Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2025 State of the State address, or what Gothamist called “Gov. Hochul’s ‘last, best chance’ to save her political skin,” seemed to focus on Democrats that had drifted right with its emphasis on fighting crime and putting cash back into New Yorkers’ pockets
The 54-minute speech meant to rouse voters ignored the state’s developmental disability community, which is currently in crisis. And the governor’s disability-related proposals in the nearly 150-page 2025 State of the State Book failed to address any of that population’s pressing problems, including the need for Direct Support Professionals to earn a living wage.
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The proposals mostly directly related to the I/DD community are to:
- Strengthen the Workers with Disabilities Employment Tax Credit
- Create Regional Disability Clinics This would expand access to “competent and accessible healthcare” for people with developmental disabilities and their families.
- Modernize the Institute for Basic Research
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The Boost reached out to Sen. Patricia Fahy, senate chair of the Committee on Disabilities, who in a press release called the address “a bold, game-changing vision,” for her response to a speech that left out the disability community. The Senator’s spokesperson told The Boost that she “plans to address her priorities as Disabilities Chair separately from the State of the State,” and that Fahy’s office is “working on a press release or media event to do just.”
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Prior to Hochul’s address, Assemblymember Angelo Santabarbara, assembly chair on the Committee on People with Disabilities, sent a strong letter to the Governor urging her to address the “ongoing challenges facing the Direct Support Professional (DSP) workforce in your upcoming Executive Budget.”
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The Boost also reached out to Santabarbara for his response to the governor’s address, and was sent the post-event press release that reiterated his stance on DSPs, but did not directly speak to a DSP living wage left out of the State of the State address and book.
Next up: The governor’s Fiscal Year 2026 Executive Budget on Jan. 21, 2025. Stay tuned.
