State Senate passes temporary budget extender; members debate CDPAP transition

The New York State Senate on April 9, 2025, passed a temporary budget extender tied to state spending authority and debated the status of the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program during questions from senators.

Senator Liz Krueger, the bill sponsor, told the chamber the extender provides appropriation authority through April 15 and said it includes about $6.1 billion in authority to meet payroll costs and certain general state charges. The Senate recorded 57 ayes on the final roll call and the bill passed.

The extender and associated procedural actions moved through the Rules Committee and the chamber after a motion to accept a message of necessity and appropriation was approved. Secretary Reed read the bill and related messages to the Senate before members debated and voted. After the vote, the Senate agreed to adjourn until April 15 at 11 a.m. with intervening days designated as legislative days.

Why it matters: The extender keeps state operations funded while lawmakers continue budget negotiations. Senators used the floor conversation to press staff and leadership about program-specific consequences of operating on repeated short-term spending measures rather than a full enacted budget.

On the floor, Senator Tom O'Mara asked detailed questions about the amount of appropriation authority included in the extender and the cumulative spending under multiple extenders. Senator Krueger responded that this extender authorizes roughly $6.1 billion and said the cumulative amount appropriated through successive extenders since missing the April 1 budget deadline is about $13.3 billion. O'Mara characterized the situation as spending “at a rate of just under a billion dollars a day” without a new spending plan; Krueger agreed the state is continuing much of the prior year's spending pattern while negotiations continue.

Members also questioned the status of the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), which has been undergoing a statewide transition to a new payment model. Krueger said she was not aware of any proposal to change CDPAP in current budget negotiations and that the issue is not being advanced inside these extenders. She told the Senate that court actions, including temporary restraining orders and a negotiated agreement, have produced extension arrangements allowing payments to continue through fiscal intermediaries for providers that have not completed the transition.

Krueger gave figures she said came from the State Department of Health: as of an April 4 snapshot, about 180,000 people had completed the transition, roughly 60,000 had moved off CDPAP into more traditional personal care services, and transition rates were higher outside New York City and Western New York (about 95%) versus those two regions (about 90%). She said the April 1 deadline had been moved and that the state was now working toward a May 15 timeline, with some extensions noted through June under court agreements. Several senators on the floor continued to raise concern about the single fiscal intermediary (named in debate as PPL) that would handle payments under the new system.

Senators also asked whether new policy items were being added to extenders. Krueger described the extenders enacted so far as “clean extenders,” saying their purpose was to maintain funding flows and not to advance new policy. When asked about a reported proposal on public campaign finance, Krueger said she had heard only informal reports and that she had not seen any written proposal outlining changes.

The Senate took procedural steps during the floor action: the bill was temporarily laid aside, restored to the noncontroversial calendar by unanimous consent, and then read and called for final passage. The clerk announced the result as 57 ayes; the bill was passed and the session adjourned pending the next legislative day.

Looking ahead: Senators said they expect further budget negotiations in the days before the next scheduled session, and members signaled attention to program-level impacts — especially for CDPAP providers and recipients — as a priority for follow-up in budget talks.