The Governor announced a $35 million investment to directly support abortion providers in anticipation of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Governor Hochul directed the Department of Health (DOH) to create a $25 million Abortion Provider Support Fund for abortion providers in order to both expand capacity and ensure access for patients seeking abortion care in New York. The Governor also announced $10 million for reproductive health care centers to access security grants through the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS).

The DOH will utilize an expedited application process for both grant and reimbursement requests from providers, and will begin distributing funds to providers by the time a final Supreme Court decision would be released. The DCJS will administer $10 million in funding to support safety and security enhancements for abortion providers and reproductive health centers to further secure their facilities and ensure the safety of patients and staff. The request for proposals (RFP) for this funding is expected to be issued by the time a final Supreme Court decision would be released.

Governor Hochul Said:

Governor Announces Applications Now Open for Funding to Address Child Care Deserts

The Governor announced that $30 million in additional federal grant funding will be available starting on June 30, 2022, to existing child care programs in areas of the state without sufficient child care offered. The funds, which are part of the $100 million child care desert initiative approved in the 2022 Enacted Budget, are being made available through the American Rescue Plan Act and will be administered by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services.

Allowable expenses include program development costs and short-term program operating expenses, including:

• Personnel costs, including payroll, salaries, similar employee compensation, employee benefits, retirement costs and educational costs;
• Supporting staff expenses for accessing COVID-19 vaccines;
• Rent or payment on any mortgage and utilities; and
• Training and technical assistance expenses, including professional development, business trainings and business services

Providers may click here for more information on the request for applications (RFA). Grant applications will be accepted as early as June 30, 2022, until August 4, 2022, with award announcements slated for September.

Judge Upholds Assembly Maps for 2022

Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister upheld the lawmaker-drawn district maps for the state Assembly, the same district maps that his Honor had previously thrown out due to violations of the constitutional process. The Judge determined that the timeline for distributing overseas absentee ballots does not leave enough time for redrawn maps. The ruling does not preclude the petitioners from filing the case with a different court to rule on the maps for the following years, availing the possibility that the Assembly lines be redrawn for the next election year; or possibly requiring a new election next year on new lines. It is unknown if the petitioners will pursue that challenge. What is known is that the Assembly lines will be in place as drawn by the legislature for this coming election and that the Assembly primary will proceed in June as initially planned.

Judge Orders New Petition Process for Congress and State Senate

Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister issued a court order to address the petitioning process for U.S. House of Representative and state Senate races. The petitioning process for those races can begin the day after new lines are submitted on May 20^th by the special master. The court order requires 850 signatures for the state Senate; and 1,062 signatures for Congress or 4.25% of the enrolled members of the party. Candidates that previously qualified under the old lines can submit a designation form to be qualified for a new district, provided they are otherwise qualified to run in that district. For the state Senate, any candidate can run in any newly drawn district, provided at least a portion of the district includes part of the county in which they reside.