In April of 2024, the FTC issued a final rule concerning non-compete agreements. Once effective, the rule will impose a comprehensive ban on new non-compete agreements with all workers and a ban on existing non-competes against most workers, with a limited exception for senior executives. The rule is set to go into effect on September 4, 2024, although at least four lawsuits have been filed to halt the FTC’s enforcement of this rule.
Legislation championed by ACA to increase Medicare coverage of chiropractic services is attracting cosponsors faster than ever in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Thursday, June 6, was the last scheduled day of New York’s 2024 legislative session, but we went into overtime. The Senate completed their business on Friday, June 7 around 8:30 p.m. while the Assembly worked through the night and completed their work just after 7:00 a.m.
Saturday, June 8.
This week, the Assembly and Senate released their one-house budget proposals. Today, each house passed resolutions, which memorialized their one-house budget proposals. These proposals were compiled after the Assembly and Senate held weeks of joint budget hearings and scores of meetings with a variety of stakeholders, who weighed in on the proposals contained in the Governor’s proposed budget. Each one-house budget accepts, rejects or modifies the Governor’s budget proposals that were released in January and adds priority issues for each respective house.
Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her third State Budget address this morning. She began her address by announcing that the State is no longer predicting a budget deficit for this fiscal year. The Division of Budget announced that tax revenue forecasts increased by $5.9 billion, leading the State to have a $2.2 billion surplus leading into this year’s budget. As we had noted in previous updates, the Division of Budget was predicting a budget deficit of around $4.5 billion. Despite this news, the Governor urged fiscal caution throughout her address, noting that future economic outlooks for the State look far less rosy.
Today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her third State of the State address from the Assembly chamber in the Capitol during a joint session of the Assembly and Senate. During the State of the State, the Governor focused on a goal of making New York a more affordable place to live. The State of the State contained numerous policy proposals, and the Governor also made clear that the economic outlook for 2024 is far less rosy than it was in 2023. Nonetheless, the Governor announced that she will not be proposing or supporting an increase in personal income taxes.
Today was the first day of the 2024 legislative session. Normally, this day would be marked with the Governor’s State of the State address, but a few weeks ago, Governor Hochul announced that she would hold that address next Tuesday, January 9. Both the Senate and Assembly still held their opening day receptions, and the Capitol was bustling with Legislators and visitors.
The NYSCA Legislative Committee is pleased to share a legislative update regarding the passage of a bill (S2997/A6065) that will create a level playing field for all health care providers who are assisting a patient in a lawsuit. Chapter 585 of the Laws of 2023 amend New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules to extend provisions that allow for the submission of health care statements under the penalty of perjury instead of requiring a notarized statement from the health care provider.
Tuesday, November 7 was Election Day in New York. Since it is an odd-numbered year, most races on the ballot were for local elections. There were also two proposed amendments to the New York State Constitution that appeared on the ballot as statewide voter referendums.
Voters approved both Constitutional Amendments on Tuesday.
New York’s legislative session was scheduled to end on Thursday, June 8; however, both houses remained in session into the weekend. The Senate finished around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 10th. The Assembly worked until Saturday at 4:30 p.m. but then adjourned without concluding their business. The Assembly returned on June 20th to wrap up remaining issues and concluded their business late in the evening of June 21. This session was limited in scope, mainly focusing on passing local bills.
The last day of the legislative session was scheduled to be Thursday, June 8, however, both houses remained in session into the weekend. The Senate finished around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 10. The Assembly was planning to work through the day on Saturday and wrap up late in the evening/Sunday morning. However, in a change of plans, the Assembly ended up adjourning mid-afternoon after deciding that they would come back in two weeks to wrap up the remaining issues. It is unclear at this point if the return in two weeks will be just the Assembly or if the Senate will return as well. The hope is that an agreement may be reached on several outstanding issues that could not be resolved before the scheduled end of session.
On Monday May 2nd, over 40 members of the New York State Chiropractic Association participated with the New York Chiropractic Council through the Joint Legislative Task Force in Chiropractic Lobby Day. We were also joined by representatives from New York’s two Chiropractic colleges, and we converged on Albany to support our legislative agenda and educate lawmakers regarding issues affecting the profession in our state.
The New York State Budget was finalized today, a month after its April 1 due date. The Governor announced that she had reached the framework of the budget deal with the Senate and Assembly late in the day on April 27. Thile the framework was announced, we did not see the final budget bills until last night and today. Now that the bills are available, the Senate and Assembly are in the process of passing them. We anticipate that the final votes will be taken at some point tomorrow.
The NYSCA is pleased to announce that our Scope Modernization bill has been reintroduced in the 2023 legislative session. A4150 with Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell as our Assembly sponsor once again and S6047 with our new sponsor, Senator Andrew Gounardes from Brooklyn, New York.
Arlington, Va. – Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have reintroduced legislation to increase access to Medicare-covered services provided by doctors of chiropractic. The Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act (H.R. 1610/ S. 799) would bring Medicare’s coverage of chiropractic into alignment with most other federal programs and private health plans, giving seniors improved coverage of non-drug treatments to alleviate pain and improve function.
The 2023 legislative session began on January 9, 2023, and the legislative committee has been hard at work on the legislative priorities for NYSCA. As a reminder, all legislation in New York operates on a two-year cycle. At the end of the two-years, all bills must be reintroduced again in the new cycle. This year marks the start of a new cycle, so our priority bills will have new bill numbers.
Recently, the New York Chiropractic Council (the Council) released a video regarding the Scope Modernization Bill. As a result of this video, we felt that some clarification is in order.
Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her second State Budget address this afternoon. The Governor began the address by noting that the general economic outlook is far less rosy than it was last year. Nonetheless, the Governor presented an optimistic vison of the State’s finances and progress for the upcoming year, as New York expects to end its current fiscal year with an $8.7 billion surplus as the result of increased tax collections throughout the prior fiscal year. For Fiscal Year 2024, the Governor is proposing a $227 billion budget, which represents a 2.4% increase over the prior year budget.
Today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her second State of the State address. While this was her second address, it was her first address as the elected Governor. During her address, Governor Hochul laid out her vision for leading New York State. The Governor set an optimistic and hopeful tone for the future of the State but noted that there was much to be done to reach that future. The Governor pledged a collaborative approach, aiming to work with the Legislature, municipalities, and businesses across New York for the people of New York State.
On May 25, 2022 we announced that our coalition conservative care bill (opioid bill), A273 sponsored by Assemblymember Gottfried and S4640 sponsored by Senator Rivera, had passed both the Assembly and the Senate.
