Chemung County Legislator Rodney J. Strange continues his fight for state mandate relief, this time focusing on Medicaid and a full state takeover of the local share that burdens New York counties. A bill in the United State House of Representatives sponsored by Congressman John Faso would make it illegal for any state in the country to charge local municipalities any cost associated this Medicaid.
“The unfunded Medicaid mandate imposed by the state of New York on the 62 counties is causing a fiscal crisis along with the other unfunded mandates levied by the state,” Strange said
“Medicaid cost to Chemung County is over $19 million a year. That is 70% of the county property taxes collected. This, along with the rest of the unfunded state mandates are the biggest financial crisis facing Chemung County today.”
“I strongly support H.R. 1871 and urge the House and the Senate to pass this law as soon as possible, ” Strange said
“If Gov. Cuomo and the state legislature won’t enact mandate relief then the federal government must take the lead and do what they can to help our taxpayers,” Strange concluded.
See the entire text of the bill below:
| H. R. 1871 |
To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to reduce Federal financial participation for certain States that require political subdivisions to contribute towards the non-Federal share of Medicaid.
Mr. Faso (for himself, Mr. Collins of New York, Mr. Reed, Ms. Tenney, Ms. Stefanik, and Mr. Zeldin) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to reduce Federal financial participation for certain States that require political subdivisions to contribute towards the non-Federal share of Medicaid.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Property Tax Reduction Act of 2017”.
SEC. 2. REDUCTION OF FEDERAL FINANCIAL PARTICIPATION (FFP) FOR CERTAIN STATES THAT REQUIRE POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS TO CONTRIBUTE TOWARD NON-FEDERAL SHARE OF MEDICAID.
(a) In General.—Section 1903 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396b) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
“(aa) Reduction In FFP For Contributions Required By Political Subdivisions.—
“(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the previous provisions of this section, in the case of a State that had a DSH allotment under section 1923(f) for fiscal year 2016 that was more than 6 times the national average of such allotments for all the States for such fiscal year and that requires political subdivisions within the State to contribute funds towards medical assistance or other expenditures under the State plan under this title (or under a waiver of such plan) for a quarter in a fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 2020), in determining the amount that is payable to the State for expenditures in such quarter under subsection (a)(1), the amount of such expenditures shall be decreased by the amount that political subdivisions in the State are required to contribute under the plan (or waiver) without reimbursement from the State for such quarter, other than contributions described in paragraph (2).
“(2) EXCEPTED CONTRIBUTIONS.—The contributions described in this paragraph for a fiscal year are the following:
“(A) Contributions required by a State from a political subdivision that, as of the first day of the calendar year in which the fiscal year involved begins—
“(i) has a population of more than 5,000,000, as estimated by the Bureau of the Census; and
“(ii) imposes a local income tax upon its residents.
“(B) Contributions required by a State from a political subdivision for administrative expenses if the State required such contributions from such subdivision without reimbursement from the State as of January 1, 2017.”.