ANA-NY Advocacy Updates

Advocacy is at the core of ANA-New York’s mission.

Through our weekly advocacy updates, we provide timely insights into the legislative and policy issues impacting nurses and healthcare across New York State.

Each week, we share key developments from Albany, including proposed legislation, budget updates, and advocacy efforts that directly affect the nursing profession and the patients we serve.

Staying informed is essential to strengthening the voice of nursing. These updates are designed to help our members understand what’s happening, why it matters, and how ANA-NY is actively advocating on their behalf.

Check back each week for the latest updates.

Eye on Albany – Week of April 13, 2026

The Senate and Assembly returned to Albany on 4/7/26 and passed another budget extender. This extender will keep New York State Government functioning through this Tuesday, April 14.

Both houses returned for session on Monday, April 13. Negotiations towards a final budget are still occurring, but by all accounts, we are still not close to a final budget deal and will likely be looking at another extender. There are several major issues that are still being negotiated that include protections for immigrants in New York, potentially increasing the income tax on high earners in New York, changes related to New York’s climate change law, and changes to New York’s automobile insurance rules and regulations. While conversations are continuing on all of these issues, no final deals have been reached on any of them and all sides have stated that they would rather take their time on these issues and arrive at a good final budget deal regardless of timing. 

As there was no deal in place by the April 1 deadline, all State lawmakers are currently not being paid. The lawmakers will not be paid until a final budget deal is in place. The hope for all involved is that a budget deal is reached by late April but only time will tell.

Eye on Albany – Week of April 6, 2026

New York State did not meet the April 1 deadline for an on-time budget. Lawmakers passed a budget extender to keep the state operating through Tuesday, April 7. Although the Legislature had been scheduled for a two-week recess until April 20, both houses will now return to continue budget negotiations and vote on either a final agreement or an additional extender.

It is important to note that, unlike the federal government, if New York State government were to shut down, state legislators would not receive pay.

ANA-New York, in alignment with recommendations from the Climate and Health Special Interest Group and the Legislative Committee, has signed on with the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments and other organizations in support of legislation aimed at reducing exposure to harmful chemicals.

This includes:

• A.7738A / S.9073A, which would ban the use of PFAS in products such as cookware, dental floss, household textiles, rugs, ski wax, paint, and children's products
• A.2054 / S.2057, which would prohibit the sale of personal care and cosmetic products containing intentionally added toxic chemicals, including PFAS, formaldehyde, asbestos, arsenic, cadmium, parabens, and benzene derivatives

These efforts reflect ANA-NY’s continued commitment to advancing public health, environmental safety, and policies that protect both nurses and the communities they serve.

Eye on Albany – Week of March 30, 2026

Although the budget deadline for NY is 4/1, we are expecting a late budget this year. Items of interest currently included in the budget are: reducing the reliance on temporary staff to stabilize NY’s healthcare workforce, use of community paramedicine and hospital at home strategies, the expansion of free Community College for those exploring a nursing degree even if they have another degree, and imposing a tax on alternative nicotine products.

Committee Action Updates

The Senate Codes Committee has S2398/A5123 (Persaud, Solages) on this week’s agenda. This bill would require genetic testing results only be received by patients and health care providers providing direct care while health insurance companies only receive a record that the genetic testing was performed. This bill passed the Senate last year. It has not moved from the Assembly Governmental Operations Committee.

Other Items of Interest

ANA-NY continues to be an active member of the Let’s Get Immunized New York Coalition and is supporting the following two bills:

• Hochul Program Bill #21: Immunization Reforms to the Insurance Law: A10710 (Dilan)/S9599 (Bailey) – This bill would expand what vaccine recommendations can trigger insurance coverage to continue to allow existing reliance on recommendations from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), while adding new authority that allows the Commissioner of Health to make recommendations to the Superintendent of Financial Services regarding immunizations that shall be covered by insurance, utilizing generally accepted medical standards and taking into consideration recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American College of Physicians (ACP), and other nationally or internationally recognized scientific organizations. This would apply across all state-regulated, commercial insurance markets in New York.
• Hochul Program Bill #22: Immunization Reforms to the Public Health, Education & Social Services Law: A10711(Paulin)/S9598 (Stavisky) – This bill would give the NYS Health Commissioner broad authority to determine immunization requirements and standards in the following areas:
• Shifts school vaccine requirements away from federal standards to align with regulations issued by the Commissioner of Health, utilizing generally accepted medical standards including those by AAP, AAFP, ACOG, ACP, ACIP or other recognized scientific organizations.
• Amends the definition of "immunization" in Public Health law generally and specifically regarding meningococcal vaccines by removing references to federal standards, aligning the statutory definition with the new state standard-setting approach 
• Regarding standing orders for pharmacist immunization by physicians and nurse practitioners, the bill removes references requiring vaccines be recommended by ACIP and adds COVID vaccination for ages 2+
• Regarding newborn immunizations, the bill removes references to vaccine requirements having to align with ACIP and allows the schedule to be set by the DOH Commissioner
• Regarding the availability of childhood immunization guidance for the Medicaid population, the bill removes reference to requiring alignment with ACIP recommended vaccines, instead allowing guidance that is based solely on DOH recommendations