August 20-24, 2018

The Medical Society of the State of

PAL NEWSLETTER

A Big Thank You for Physician Advocacy Efforts Throughout the 2018 Legislative Session, MSSNY shared its concerns, support and input on many proposals that impacted physicians and their patients. With all of your help and activism, the Physician Advocacy Liaison (PAL) program was instrumental in helping MSSNY working together with numerous allies to achieve numerous victories, both the defeat of harmful proposals and the enactment of positive bills. It helped us in quickly responding to legislators who needed to hear the physician and patient perspective on a number of issues. As always, thank you for the work all of you do on a daily basis and taking the additional time to be active in the legislative and budgetary process. There is no doubt that your efforts were a major contributor to our successes.

While another legislative session has wrapped up in Albany, the political season is now in full swing. There has never been a greater need for MSSNY members to become politically active than now. It cannot just be left to a relative few individuals to participate and be active in MSSNYPAC. Many are part of our efforts but we need far more. We must broaden our network of active physicians. If you are not a member of MSSNYPAC, but would like to join, please e-mail Jennifer Wilks at [email protected].

MSSNYPAC has developed a number of tools to better assure physicians are educated regarding the fall’s election and can proactively engage candidates, including the development of a legislator “scorecard” (available to MSSNYPAC members) and a candidate questionnaire. With some potentially very close races, working together with your county medical society leaders, there has never been a better time to engage candidates to assure they are familiar with the concerns of physicians and their patients.

Election Update

While the Governor’s race has been highly publicized, perhaps even more significant are the elections being fiercely fought for control of the narrowly divided State Senate. Currently, the State Senate is closely divided with the Republicans in the majority. However, Democrats in New York are hoping to capitalize on a predicted “blue wave” to “flip” Republican Senate seats and gain control of the chamber. A big part of that battle will play out on and a handful of regions across the State. Governor Cuomo has been very active in fundraising efforts and endorsing many of the Senate Democrats.

Below you will find some information on some of the key races that some of the political experts have discussed will determine control of the New York State Senate. Physicians practicing in these areas should take the opportunity to work with their county medical societies to engage the candidates to find out their positions on the key health care issues we face.

1

Senate District 3 (Suffolk County) , a three-term Democratic Suffolk County legislator is running against Republican Assemblyman Dean Murray for the seat being vacated by GOP state Sen. Thomas Croci. The district includes Suffolk County towns near Islip, Patchogue and Brookhaven. The district has a history of being competitive. Democrat Brian Foley won its predecessor seat in 2008, and Gov. picked up 51 percent of the vote in 2014.i

Senate District 4 (Suffolk County) Former Suffolk Legis. Louis D’Amaro is challenging incumbent GOP Senator . Louis D’Amaro works in commercial real estate acquisitions, financing, zoning, and commercial leasing. Governor Cuomo has endorsed the Democratic challenger Louis D’Amaro.

Senate District 5 (Nassau and Suffolk Counties) The 5th Senate District will be one of the most competitive races in November. The Democratic challenger is Suffolk County Water Authority Chairman James Gaughran. Gaughran lost to Marcellino in 2016 by fewer than 2,000 votes. In April, Democratic Assemblyman Steve Stern flipped the 10th Assembly District from R to D, which is part of Marcellino’s district, for the first time in four decades.

Senate District 6 (Nassau County) Senator Kemp Hannon (R) 6th SD (Nassau County). Chairs Senate Health Committee. Senator Hannon has, at the request of MSSNY, carried and successfully passed a number of bills including three bills to address issues with e-prescribing, standard prior authorization request forms, physician collective negotiation (2011) and has introduced medical liability reform legislation including a cap on noneconomic loss and peer review confidentiality legislation. He also led the effort to enact legislation to extend for an additional 5 years MSSNY’s Committee for Physicians Health, and advanced legislation to expand the service it can provide for physicians. He also forcefully debated and opposed legislation to expand the malpractice statute of limitations. Senator Kemp Hannon won the 2016 State Senate race by 8 points.

Democrat Kevin Thomas, left, a Levittown lawyer, is challenging Hannon and supports the New York Health Act.

Senate District 7 (Nassau County) , a North Hempstead councilwoman, is running against incumbent Republican Senator Elaine Phillips.

Former President announced his support of Democrat Anna Kaplan for New York Senate. Kaplan is one of only two New York candidates on Obama’s first list of endorsements. The other is Democrat Antonio Delgado, who is challenging Republican incumbent John Faso in the 19th Congressional District upstate.ii

Senate District 8 (Nassau County) Senator Brooks will face a challenge by Republican the mayor of Massapequa Park Jeff Pravato. This race could likely be one of the most competitive state Senate races in New York.

Senate District 39 (Orange, Rockland and Ulster Counties) Senate Senator Larkin is one of five Republicans who are not running for re-election. Democratic Assemblyman is running against Tom Basile, a former executive director of the state Republican Party who once served in President George W. Bush’s administration.

2

Senate District 40 (Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester Counties)

Senator Terry Murphy (R) 40th SD (Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester) – Senator Murphy opposed legislation to expand the medical liability statute of limitations, and co-sponsored legislation to permit physician collective negotiation (S.3663), and to prohibit mid-year formulary changes (S.5022). He also supported legislation supported by MSSNY that passed the Senate to require health insurers to report data to show their compliance with the mental health parity law (S.1156), legislation to create a comprehensive drug take back program (S.9100), and legislation to increase penalties for assault on a physician (S.8055).

Senate District 40 is one of the battleground districts in the state that could determine which party controls the Senate. Senate District 40 seat has been held by a Republican for years, even though active registered Democrats outnumber Republicans there 70,498-59,222, according to state Board of Elections logs. There are also 49,696 active voters not registered to any party that could be in play.iii

Senate District 41 (Dutchess and Putnam Counties) Senator (R) 41st SD (Dutchess and Putnam counties) is the chief sponsor of legislation (S.5022) to prohibit mid-year formulary changes, and has worked closely with MSSNY staff and local physicians. She also supported legislation supported by MSSNY that passed the Senate to require health insurers to report data to show their compliance with the mental health parity law (S.1156), legislation to create a comprehensive drug take back program (S.9100), and legislation to increase penalties for assault on a physician (S.8055).

Her opponent, Karen Smythe is a former marketing executive, she became the fourth-generation to run her family’s construction business, C.B. Strain & Son.

Senate District 43 (Columbia, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Washington Counties) The State Senate’s 43rd District includes parts of Rensselaer, Saratoga and Washington Counties, and all of Columbia County.

Halfmoon Councilwoman is running on the Republican side to replace retiring Senator Kathy Marchione.

Aaron Gladd of Brunswick has emerged as the Democratic candidate. In 2011, Gladd enlisted in the Army and in four years in the military rose to the rank of first lieutenant and served as a ground-combat platoon leader in Afghanistan.

Senate District 50 (Cayuga and Onondaga Counties) The 50th Senate District is currently represented by state Sen. John DeFrancisco. DeFrancisco is retiring this year. The Senate Republicans hope to retain the seat, but Democrats view it as a pickup opportunity. Onondaga County Comptroller will face the Democratic candidate in the race, John Mannion.

Again, Physicians practicing in these areas should take the opportunity to engage with these candidates to better understand their positions on key health care issues. Please remain alert for further updates.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail us at [email protected]

3

i Croci becomes fourth Republican Senator to retire in 2 weeks https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2018/05/02/croci-becomes-fourth-republican-senator-to-retire-in-2- weeks-397138 ii https://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/anna-kaplan-barack-obama-1.20237200 iii https://www.lohud.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/08/08/robert-kesten-peter-harckham/800176002/

4