Senator Patrick M. Gallivan (R,C,I – 59th District) announced that legislation (S.5889C / A.8644A) he authored to structurally reform the cost administration of New York State’s Medicaid system passed the Senate Social Services Committee with unanimous support today. Gallivan’s bill -- the subject of much attention in the Capital and across the state -- incrementally transfers the local share of Medicaid traditionally paid by county governments to the state over the course eight years.

“Our county governments are being soaked by unfunded mandates imposed on them by the state, with the largest being Medicaid, resulting in New Yorkers paying the nation’s highest local taxes,” said Gallivan. “This bill provides both immediate and long-term relief from Medicaid’s mandated burden and will give local governments the flexibility to live within the property tax cap, ultimately reduce property taxes, while allowing them to continue providing vital local services to seniors, veterans, the disabled, and many others.”

In Wyoming, Livingston, and Ontario Counties, Medicaid costs consume about 35 percent of total property tax revenues, while in Erie County, Medicaid consumes a staggering 94 percent of property tax collections.

To date, a bipartisan group of 83 Senators and Assemblymen have co-sponsored this legislation.