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Catholic Charities leaders from across the state will travel to Albany Feb. 9-10 to advocate for their 2015-2016 state budget priorities at the Capitol. New York State Council of Catholic Charities Directors, representing all eight dioceses in the state, will meet with key legislators and Cuomo Administration officials on behalf of the state’s “poorest and most vulnerable citizens.”
The Council has a wish list that includes specific budget priorities in five administrative sectors. They are hoping to tap into some of the windfall state coffers have received from more than $5 billion that foreign banks have forfeited to the state and city to settle allegations of misconduct.
Catholic Charities leaders will campaign for targeted investment in human services including fully funding scheduled 2 percent salary and fringe benefit increases for human services workers; use of bank settlement funds toward an investment in the human services infrastructure; and the development of a strategy addressing high childhood poverty rates, particularly in upstate cities.
In the area of criminal justice they will advocate for fully funding the recommendations of the New York Commission on Youth, Public Safety Justice.
In affordable housing they will ask legislators to fulfill their commitment to fund affordable housing from the initial bank settlement proceeds, with a request that $439 million be appropriated in the 2015-2016 state budget.
They will also ask the state to fully fund services to the intellectually/developmentally disabled rather than reduce them to repay the federal government $1.26 billion from a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) audit. New York state is appealing to the secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services to reconsider the July 2014 CMS audit report that found the state liable for federal Medicaid overpayments. Catholic Charities is asking the state to use bank settlement funds if appeals to federal officials are not successful.
They are also calling for support for unaccompanied immigrant minors including $24 million for comprehensive case management and transitional support; support for legal resources to defend deportation cases for children living outside New York City; and support for a range of community-based social, legal and medical programs partnerships and clinics. The Archdiocese of New York had previously raised these items in public testimony.
