency, cooperation, and respect—and that includes her partners in government, counties.
As NYSAC strengthens our relationships with state lawmakers and forges new relationships with executive chamber staff, our policy priorities and 2022 legislative agenda will be more important than ever.
A Look Back at 2021
This year’s $212 billion state budget was enacted during a challenging period of a prolonged COVID pandemic and political uncertainty with the former Governor.
While local Medicaid caps were preserved and local home rule revenue authority was extended, a continuation of the distressed hospital fund and mandating that counties use local sales tax to pay for state programs continues to be a troubling practice in this year’s budget. Several components in last year's budget will have an impact on county operations, including:
• A continuation of county sales tax diversion to pay
for the distressed provider relief fund. This legislation sunsets March 31, 2022. Stopping this diversion from continuing will be a top priority of the Association in SFY 23 budget negotiations.
• A continuation of county sales tax diversion for AIM-
related payments. The Executive Budget had proposed shifting the remaining town and village AIM program to the county sales tax diversion. This proposal was ultimately rejected; however, the state did not resolve the current $59.1 million AIM-related program.
• Increased funding for community colleges. The enacted budget provides an additional $14.37 million for community college base aid above the Governor’s request, a $50 per FTE increase with each campus guaranteed to receive at least 98 percent of the prior year base aid amount.
• Boards of elections capital infrastructure investments.
The enacted budget includes an additional $25 million capital appropriation, of which $20 million shall be made available to local boards of elections for replacement of voting systems and equipment, absentee ballot scanners, mail processing equipment and infrastructure to protect the connectivity and security of county election software.
• A full breakdown of the state budget impact to counties can be found on the NYSAC website: www.nysac.org/ nysbudget.
The 2021 Legislative Session that began on January 6th was more challenging and atypical than any in recent history as the Legislature continued to convene in a hybrid environment. The State Legislature passed a total of 894 bills through both houses, a dramatic increase from 2020 (primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Despite the challenges, the 2021 session also resulted in NYSAC achieving all of our top legislative priorities passing through both houses.
• Early Intervention Covered Lives Assessment
Fee on Commercial Insurance to Help Fund
Services for Infants with Special Needs
S.5560-A (REICHLIN-MELNICK) / A.5339 (PAULIN)
• Expanded Investment Options for Counties
S.6323 (GAUGHRAN) / A.7209 (THIELE)
• Creates an AIM Redesign Task Force
S.5418-C (COONEY) / A.6601-A (RIVERA)
• Raises the Age of Juvenile Delinquent Offenses from 7 to 12
S.4051 (BAILEY) / A.4982 (HEVESI)
• Extends the Countywide Shared Services
Initiative & Enhances Local Flexibility
S.6455-A (REICHLIN-MELNICK) / A.7694-A (LUNSFORD)
The 2021 Legislative Session resulted in many victories for counties. However, we must not lose sight of the many policy areas that need to be tackled to ensure New York is on a path for long-term success.
Looking Ahead to 2022
While our 2022 Legislative Program and our agenda for the Division of Budget will serve as our initial advocacy tools, you can expect some of these areas to be included:
• Eliminating county financial responsibility for the state’s aid to municipalities (AIM) program by repealing
Part PPP, Chapter 59 of the Laws of 2019.
• Ensuring the sales tax diversion provisions used to finance the temporary distressed hospital facilities fund sunsets (Part ZZ, Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2020) which is scheduled in current law.
• Providing counties with federal affordable care act eFMAP reconciliation payments for SFY 17 – 21.
• Securing unrestricted, flexible funding to local health departments and restoring Article 6 reimbursement to New York City to 36 percent, the same rate as the rest • Reforming CPL Part 730, fixing the way we treat individuals who are deemed incompetent to stand trial.
• Amend Executive Law Sec. 359 in the way county veteran service offices are funded. The calculation of how much a county receives should be based on the successful amount of claims it produces. An agreeable amount would be .5 percent of the total amount shown that a county's veteran population receives in yearly compensation benefits.
These are just a small snapshot of many legislative priorities and policy actions that NYSAC will be advocating for in 2022. We look forward to continuing our progress working with our counties, and state leaders in Albany to advocate on behalf of our constituency – all New Yorkers.
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