This Week in Albany – May 9, 2025

1. State Budget is Done!

Revenues

• The budget reduces taxes on people making up to $323,200 a year.

• Provides inflation rebate checks to families making up to $300,000 and individuals making up to $150,000.

• Raises the child tax credit to $1,000 per child aged 0-3 and $500 per child aged 4-16. The full amount of this credit is available to joint filers making up to $110,000 per year, individual filers making up to $75,000 per year, and individuals who are married filing separately making up to $55,000 per year.

Civil Service & Pensions

• Waives state civil service exam fees for two additional years through December 2027.

• Extends the NY HELP program for 1 additional year.

• Provides a 25-year, 50% retirement for firefighters employed by the Division of Military and Naval Affairs.

Health care

• Increases total Medicaid funding by 17%.  

• Removes the sitting Board of Directors at Nassau University Medical Center beginning June 1, 2025, creates a new oversight structure, and provides $50 million in new capital funding to support the hospital.

• Provides $450 million for SUNY Downstate to transform the hospital (this is in addition to the $300 million from last year for the same project) plus an additional $100 million for operations to keep the hospital open.

• Provides $450 million for SUNY Upstate to build a new emergency department.

• Creates 100 new state operated inpatient forensic psychiatric beds in New York City.

• Provides a 2.6% COLA for not-for-profit OPWDD providers.

Education

• Fully funds the foundation aid formula and provides a $1.4 billion increase over last year’s levels.

• Implements universal free breakfast and lunch for all students in public, private, and charter schools participating in the federal school lunch program.

• Bans the use of internet-enabled devices (e.g., smart phones, smart watches) during school hours, with $13.5 million for implementation. Schools must submit plans for compliance, effective in the 2025-2026 school year. CSEA successfully secured language that gives unions in each school district a consultation role when the policy is being developed.

• Continues to waive the retirement earnings cap for employees of school districts and Board of Cooperate Educational Services (BOCES) for 2 years.

• Allows school districts to delay the implementation of the zero-emission school bus mandate for up to four years.

Transportation

• Extends the work zone speed camera program for five years, doubles the number of cameras available to the New York State Thruway Authority and Department of Transportation, and allows the New York State Bridge Authority to implement this program.

Childcare

• Includes $10 million in capital funding for home-based child care providers.

Local Governments

• The budget provides $758 million in Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM), plus an additional $50 million in Temporary Municipal Assistance.

• Maintains a funding floor for community colleges at 100% of prior year funding, preventing a $124 million loss in formula aid due to enrollment declines.

Retirees

• The budget rejects the Governor’s proposal to eliminate the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment reimbursement for NYSHIP-enrolled retirees.

The budget also includes a few negatives:

• Provides Governor Hochul with the authority to close up to three state correctional facilities within 90 days.

• Unfortunately, the final budget does not include increased penalties for assaulting highway workers and DMV employees.

The CSEA Legislative and Political Action Department is continuing to review the entire budget and will publish a more detailed summary in the next couple of days. The successes we achieved in this budget were made possible by the hard work and advocacy of CSEA members across the state. Thank you to all those who sent emails, called legislative offices, and met with elected officials to fight for CSEA’s priorities!

2. Federal Budget Updates

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is tasked with making $880 billion in cuts to health care programs like Medicaid, is looking to present and vote on their budget markups on Tuesday, May 13. Several other committees have already completed their markups and have advanced steep federal cuts, including Transportation and Infrastructure (-$8 billion), Education and Workforce (-$351 billion), and Oversight and Government Reform ($51.6 billion).

3. Next Week

The State Legislature will meet on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

4. CSEA Legislative Toolkit

We’re encouraging members to get the word out about our legislative successes. Click the icons below for informational documents that you can print, share, and post on social media to spread the news. You can also check out the summary of CSEA’s work during the 2023-2024 legislative session.

	Tier 6 Reform:		Updating Civil Service Exams:		Counting Provisional Time Towards Promotions:
	Employee Notice of Records Disclosure:		Virtual Training for CPS Workers:		Minimum Age & Education Requirements for Exams: