1 1 BEFORE THE NEW YORK STATE SENATE FINANCE AND ASSEMBLY WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE 2 -------------------------------------------------- 3 JOINT LEGISLATIVE HEARING 4 In the Matter of the 2020-2021 EXECUTIVE BUDGET ON 5 HUMAN SERVICES 6 ---------------------------------------------------- 7 Hearing Room B Legislative Office Building 8 Albany, New York 9 January 30, 2020 9:34 a.m. 10 11 PRESIDING: 12 Senator Liz Krueger Chair, Senate Finance Committee 13 Assemblywoman Helene E. Weinstein 14 Chair, Assembly Ways & Means Committee 15 PRESENT: 16 Senator Patrick M. Gallivan Senate Finance Committee (Acting RM) 17 Assemblyman Edward P. Ra 18 Assembly Ways & Means Committee (RM) 19 Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee Chair, Assembly Children and Families 20 Committee 21 Senator Velmanette Montgomery Chair, Senate Committee on Children 22 and Families 23 Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi Chair, Assembly Committee on Social Services 24 2 1 2020-2021 Executive Budget Human Services 2 1-30-20 3 PRESENT: (Continued) 4 Senator Roxanne Persaud Chair, Senate Committee on Social Services 5 Assemblyman Harry B. Bronson 6 Chair, Assembly Committee on Aging 7 Senator Rachel May Chair, Senate Committee on Aging 8 Assemblywoman Didi Barrett 9 Chair, Assembly Committee on Veterans' Affairs 10 Senator John E. Brooks Chair, Senate Committee on Veterans, 11 Homeland Security and Military Affairs 12 Assemblyman Jake Ashby 13 Senator Diane J. Savino 14 Assemblyman Clyde Vanel 15 Senator Sue Serino 16 Assemblyman Mark Walczyk 17 Senator Brian Kavanagh 18 Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy 19 Senator James Tedisco 20 Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright 21 Senator Gustavo Rivera 22 Assemblywoman Inez E. Dickens 23 Assemblyman Al Taylor 24 3 1 2020-2021 Executive Budget Human Services 2 1-30-20 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Sheila J. Poole Commissioner 6 NYS Office of Children and Family Services 9 15 7 Michael P. Hein 8 Commissioner NYS Office of Temporary 9 and Disability Assistance 101 107 10 Greg Olsen Acting Director 11 NYS Office for the Aging 178 185 12 Jim McDonough Director 13 NYS Division of Veterans' Services 239 244 14 Gail Myers 15 Deputy Director New York StateWide Senior 16 Action Council 292 299 17 Ariel Savransky Advocacy and Policy Advisor 18 UJA-Federation of New York 306 19 Rebecca Preve Executive Director 20 Association on Aging in New York 312 318 21 Dede Hill 22 Director of Policy Crystal Charles 23 Policy Analyst Schuyler Center for 24 Analysis & Advocacy 326 331 4 1 2020-2021 Executive Budget Human Services 2 1-30-20 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Kathleen Brady-Stepien Assoc. Executive Director 6 Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies 334 340 7 Meredith Chimento 8 Executive Director Early Care & Learning Council 349 354 9 Trudy Morgan 10 Policy Coordinator NYS Network for Youth Success 356 361 11 Melissa Sklarz 12 Senior Government Relations Strategist 13 SAGE 363 14 Melinda Mack Executive Director 15 NY Association of Training and Employment Professionals 369 375 16 Lt. Col. (Retired) Roy Diehl 17 Deputy Director New York State Defenders Assn. 18 Veterans Defense Program 379 382 19 Kirby Hannan VFW Legislative Advocate 20 -for- NYS Veterans Council 385 21 Timothy Hathaway 22 Executive Director Prevent Child Abuse New York 390 23 24 5 1 2020-2021 Executive Budget Human Services 2 1-30-20 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Shelly Nortz Deputy Executive Director 6 of Policy Coalition for the Homeless 394 7 Saima Akhtar 8 Senior Attorney Empire Justice Center 400 9 Kristen Kerr 10 Executive Director New York Association for the 11 Education of Young Children 406 12 Elizabeth Deutsch Director 13 New York State and New England Community Mobilization for 14 Housing Works 411 15 Daryl Hornick-Becker Policy and Advocacy Associate 16 Citizens' Committee for Children of New York 417 17 Cynthia Dames 18 Project Manager The NEW Pride Agenda 423 19 Gregory Brender 20 Director of Children and Youth Services 21 United Neighborhood Houses -for- 22 Winning Beginning NY 428 23 Alana Pilar Cantillo Senior Director of Advocacy 24 New York Immigration Coalition 432 6 1 CHAIRWOMAN WEINSTEIN: So I'm 2 Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, chair of the 3 Assembly Ways and Means Committee, and today 4 we have the fourth hearing in a series of 5 hearings conducted by the joint fiscal 6 committees of the Legislature regarding the 7 Governor's proposed budget for fiscal year 8 2020-2021. 9 The hearings are conducted pursuant to 10 the New York State Constitution and the 11 Legislative Law. 12 And so today the Assembly Ways and 13 Means Committee and the Senate Finance 14 Committee will hear testimony concerning the 15 Governor's budget proposal for human 16 services. 17 So just couple of ground rules. For 18 the -- well, let me introduce the members 19 first that are here in my conference, and 20 then Senator Krueger will introduce -- 21 Senator Krueger, chair of the Senate Finance 22 Committee, will introduce the members from 23 her conference from the Senate. 24 So we have with us the chair of our 7 1 Children and Families Committee, Ellen 2 Jaffee; the chair of our Aging Committee, 3 Harry Bronson; a member of the Children and 4 Families Committee, Assemblyman Al Taylor. 5 Liz, would you like to introduce 6 your -- 7 CHAIRWOMAN KRUEGER: Sure. Actually 8 I'm joined by the sitting-in ranker for 9 Finance for the Senate Republicans, the 10 acting, Senator Gallivan. Senator Seward 11 couldn't be with us today. 12 Then I am joined by the chair of 13 Social Services, Velmanette Montgomery; the 14 chair of -- I did it backwards? I did it 15 backwards, excuse me. The chair of Children 16 and Families, Senator Velmanette Montgomery. 17 The chair of Social Services, Senator Roxanne 18 Persaud. The chair of Aging, Senator Rachel 19 May from Syracuse. Senator John Brooks, 20 chair of Veterans. Senator Diane Savino. 21 And I am Senator Liz Krueger. Thank you. 22 CHAIRWOMAN WEINSTEIN: We also are 23 joined by Assemblyman Hevesi, chair of our 24 Social Services Committee. 8 1 And Assemblyman Ra, our ranking 2 member, will introduce the members of his 3 conference who are here with us. 4 ASSEMBLYMAN RA: Thank you. 5 Joining us this morning is Assemblyman 6 Jake Ashby and Assemblyman Mark Walczyk. 7 CHAIRWOMAN WEINSTEIN: Thank you. 8 So now a few ground rules for 9 everybody. Keep an eye on the time clocks. 10 It's been helping us get through our hearings 11 with having time for the witnesses to present 12 testimony, for the legislators to be able to 13 ask questions. The clock time is both for -- 14 other than for the people testifying, but for 15 the members. Just be mindful, the clock is 16 both for your questions and answers. 17 And we try and keep a pretty tight 18 ship because there are many nongovernmental 19 witnesses who are joining us today, as they 20 have other days, and we want to make sure 21 that the last person on the list gets an 22 opportunity to speak to the members. 23 So -- and just for the members, the 24 chair of the relevant committee has 9 1 10 minutes to ask her questions and get 2 answers; the other members, five minutes. 3 The chairs are the only ones -- the relevant 4 chair can have a second round of five 5 minutes. And when we go to nongovernmental 6 witnesses, the nongovernmental witnesses will 7 have up to five minutes to present their 8 testimony, and members will have three 9 minutes to ask a question. 10 We also, before we get started, we're 11 joined by Assemblyman Vanel. 12 And with that, I think we are ready, 13 Commissioner, to begin. So we begin with 14 Sheila Poole, commissioner, New York State 15 Office of Children and Family Services. 16 OCFS COMMISSIONER POOLE: Thank you. 17 Good morning, Chairs Krueger and Weinstein, 18 Children and Families Committee Chairs 19 Montgomery and Jaffee, and distinguished 20 members of the Senate and Assembly. My name 21 is Sheila Poole, and I am the commissioner of 22 the New York State Office of Children and 23 Family Services, and I am pleased to have 24 this opportunity to discuss this year's 10 1 proposed budget for OCFS. 2 This year's Executive Budget maintains 3 OCFS funding just above last year's levels to 4 support our core child welfare, childcare, 5 and juvenile justice programs, while 6 investing in new initiatives to better serve 7 New York's children and families. 8 As you know, on October 1st of 2019 9 New York reached an historic milestone when 10 Raise the Age took full effect. In keeping 11 with Governor Cuomo's pledge to fully fund 12 Raise the Age for eligible counties, the 13 Executive Budget adds $50 million to support 14 Raise the Age implementation, for a total of 15 $250 million in the coming fiscal year. 16 The Executive Budget expands the 17 Empire State Child Tax Credit to provide $157 18 million in relief to 400,000 families who 19 have children under the age of 4 and who earn 20 up to $50,000 a year. 21 Having adequate access to childcare 22 remains a national policy and fiscal issue as 23 well as one here in New York State. The 24 Governor's Childcare Availability Task Force 11 1 is continuing its important work and will 2 issue its final report in December. 3 In the meantime, the proposed 4 Executive Budget maintains its commitment of 5 nearly $832 million for childcare 6 subsidies -- the highest level of investment 7 in state history, serving more than 100,000 8 low-income families and 170,000 children.