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Presented by Healthcare Education Project: Your afternoon must-read briefing informing the daily conversation among knowledgeable New Yorkers | | | | |  | | By Marie J. French | Presented by Healthcare Education Project | | 
A woman paints a waterfall at Taughannock Falls State Park in Tompkins County, New York, on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, 2020. (Photo by Ted Shaffrey) | Ted Shaffrey/AP | The coming influx of funds from the state’s $4.2 billion environmental bond act is shaping the budget discussion this year. The environmental conservation budget hearing kicked off Tuesday with a focus on state parks and farms. Both the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Department of Agriculture and Markets are poised to get staffing boosts in part tied to implementation of the bond act, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters last November. “We’re very excited to expand our capacity and be able to meet the needs of our visitors,” Erik Kulleseid, commissioner of the parks office, testified. He said the 237 new hires proposed in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget would include increased parks police and other public-facing staff, along with staff to implement the bond act. New York has the oldest public park system in the nation with 180 state parks and 35 state historic sites. Under Hochul’s proposal, the agriculture department would get 26 new staff, including 14 to support the rollout of funds from the bond act. Commissioner Richard Ball said the agency had additional attrition during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to 100 unfilled positions: “We’ve been pretty stretched.” The bond act will also supplement the proposed capital program for the state’s parks, Kulleseid said. Hochul’s budget includes about $200 million for new parks’ investment. That matches her proposal last year, but is lower than the final $250 million in the current budget. Some lawmakers questioned the decrease, and advocacy groups have pushed for a restoration to current levels. “Now is the time to continue last year’s level of critical investment to transform flagship parks, address critical infrastructure needs and expand accessibility to public lands for all New Yorkers,” Will Coté, program director for Parks and Trails New York, said in written testimony. IT’S TUESDAY: Stay with us each afternoon as we keep you updated on the latest New York news in Albany, City Hall and beyond.
| | | | A message from Healthcare Education Project: Time to Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap. Despite COVID-19 and rising healthcare costs, there has been no significant increase to New York’s Medicaid reimbursement rate for years. As a result, pediatricians are forced to turn away low-income children, seniors face dangerously long wait times for care, and a growing mental health crisis is threatening our hospitals and putting communities at risk. Governor Hochul and the Legislature must Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap. Learn more. | | | |  | From the Capitol | | | 
Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) speaks Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, at a news conference at the state Capitol in Albany, N.Y. to push for more funding for the state's safety-net hospitals that provide care to the state's most vulnerable residents. | Joseph Spector/POLITICO | SAFETY NET PUSH: Lawmakers and hospital workers' unions were at the state Capitol on Tuesday to push for an additional $800 million at least for safety-net hospitals that provide care to the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including half of New York City’s population. Members of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus and the Save NY’s Safety Net coalition urged for the final budget to include the additional funds, saying the current budget plan from Hochul would cut funding for the nearly two dozen safety-net hospitals in the city that serve poor residents. “The only thing that saves us is our safety nets. They are the only thing that catch people from falling off that tightrope every single day,” Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) said on the steps of the Million Dollar Staircase. – Joseph Spector NURSING HOME OVERSIGHT: AARP NY and Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday said state leaders shouldn’t forget about the roughly 14,000 people who died in nursing homes during the Covid-19 pandemic and t he undercounting of the total figures by the former Cuomo administration. The leaders said the state should increase funding by $15 million for the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program that aims to provide better oversight of the state’s nursing homes. AARP said it found that 79 percent of New York City’s nearly 300 nursing homes and adult care facilities didn’t get a single visit from an ombudsman during a three-month period in mid-2022. Statewide, half of facilities failed to receive a single visit, the group said. Assemblymember Ron Kim (D-Queens), who was a chief critic of the Cuomo administration’s Covid response in nursing homes, said Tuesday: “I remain firm that we can't move forward unless we have accountability of what happened so we don't repeat those mistakes.”
| | | | A message from Healthcare Education Project:   | | | | | From City Hall | | | 
Mayor Eric Adams defended his recent City Hall assignments of staff members and also talked about trying to get more people into the city workforce. | John Minchillo/AP Photo | INSPECT WHAT YOU EXPECT: On Monday, POLITICO reported Mayor Eric Adams created a new division called the Office of Municipal Services Assessment, which will serve as a sort of quality control effort across city government. The office is being led by Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks and NYPD captain Miltiadis Marmara. Adams said Tuesday that the law enforcement bona fides of Banks are a perfect fit to launch inspections into how services are being delivered. “He has the experience in inspections, going out and inspecting the product,” Adams said, adding that the idea is “not to be punitive.” A hypothetical example? Whether New Yorkers are properly receiving birth certificates. “The goal of that unit is to go in, do visual inspections, do inspections on a product that we’re delivering to taxpayers and make recommendations on how we improve it,” Adams said. — Joe Anuta HYBRID WORK: The mayor also doubled down on a recent change in his thinking regarding hybrid work. He said Tuesday that the city is competing for talent, as public and private institutions across the country struggle to fill positions, and plans to hold new hiring events. As part of the effort — which is particularly acute at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development — he is working with agencies to put forward hybrid work proposals, as well as incentives for jobs like crossing guards or nurses where remote work is less feasible. “We are sending out a survey to our agencies, and we’re saying to [them]: come up with creative ways of having flexibility,” Adams said. “But when you do it, how do we operate as a team? What do we do for the people who can’t work from home?” — Joe Anuta
| | TRUMP'S NEW YORK | | A state appellate court Tuesday upheld a $110,000 fine imposed on former President Donald Trump after he was found in contempt of court during a case looking into his business dealings. Trump must pay the fine to state Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the case and reacted favorably to the ruling. “Once again, the courts have ruled that Donald Trump is not above the law,” she said in a statement. “For years, he tried to stall and thwart our lawful investigation into his financial dealings, but today’s decision sends a clear message that there are consequences for abusing the legal system.” — Joe Anuta
| | | | A message from Healthcare Education Project: The Medicaid Coverage Gap is making New York’s mental health crisis worse and putting our most vulnerable communities at risk. It’s time to close it.
Medicaid provides essential health coverage to millions of vulnerable New Yorkers. Yet, despite the ravages of COVID-19 and rising healthcare costs, there has been no significant increase in New York’s Medicaid reimbursement rate for years. Because of the Medicaid Coverage Gap, pediatricians are forced to turn away low-income children, seniors face dangerously long wait times for care, and a growing mental health crisis is threatening our hospitals and putting communities at risk.
To actually address this crisis, Governor Hochul and the Legislature must Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap and raise the Medicaid reimbursement rate by at least 10 percent. Closing the Medicaid Coverage Gap will help address our mental health crisis and protect our most vulnerable communities. Learn how. | | | | | On the Beats | | |  Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas (D-Queens) speaks at the podium Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, at the state Capitol in Albany about the need to add funding for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority alongside Sens Andrew Gounardes (D-Brooklyn), Senator Jessica Ramos (D-Queens), Senator John Liu (D-Queens). | Eleonora Francica/POLITICO | PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: While the world is celebrating Valentine's Day, New Yorkers' relationship with the state's public transportation — and Hochul's budget proposal addressing it — is not so lovey-dovey. Legislators and advocates rallied on Tuesday in Albany, asking Hochul to invest more in the New York transportation system. Their #FixTheMTA package includes proposals to increase bus and subway frequency, make buses ride free and reject the subways' fares hike, freezing it at the current $2.75. "Let's make the buses more great, more convenient, more reliable, more safe, and we will then get more people to get out of their cars into the buses and subways," Sen. John Liu (D-Queens) said at the rally. — Eleonora Francica TRANSPORTATION: It's not just on City Hall to get bus and bike lanes done, Ydanis Rodriguez, commissioner of the city Department of Transportation, said at a Tuesday hearing held by the City Council. Community backlash has made it difficult for the city to meet the requirements of a 2019 law to add 150 bus lanes and 250 miles of protected bike lanes by 2025, Rodriguez said. He called on council members for "support and leadership,” adding “we all know bus lanes and bike lanes are not popular in many districts.” Last year, the city installed nearly 19 miles of protected bike lanes and roughly 7 miles of bus lanes, according to trackers by public transportation advocacy groups. — Danielle Muoio Dunn EDUCATION: The Governing Majority Education Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting “center-right policy solutions,” announced Tuesday that former U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis of Illinois and John Katko of the Syracuse area have joined its board of directors. “Throughout their tenure in Congress, Congressmen Davis and Katko were two of the most effective members in building consensus and finding real solutions to some of the most challenging issues facing American families,” Drew Kent, executive director of the fund, said in a statement. — Joseph Spector
| | | — Raised Catholic, Rep. George Santos claimed his “Jewish ancestry” during an October fundraising event in South Florida. (Jewish Insider) — New Yorkers riding the subway give their best relationship advice this Valentine’s Day. (New York Times) — Workers at Tesla’s plant in Buffalo want to unionize. (Buffalo News) — Mayor Eric Adams will have to pay $300 for the rat infestation in his Brooklyn home. (Gothamist) | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
