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Lawmakers endorse 7.8% COLA for direct-care workforce, urge crisis-intervention changes
Summary
Members of the New York Legislature's Mental Hygiene joint conference committee voiced bipartisan support for a 7.8% cost-of-living adjustment for direct-care workers, pressed to preserve funding in the final state budget and backed measures such as "Daniel's Law" and law-enforcement involvement in crisis planning.
Members of the New York Legislature's Mental Hygiene joint conference committee signaled bipartisan support for a 7.8% cost-of-living adjustment for direct-care workers and urged continued investment in crisis-intervention services as the Legislature negotiates the 2025 state budget.
The committee co-chair, Assemblymember Joanne Simon, described the session as a step toward a three-way agreement with the Executive and said members “look forward to continuing conversations with the Executive to get to a 3 way agreement on the items of importance to the legislature.”
Why it matters: Direct support staff — often called direct service providers or DSPs — deliver hands-on care in mental health, addiction recovery and developmental-disability settings. Lawmakers said failing to match recent inflation amounts to a real pay cut and risks worker retention in programs the state relies on.
Several legislators said the two one-house budget proposals included a 7.8% increase for the workforce and urged the figure be retained in the final enacted budget. Assemblymember Phil Steck, speaking after the co-chairs opened the meeting, said there was “more agreement this year with the governor's proposals than in the past” and that legislators “strongly support…continuing to add increased funding to those programs that serve both, the concurred mental health and substance use disorder.”
Senator Patricia Cantonari Fitzpatrick said she was “very pleased to see that the Senate and Assembly 1 House proposals both had a 7.8% COLA increase,” contrasting that with the governor’s proposal of 2.1% and adding, “When you factor in the years of underinvestment, it's all the more important that we ensure the 7.8% increase makes it into the final budget since our workforce is our most vital asset.”
Several speakers also urged legislative action on crisis response. Cantonari Fitzpatrick cited Daniels Law by name and said the budget “contemplates how we respond to people suffering from mental health crises in emergency situations,” and she called for continued law-enforcement involvement in developing crisis plans, saying she hopes to ensure “that at least 1 member of the council is a member of law enforcement.”
Assemblyman Joseph Sempulinski, the ranking member on the mental health committee, noted the unusual breadth of agreement across party lines on the pay increase: “you have a lot of people on this panel who probably have profound disagreements on a lot of other issues. But you put us all in this room dealing with the mental hygiene area and we have a really broad consensus on the 7.8, TII, COLA.”
Lawmakers repeated a commitment to restoring funding for addiction treatment and behavioral-health programs and to improving wages for direct service providers. Senator Natalia Fernandez, chair of the substance use disorder committee, said the budget “is reflective of values” and that she hopes the 7.8% COLA “is fulfilled because those in the workforce really do deserve the pay raise and it's what's needed to sustain them and keep them in the workforce.”
No formal vote or final appropriation was recorded at the meeting; members said staff would continue consultations with the Executive Branch as budget negotiations proceed.
Looking ahead: Committee members said they will continue discussions with staff and the Executive to finalize funding levels and policy language, including the details of crisis-intervention services and related council membership.
