Commit half of the $1 billion in proposed behavioral health investments in the Executive Budget to services for children and families.

• Though a portion of the $1.1 billion in behavioral health funding will be allocated for children, the budget falls far short of providing half of appropriated funding for targeted preventive, clinical treatment, and recovery services for children and families.

• Enacted Budget does include several investments specifically targeting children’s needs:
  
  •$5 million for the HealthySteps program
  
  •$5 million for high fidelity wraparound services for children
  
  •$10 million for youth suicide prevention
  
  •$27.5 million to improve post-discharge connections for children and adults to services through the creation of 50 new Critical Time Intervention Care coordination teams.
  
  •Funding for Home Based Crisis Intervention (exact figure to be determined).

Fund an 8.5% COLA for health and human service workers, significantly and permanently increase rates for children’s behavioral health services so they match the cost of care and ensure viability, and increase investments in workforce strategies including loan forgiveness, scholarship programs, and tuition remission.

• Enacted Budget includes a 4% Cost of Living Adjustment for human service workers, including behavioral health providers. The COLA is higher than the 2.5% in the Executive Budget but below advocates’ request for 8.5%.

Build on Executive Budget proposals around parity and network adequacy by enhancing funding for surveillance, monitoring, and enforcement of parity and network adequacy violations, and by requiring commercial insurers to pay Medicaid APG rates in all settings.

• Enacted Budget includes language requiring insurance coverage for mobile crisis intervention services and sub-acute care; requires insurers to reimburse school-based mental health clinic services in the same rate as Medicaid; and requires DFS and OMH to develop network adequacy regulations in consultation with OMH and OASAS.

• Enacted Budget fails to include detailed criteria for network adequacy and does not require commercial insurers to pay rates on par with Medicaid.

Provide at least $5.5 million in flexible state funding for Family and Youth Peer Support services outside of Medicaid.

• Enacted Budget fails to include additional peer funding.

Increase wraparound funding to School-Based Mental Health Clinics so services can be more comprehensive, inclusive, and effective.

• Enacted Budget includes $30 to expand mental health services in schools, including $20 million for school-based mental health clinics and $10 million to implement wraparound services training.

Increase reimbursement rates for Early Intervention (EI) providers and evaluators to 11% to help address provider service shortages and increase access to in-person services.

• Enacted Budget does not include an 11% increase for EI providers.

Institute higher rates or rate add-ons to cover higher costs of in-person EI service delivery to ensure all children who need in-person services have access to them.

• Enacted Budget does not include a rate add-on for in-person services.

Enact and fund the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) to create New York’s first ever statewide rental subsidy program (A4021/S568A).

• Despite consensus in One House Bills, the Enacted Budget does not include or fund the Housing Access Voucher Program.

Increase state funding for Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to address over 100,000 pending applications.

• Enacted Budget includes $391 million to assist households residing at NYCHA and Section 8 apartments that were initially excluded during the initial phase of emergency rental assistance. Though this is a significant investment, it falls short of the $800 million advocates were seeking.

Require and fund social services districts to set up the shelter allowance to match one hundred percent of the Fair Market Rent Standard and raise the allowance every time the market rents increase (A8900A/S8632).

• Enacted Budget does not establish a revised shelter allowance. However, advocacy continues through the Legislative session.

Permit housing programs like CityFHEPS to be made available to individuals and families regardless of immigration status (A5513/S1631).

• Enacted Budget does not make CityFHEPS available regardless of immigration status – advocacy continues through the Legislative session.

Support proposals in the Executive Budget to cap family copays, increase child care subsidy eligibility, and establish automatic income eligibility for families enrolled in other public benefits.

• Enacted Budget caps family copays at 1%, increases subsidy income eligibility to up to 85% of state median income, and streamlines the application process for families already receiving other forms of public assistance.

Invest $60 million to extend child care subsidy eligibility to undocumented children and families statewide.

• Enacted Budget fails to extend child care subsidy eligibility to undocumented children and families statewide.

• Enacted Budget invests $1.4 million for a NYC-based pilot and $4 million for a pilot outside of NYC that would provide child care for families with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level who would otherwise be ineligible for subsidies, including due to their immigration status.

Increase investments to raise the median child worker pay, fund rate supplements and grants for providers offering non-traditional hour care and eliminate benefits cliffs for families above the current eligibility threshold.

• Enacted Budget includes $500 million for a workforce retention fund, but this short-term funding fails to permanently lift child care worker compensation.

• Enacted Budget does not raise the median child worker pay, fund rate supplements/grants for providers offering non-traditional hour care or eliminate the benefits cliff for families above the current eligibility threshold.

Support the Executive Budget proposal to invest $125 million to expand pre-K and ensure that pre-K special education is adequately funded.

• Enacted Budget invests $150 million for the expansion of Pre-K.

• Enacted Budget invests $2.5 million to conduct a comprehensive study of alternative tuition rate-setting methodologies for approved providers.

Support the Executive Budget proposal to invest $2.7 billion to complete the three-year phase-in of Foundation Aid and dedicate $250 million as a set-aside for tutoring programs in grades 3-8 to address learning loss.

• Enacted Budget includes full funding of Foundation Aid.

Invest $100 million to create a Community Schools Categorical Grant to expand community schools statewide and increase by $1 million investments in community schools technical assistance centers.

• Enacted Budget does not include a $100 million investment to create a Community Schools Categorical Grant to expand community schools statewide, nor an increase of $1 million in investments in community schools technical assistance centers (CSTAC).

Restore and enhance Child Welfare Funding to a 75/25 state/county statutory share for preventive, protective, and independent living services.

• Despite consensus in the One House Budget bills to restore funding to 65/35 levels, the Enacted Budget retains Child Welfare Funding at 62/38 state/county share.

Fund KinGAP outside of the Foster Care Block Grant, mirroring the structure of adoption subsidies, to incentivize more counties to use kin as a permanent placement option.

• Enacted Budget retains funding for KinGAP within the FCBG.

Increase the value of the child welfare housing subsidy from $300 to $725 to promote family reunification and successful independent living and adjust it annually to inflation (A02525A/ S02038A).

• Enacted Budget increases the Child Welfare Housing subsidy from $300 to $725 in the FY24 Adopted Budget, the first increase the subsidy since 1988.

• Enacted Budget does not index the subsidy to inflation or expand it to youth through the age of 24.

Create and fund a flexible Child and Family Well-being Fund for primary prevention to expand access to a wide range of upstream preventive supports.

• Enacted Budget does not include a flexible Child and Family Well-Being Fund.

Create and fund a UBI pilot for pregnant and parenting households with children under three years of age, focusing on counties with high rates of child poverty.

• Enacted Budget does not include a UBI pilot.

Reject entirely Executive Budget proposals that revisit the components of bail reform.

• Enacted Budget modifies bail to provide judges with more discretion in determining if someone will be held pre-trial by repealing the “least restrictive means” clause, as well as modifying the amount of bail that can be set.

Expedite the distribution of Raise the Age funds to counties, prioritize directing a share of resources to local CBOs that work directly with justice-involved youth, and ensure NYC can access RTA funds.

• Enacted Budget maintains RTA funds statewide.

• Language expediting funding to communities, prioritize resources for CBOs, or ensuring NYC can access RTA funds, was not included in the Enacted Budget.

Reauthorize and invest state funding in the Close to Home juvenile justice initiative.

• Enacted Budget reauthorizes Close to Home funding.

• Enacted Budget does not include additional state funding for Close to Home.

Prioritize reaching special populations of youth – homeless youth, youth aging out of foster care, youth leaving detention or placement, and undocumented young people – with year-round youth development and employment training opportunities.

• Enacted Budget includes $5 million for additional services and expenses of the advantage after school program, $55 million for services and expenses of the empire state after-school program, and $1 million for services and expenses associated with sexually exploited children and youth up to age 21.

Increase investments in community-driven, youth informed violence interrupting and alternatives to detention and incarceration initiatives.

• Enacted Budget include an increase in $17.6 million from FY23 for payments to not-for-profit and government operated entities, including residential centers providing services to individuals on probation, programs providing alternatives to incarceration, and community supervision and/or employment programs.

• Enacted Budget includes an increase is $7.7 million from FY23 for services and expenses of programs aimed at reducing the risk of re-offending.

• Enacted budget includes an crease of $10 million from FY23 for payment to not-for-profit and government operated programs providing pretrial services, including but not limited to screening, assessments, and supervision.

• Enacted Budget includes a $10 million increase from FY23 for competitive grants to provide safety and security projects at nonprofit organizations at risk of hate crimes or attacks.

Increase the minimum wage and index the wage to inflation, supporting 2.9 million workers (A7503/S3062).

• Enacted Budget will raise the minimum wage to $17 per hour in New York City and Westchester, Suffolk, and Nassau Counties by 2026, and will increase the minimum wage to $16 in other parts of the state by 2026. The minimum wage will be tied to the Consumer Price Index for the Northeast Region. However, the minimum wage increase falls short of the $21.25/hour advocates sought, and concerns remain around exceptions to future wage increases based on job market volatility.

Eliminate the sub-minimum wage to support over 250,000 tip-wage workers left out of previous minimum wage increases (A2244/S808).

• Enacted Budget does not eliminate the sub-minimum wage.

Expand and deepen the New York State Earned Income Tax Credit by permanently increasing the percentage of the state credit paid to families from 30% to 45% of the federal credit and adjust filing requirements so all immigrant tax-filers can access the credit.

• Enacted Budget does not expand or deepen the NYS Earned Income Tax Credit.

Reform the Empire State Child Credit to ensure households with children under 4 years of age are eligible, that credits are greatest for lowest income households, and that all immigrants filing taxes with an ITIN receive the full tax credit.

• Enacted Budget expands the Empire State Child Credit to include children under the age of four, expanding the credit to an additional 600,000-900,000 children statewide. However, the budget fails to increase credit amounts for the lowest-income families.

Increase the value of public benefits so that the basic cash aid grant, including the utility allowance, reflects inflation (A9130/S9513).

• Enacted Budget does not increase the value of public benefits based on inflation.

Establish and fund a Healthy School Meals for All program across New York State schools (A1941/S1678).

• Enacted Budget providers $134.6 million increase for universal school meals, though it falls short of the $280 million advocates were seeking.

Increase Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program funding by $6.5 million and Nourish NY funding by $25 million.

• Enacted Budget does not increase funding for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program or the Nourish New York program.