Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday:

One-House Bills On Deck; Fed Stimulus Signed

Clocks move one hour ahead this weekend as we move another week closer to the March 31 State Budget deadline.

One-house proposals will likely be introduced over the weekend, establishing baseline positions on spending and associated policy proposals. This will signify the beginning of earnest budget negotiations between the houses and the Governor against the backdrop of escalating pressure on the Governor as he fields new allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault and continued criticism regarding nursing home oversight and pandemic directives. In addition to the nursing home COVID policy concerns, a media report cited a similar order in place of Office for People with Development Disabilities (OPWDD) regulated group homes.

COVID update – With the amount of available COVID vaccine increasing weekly, the Governor made announcements this week related to expanded vaccine eligibility, eliminating travel quarantine requirements for domestic travel (see “From NYS Governor Cuomo”), and that as of Thursday, a little over 10 percent of the state’s population had been fully vaccinated. The updated vaccine rollout process in New York can be found here, and mass vaccination sites and eligibility tool can be found here.

Federal – In his first public address since taking office, President Biden announced Thursday evening directed states to make all adults eligible for the COVID-19 by no later than May 1. Full text here.

Federal Stimulus – The latest federal COVID relief package was passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday, and signed by President Biden yesterday (Thursday, March 11). The bill includes funding for rural health care providers ($8.5 billion), stimulus support for individuals and families and, according to Senator Schumer’s office approximately $12.6 billion in unrestricted funding to New York along with more than $10.8 billion in funding that will go directly to localities across the state. The text of the enrolled (final) version of HR 1319 (The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) can be found here.

Impeachment Investigation – On March 11th, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced that he has authorized the Assembly Judiciary Committee to begin an impeachment investigation to examine allegations of misconduct by Governor Cuomo. The Judiciary Committee, chaired by MoA Charles LaVine (Nassau County), will have the authority to interview witnesses, will have also have subpoena power. The investigation will run concurrently with the Attorney General’s investigation.