Good afternoon — It’s Wednesday and Sunscreen Day.
Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here.
In today’s CapCon:
The six remaining state budget bills are now out, including the two remaining policy-focused bills. The other four are spending.
Here are 26 parts of those bills that you’ll want to know about, including items we didn’t know about before today.
Among those items are profit caps for traveling nurse agencies, restored public health aid for New York City and a huge boost for businesses that owe sales tax.
But we also have a look at the newsier items that made it in, like the “ZYN tax,” increased Medicaid payments and energy bill rebate checks.
Names in today’s CapCon: Kathy Hochul, Zohran Mamdani
The state Senate (Will Waldron/Times Union)
🗣️ The remaining 6 budget bills are out. Here’s what’s in them
The wait is finally over. Lawmakers introduced the remaining bills that make up the state budget overnight and began to bring them up for a vote Wednesday.
Those include the final two policy-focused bills, the Health and Mental Hygiene Bill and the Revenue Bill.
On the spending side, bills to fund State Operations, Aid to Localities, Capital Projects and the Legislature and Judiciary were printed.
You can expect lawmakers to finish voting on them as soon as they can. The end will be determined by the length of debate around each bill.
There’s a lot to get through today so let’s get right to it. Because there’s more content, I’ll include shorter descriptions of some sections and, as always, will leave out areas that are either straight extensions of current law or include narrow changes.
1️⃣ Health and Mental Hygiene
There are 12 parts of this bill that are worth knowing about. A lot of its provisions are straight extensions of current laws.
(Maskot/Getty Images)
Part F: A new Medicaid lookback window for home healthcare
Middle-class seniors often use Medicaid to pay for long-term home care, which is typically not covered by Medicare.
This will create a 30-month lookback window into the finances of seniors who apply for Medicaid home care coverage.
That means someone could have given $50,000 to their grandchild six months ago to help them buy a house, for example, and appear to be eligible for Medicaid to pay for that coverage in full. This will allow the state to assess penalties based on transactions that may show a person has financial assets which would disqualify them from Medicaid.
So instead of someone becoming immediately eligible for full coverage, the state will be able to apply a transfer penalty based on the amount of such a gift or spending.
Part J: Capping the profits of traveling nurse agencies
Healthcare facilities in New York became dependent on traveling nurses during the coronavirus pandemic because of the state’s shortage of medical professionals.
But traveling nurses have remained a central part of healthcare in New York as the staffing shortage persists. The problem with that is the cost. The agencies representing traveling nurses typically charge much more for their services.
Start your 7-day trial to read the rest
Experience full access to Capitol Confidential New York—expert reporting, policy analysis, and clear insight into what’s moving and what comes next.
Start Free Trial