On January 14th, Governor Hochul delivered the annual State of the State (SOTS) address. This speech and her State of the State “briefing book” outlined her priorities for the next budget year (April 1, 2025-March 31, 2026). Advocates in New York pay close attention at this time because the executive branch has power in the state budget process by giving the SOTS and releasing an executive budget soon after. In other words, the Executive gets to set the stage.
Overall, the SOTS speech was unremarkable concerning disabled and older people. Aside from an outstanding performance by a dance team composed of people aged 40+ and mention of people with disabilities and “seniors,” the speech did not address our concerns. “Families” sadly are devoid of older people, and care is only a concern for children and their parents, according to the Governor.
New York is home to over 3 million people with disabilities and 4.84 million older individuals, and 4.1 million unpaid “informal” or “family” caregivers so failure to directly address our needs is concerning but unsurprising. Budgetary investments in aging and disability services are often nominal and unfortunately invest more in institutional care than community based support. For example, independent living centers continue to struggle with underfunding and this is a major concern for the statewide network of community based nonprofits run by people with disabilities that are responsible for serving all people with disabilities. And although people aged 50+ represent 36% of the state’s population, the New York State Office for the Aging’s (NYSOFA) Budget represents a scant 0.8% of the State Budget, and this lack of funding continues to impoverish and institutionalize older residents.
Some major themes of the SOTS included affordability and public safety. The Governor reiterated her recent proposal to address affordability by providing direct payments via checks mailed to New Yorkers at $300 per person. The Governor also proposed addressing public safety by expanding the use of involuntary confinement of people with mental health disabilities, something disability advocates are already responding to.
The one notable reference to disabled people in the Governor’s speech was her proposal to improve public safety by expanding the use of involuntary confinement of people with mental health disabilities. Disability advocates were very outspoken against the proposals when it was previously raised by Mayor Adams in NYC. The Governor has proposed better community-based assistance and outreach measures, but involuntary commitment is very concerning.
The SOTS speech and book strangely failed to mention any recommendations from aging services and other experts who spent two years working on the Master Plan for Aging (MPA) – a process begun by a Governor’s Executive Order in November 2022. MPA discussions focused on the concerns of all people aging, including those aging with or into disability, and focused on ways to end both ageism and ableism. The SOTS book included other proposals not mentioned in the speech. Let’s look at a sampling of priorities from the SOTS book:
In the area of Employment, the SOTS proposed doubling and extending the Disability Tax Credit for businesses. The credit is designed to encourage businesses to hire people with disabilities in the private sector.
In the area of Transportation, state budget details on the current and future MTA Capital Plans will be critical. The Capital Plan has been a drudgery especially following the pause on congestion pricing that would have supplemented funding, and its eventual rollout with lower tolls. Details of any state support deal will impact people with disabilities because of ongoing obligations to improve accessibility of the subway, including agreements that require a percentage of the MTA plan is required to fund new elevators.
In the area of Health, we look forward to sharing details of proposals to improve wheelchair access in a future summary. In short, new benefits in Medicaid are being proposed to help with the repair of a previous chair to serve as a backup and routine maintenance of chairs.
Even as this commentary is being published, the details of the Governor’s proposed budget, in the form of another briefing book and bill language, are coming out. In the next month, the Governor will have the opportunity to offer edits to her own budget. The final budget must still account for the “One House Budgets” to be released weeks from now and outline priorities of the Assembly and Senate. We are still in the early days of the formation of the state budget, with many opportunities for impactful advocacy coming soon. We look forward to sharing more insights on the budget process to you again soon.
Opinions expressed are solely those of the writer(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Able News at The Viscardi Center and/or The Viscardi Center.