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NYS Budget Update

We want to start by thanking the nearly 400 advocates and partners who joined us for Legislative Day and continued to raise their voices during last week’s Week of Action. Your advocacy is making a real difference, helping shift the conversation and priorities in Albany toward the needs of people with mental health and substance use challenges. As we enter the final stages of budget negotiations, we need to keep this momentum going to ensure our priorities are fully reflected in the final budget.

Here’s where things are as of today:  

ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ State has entered the final phase of budget negotiations following the release of the Senate and Assembly one-house budget proposals and the beginning of three-way negotiations between the two houses and the governor’s office. Today the assembly and senate will be meeting to discuss the mental hygiene budget jointly and the Alliance will join other statewide advocates calling for them to pass a 4% targeted inflationary increase.

Thanks to the work of our members and staff and partners, there are several encouraging developments for the behavioral health community.

• Both houses included a 4% temporary inflationary increase for health and human services providers, recognizing the ongoing workforce and operating cost crisis facing community-based agencies. See the recent statement from ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿â€™s Behavioral Health Advocates for our response to this critical funding inclusion in the one house budgets.
• The Assembly proposal also includes an additional $100 million for Raise the Age, expanding support to ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ City and strengthening youth justice services.
• The Senate proposal includes $15 million for Daniel’s Law crisis response programs, as well as protections for the Raise the Age law, funding for the Youth Justice Innovation Fund, support for OMH–OASAS co-licensure to improve integrated mental health and substance use services, and investments in initiatives such as the Recovery Ready Workplace Act and oversight of prison conditions.
• Advocacy from Alliance members and partners has also helped secure important protections in the one-house budgets, including the restoration of funding for the Adult Home Resident Advocacy and Adult Home Resident Council programs,Ìýas well as the rejection of proposed cuts to the EQUAL program. The EQUAL program is a state-funded initiative designed to improve conditions in adult homes by supporting both quality of life enhancements and capital improvements. It provides resources for essentials like clothing, food, and room improvements, as well as funding for skills training and facility upgrades, while ensuring that residents have a direct voice in how these funds are used.

While these proposals represent meaningful progress, negotiations are still ongoing ahead of the April 1^st budget deadline. The Alliance will continue to push for all of our budget priorities to be included in the final enacted budget, including the behavioral health carve-out from Medicaid managed care, which unfortunately was not included in either one-house budget proposal. We remain committed to ensuring the final budget strengthens community-based services, supports the workforce, expands housing and crisis response programs, and improves access to services for people with mental health and substance use challenges across ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿.

We encourage all members, providers, and advocates to register for the Alliance’s upcoming Executive Seminar to stay informed on critical state policy developments. Attendees will hear directly from ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ State Office of Mental Health staff and Alliance policy experts about the latest updates, budget actions, and what they mean for services and supports across ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿.