Last week, The New York State Senate and Assembly adopted their one-house budget resolutions in response to the 2024-2025 Executive Budget. Details can found in the March 18 update.

We appreciate the inclusion of the full 3.2% COLA in both legislative budget proposals, and are particularly grateful to the Senate for including both the 3.2% COLA and the Direct Support Wage enhancement in their budget resolution. Unfortunately, the Legislature has included language directing that all COLA funds be used solely for direct care and clinical staff.

Direct Support Professionals are the backbone of our system of services, and investment in our skilled workforce is absolutely essential. While the majority of COLA funds always go to staff, limiting the COLA exclusively to workforce ignores the other critical facets of our service system, including transportation, technology, facilities maintenance, and even food for the people we support. 

To fully meet the complex needs of New Yorkers with I/DD and reverse more than a decade of disinvestment, state leaders must include the Direct Support Wage Enhancement and a true 3.2% COLA investment in the final budget.

Together, we have the power to drive meaningful change. Let’s seize this opportunity and ensure that the voice of New York’s I/DD community is heard loud and clear.

Below are some ways you can take action today! 

We must tell our legislators, the Governor, and leaders of the Senate and Assembly to support New Yorkers with I/DD at the negotiating table and fight to include our full budget request in the Enacted Budget: 

• A true 3.2% Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA)
• A Direct Support Wage Enhancement (DSWE) (S4127-A/A5268-A)

We have created some tools and resources for to help make your outreach as easy and effective as possible, including an updated one-click letter campaign and an updated template letter to the editor.

We will join with our NYDA partners again to rally in The Well of the Legislative Office Building (LOB) on Wednesday, April 3 at 11:00 AM.

This is a larger space to fill than the War Room, so we want to get as many people there as possible. With the Easter holiday occurring the weekend the budget is due. This gives us another opportunity to raise our voices, and we want you to be there!

Share this flyer widely with your stakeholders and register now!  

At this point in the process, direct calls are the most impactful, so make the calls and make that impact! Call your legislators over the next two weeks, particularly the Senate and Assembly majorities.

Call their Albany office from Monday to Wednesday and ask to speak to them directly about a time sensitive issue in the budget. If they are unavailable, ask to be added to the members’ “call list.” Thursday to Friday, call their District Office with the same message. You can find your legislators contact information here. To find their District Office number, click the link to their website and select the ‘contact’ tab.  

Through our partnership with New York Disability Advocates (NYDA), we have assembled comprehensive talking points and a call script to aid your communications with your legislators. As always, please visit our budget advocacy toolkit for important resources as you speak to your lawmakers.

Contact your US House Rep. and Tell them to Support DSPs

Last night, the US Senate unanimously passed the "Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act" (S.1332/ H.R. 2941), which requires the Office of Management and Budget to consider revising the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) to establish a separate code for DSPs. You can watch the clip here. With the Senate's passage, we are one step closer to creating a SOC for DSPs. Now it is up to us to help usher this legislation through the House of Representatives!

This moment of celebration is a result of all of your tireless advocacy in support of DSPs. Now that the bill has passed the Senate, it moves to the House of Representatives for passage. We encourage you to participate in our one-click campaign for the SOC to tell your representatives why recognizing DSPs is so important.

Together we can see this bill get across the finish line this Congress!