Joint Legislative Public Hearings on 2025-2026 Executive Budget Proposal
This testimony touches on the work of the New York State Office for the Aging, the Office of Children and Family Services, the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, and the Department of Health.
We will discuss the positions set forth below:
- Maintain the Legislature’s investment of $1.5 million in the Disability Advocacy Program (DAP);
- Improve public assistance to reduce housing insecurity and homelessness and economic instability for children and New Yorkers in deep poverty;
- Allocate $2 million to the Office of Children and Families to establish a Kinship Legal Network pilot program (A.531 Hevesi);
- Invest a total of $2.76 m in the Managed Care Consumer Assistance Program (MCCAP) to provide seniors and people with disabilities critical assistance in accessing Medicare services and reducing health care costs;
- Restore full funding of OTDA’s eviction prevention representation;
- Make progress toward achieving pay parity for civil legal service providers in order to address the recruitment and retention crisis;
- Reform New York’s contracting and payment processes through uniformity, streamlined systems, identifying best practices and efficiencies to be implemented across contracts and agencies.
A PDF version is available for your convenience.
