CPC Statement on the NYS FY 22-23 Enacted Budget

Apr

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

Date: 4/12/2022

Press Contacts: Wayne Ho, President & CEO (who@cpc-nyc.org) | 212-941-0920 x 143

CPC STATEMENT ON THE NYS FY 22-23 ENACTED BUDGET

New York, NY – The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) is disappointed by the passage of a $220 billion budget that missed the opportunity to make deep, transformative investments in a just recovery for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, communities of color, immigrants, and low-income New Yorkers, despite some key smaller investments in critical programs.

“In a year where the State was in a more stable fiscal position, we expected that the State would be investing in universal childcare, ending the home care crisis, raising worker wages and supporting those who lost employment, and expanding health insurance, not spending public dollars on a football stadium or criminalizing people. While we were thrilled to see critical investments like a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for human services workers and an expanded Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Equity Fund, overall this budget represented a missed opportunity to ensure that the communities hit hardest by the pandemic are supported and invest in a just economic recovery,” said Wayne Ho, President & CEO of the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC).

CPC’s 125,000 community members have been hit hard by the pandemic, with 70% losing jobs or income, as social services have struggled to meet growing community needs with less funding. Over the past year, CPC staff and community members have been aggressively advocating on the frontlines to ensure that our most vulnerable communities are not left behind by this budget, including calling on the Governor to fully fund the Fair Pay for Home Care Act to ensure that home care workers are compensated with liveable wages for their tireless services, fighting for Coverage for All to be included in the budget, and pushing for human services workers to receive a COLA and living wage through their contracts. CPC will continue to advocate for a budget that not only meets the most urgent needs of our community, but prioritizes the needs of the most marginalized above all. Thank you to elected and government partners and allied organizations for advocating alongside us.

Below is a short summary of the wins and shortcomings for Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, communities of color, immigrants, and low-income New Yorkers.

Wins:

Critical funding for a $20 million AAPI Equity Budget was included, which is an important investment made to address the horrific surge in AAPI hate crimes, the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19, and the historic underfunding of AAPI communities through funding vaccine and COVID-19 support, establishing a K-12 education curriculum, and funding hundreds of community based organizations across the state to implement recovery programming.
We were thrilled to see an inclusion of a 5.4% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for over 800,000 essential human services workers delivering critical services through State contracts. This statutory COLA had been deferred for years under the previous administration, and this investment represents an important first step towards ensuring that State contracted human services receive just wages. We must also ensure that in implementing this critical COLA it is extended to all human services workers, including prevention services program staff.
A critical $20 million investment was made into immigrant legal services and expanding the language access plan.
The Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) was replenished at $800 million, which will begin to address the 183,000 applications for rental assistance from the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to fight to secure funding for all who need ERAP support and pass Good Cause Eviction legislation.

Shortcomings:

The Excluded Workers Fund was not replenished, leaving thousands of immigrant New Yorkers unable to receive the benefits they deserve to support their families during the recovery process of the COVID-19 pandemic, representing a huge blow to immigrant New Yorkers. We will continue pushing for a robust unemployment support and safety net system for all New Yorkers.
While the budget increased wages for home care workers $2/hour in the coming fiscal year, it did not do nearly enough to raise home care worker wages, and also decoupled them from Medicaid reimbursement rates, which means that it will be in the hands of managed care plans to ensure that workers actually receive these increases. Anything less than the full 150% of the minimum wage coupled to Medicaid rates is insufficient to systematically address the home care crisis. Additionally, the State neglected to support and fund replacing 24-hour shifts with 12-hour split shifts. Our home care workers deserve better and we will continue to fight for Fair Pay for Home Care and the discontinuation of the 24-hour rule.
The budget expanded postpartum Medicaid coverage for up to twelve months for all people regardless of immigration status, and removed the citizenship requirement for Medicaid for those 65 or older. While a good step, much more needs to be done to ensure healthcare access for all New Yorkers, including passing the full Coverage for All bill and the New York Health Act.
While the budget included funding to expand childcare subsidies up to 300% of the Federal Poverty Line, it excluded undocumented children specifically, and failed to fund a universal child care system, which would create continuous high quality, free child care where every child has access to care from birth to age 13. We will continue advocating for a true universal childcare system.
The budget did not restore the Child Welfare Financing structure (authorizing open-ended investment for the counties on child welfare services including prevention, child protective services, and more) to the statutorily mandated 65%, instead leaving it at 62%.

Press Mentions

Sing Tao Daily “紐約州通過新財年2200億預算案華策會：錯失為亞裔提供公平機會” (4/15)

World Journal “預算案對亞裔、移民不公華策會：十分失望” (4/15)

USA HRSH “24小时护工薪资不足华策会望政府补助” (4/15)

***即時發布***

日期：2022年4月

聯繫人：何永康，華人策劃協會總裁及首席執行官 (who@cpc-nyc.org) | 212-941-0920 分機 143

華人策劃協會 關於紐約州 22-23 財年預算案的聲明

紐約州紐約市 — 華人策劃協會 (華策會) 對近期通過的2200億美元的預算案感到十分失望。該預算案儘管對一些關鍵項目投放小額撥款，但整體上錯失了為亞太裔美國人、有色人種社區、移民和低收入紐約人的公平經濟復甦的深入和變革性投資的機會。

“在州內財政狀況更加穩定的一年，我們期待的是紐約州投資普及兒童保育，終結家庭護理危機，提高工人工資並支持失業者，以及擴大醫療保險覆蓋範圍，而不是將公款用在一個橄欖球場上。雖然我們很高興看到對一些關鍵項目的撥款，例如針對公共服務工作者的生活費用調整 (COLA) 和增加的亞太裔平等基金等，但總體而言，該預算展現的是一個錯失確保疫情受災最嚴重的社區得到支持和投資可以公平復甦經濟的機會，”華策會(CPC) 總裁及首席執行官何永康說：

華策會CPC 有125,000 名社區成員受到疫情的重創，其中 70% 的人失去了工作或收入，社會服務部門艱難地面對如何以越來越少的資金來滿足不斷增長的社區需求。在過去的一年裡，華策會CPC 工作人員和社區成員一直在前線積極倡導，以確保我們最脆弱的社區不會被這個預算案遺留在外。其中包括呼籲州長全額資助家庭護理公平薪酬法案，以確保家庭護理人員能為他們不辭辛勞的服務而獲得維持基本生活的薪資，並爭取將全民醫保納入預算，以及推動公共服務工作者通過合同獲得生活費用調整和基本生活薪資。華策會CPC 將繼續倡導一個不僅能滿足我們社區最迫切需求的預算，而且其同時也要優先照顧到最邊緣化的人的需求。我們感謝民選官員及政府部門的合作夥伴，以及聯盟組織和我們一起呼籲倡導。

以下是為亞太裔美國人、有色人種社區、移民和低收入紐約人所做的勝利和缺失的簡短總結。

勝利：

為亞太裔平等預算案投放2000萬美元的關鍵資金。這是對於解決激增的亞太裔仇恨犯罪COVID-19新冠病毒對社區的創傷，及對亞太裔社區長期資助不足的問題的一大重要投資。其中包括對抗COVID-19新冠病毒和疫苗提供的資助，建立K-12教育課程，以及資助全州數百個社區機構實施社區復甦計畫。
我們很高興地看到為超過 800,000 名通過州合同提供關鍵公共服務的工作者提供 5.4% 的生活費用調整 (COLA)。 COLA 這項法令在上屆政府執政期間已被推遲數年，而此次撥款則代表了邁向確保紐約州承包的公共服務獲得公平薪酬的重要第一步。我們還必須確保在實施COLA的過程中，將其推廣到所有公共服務工作者，包括預防性服務項目的工作人員。
一項重要的2000萬美元的投款被用於移民法律服務和拓展多種語言服務。
緊急租金援助計劃 (ERAP) 獲得了 8 億美元的補充資金，將開始用於處理因 COVID-19 疫情而產生的 183,000 份租金援助申請。我們將繼續為所有需要 ERAP 資助的人爭取資金，並努力使正當理由驅逐法案立法通過.

缺失：

勞工福利基金沒有得到資金補充，導致成千上萬的紐約移民在新冠病毒 COVID-19 疫情的恢復過程中無法獲得應得的能養家糊口的福利，這對紐約移民來說是一個巨大的打擊。我們將繼續推動為所有紐約人提供強有力的失業支持和保障措施系統。
雖然預算在下一財年為家庭護理人員增加了每小時 2 美元的工資，但它在提高家庭護理人員工資方面所做得還遠遠不夠，而且還把他們與 Medicaid 的報銷率剝離，這意味著能否確保工人真正得到這些加薪，取決於管理式醫療計劃。任何低於全部最低工資150% 的薪酬加上醫療補助費率都不足以系統地解決家庭護理危機。除此之外，紐約州還忽視了支持和資助用 12 小時分班制代替 24 小時一班制。我們的家庭護理工作者應該得到更好的待遇，我們也將繼續為家庭護理的公平薪酬和取消 24 小時制而奮鬥。
預算將所有人的產後醫療補助覆蓋時間範圍延長至長達 12 個月，無論其移民身份如何，並取消了對 65 歲或以上人群醫療補助的公民身份的要求。雖然這是很好的一步，但仍需做更多的工作來確保所有紐約人都能獲得醫療保險，包括通過全面的全民醫保法案和紐約健康法案。
雖然預算包括增加托兒補貼的資金，但它特別排除了無證兒童，並且未能為普及兒童保育系統提供資金，而該系統將會創造持續的高質量、免費托兒服務，讓每個孩子從出生到 13 歲都可以獲得照顧。這一點我們將會繼續呼籲倡導。
預算並未將兒童福利融資結構（授權各縣對兒童福利服務進行開放式投資，包括預防性服務、兒童保護服務等）恢復到法定要求的 65%，而是將其保留在 62%。