Expanding the use of medication-assisted treatment for opioid abuse in emergency departments, mobile clinics and correctional facilities is among the governor’s health care priorities. However, some advocates are still smarting after he signed a bill that would remove some restrictions on accessing opioid treatment drugs for those with private insurance while vetoing a similar bill for those on Medicaid.

Among the other proposals floated by Gov. Cuomo during his address: a new grant program to help school districts with their mental health initiatives. Advocates expressed disappointment that mental health initiatives, specifically for youth, weren’t among his priorities.

“Children didn’t create the Medicaid deficit and the State should not attempt to resolve the deficit at their expense,” Jennifer March, executive director of Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York, and Kristin Morse, executive director at the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School, said in a statement on behalf of the Children’s Behavioral Health Campaign.