The behind-the-scenes opposition to legislation that would ban 24-hour shifts for home health aides is apparently growing, with Gov. Kathy Hochul pushing to block the bill from even coming up for a vote, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Documented.
The sources told Documented that Hochul has been pressuring City Council Speaker Julie Menin to withdraw the No More 24 Act before the City Council can vote on it. They said that the governor has threatened to withhold funding for the expected increased Medicaid costs that could accompany the bill becoming law.
The new revelations come as elderly immigrant home care workers embark on a hunger strike on Thursday in an effort to pressure Menin to bring the bill to a vote.
Banning 24-hour shifts in the home care industry has been a nearly decade-long struggle. After a similar bill failed to pass in the state in 2022, City Councilmember Christopher Marte introduced the first version of the No More 24 Act that same year. That bill never made it to a vote after facing opposition from former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and the powerful union, 1199SEIU, arguing that the issue should be addressed at the state level.
Marte reintroduced a modified version of the bill last December, which would effectively abolish 24-hour shifts in the home care industry by splitting overnight home care hours into two distinct shifts and capping the total number of hours home health care aides could work to no more than 56 hours a week.
In March, the bill was gaining some traction and appeared to be headed toward becoming law, but as it neared a vote, Mayor Mamdani intervened behind the scenes to block its passage as written. Influenced by opposition from both the Legal Aid Society and the union DC37, sources told Documented that the mayor proposed amending the bill’s language so that it would not ban 24-hour shifts outright, but instead give workers the option to work a 24-hour shift if they so choose.
Facing opposition on multiple fronts, sources say Menin pulled the bill before it could be voted on by the City Council on Mar. 26. Meeting with home care workers after she pulled the bill, Menin promised to push the bill for a vote in April. However, last week the speaker again reneged, missing an April 7 filing deadline. In response, home care workers vowed to launch a hunger strike, set to begin on April 16, where they say they will be camping outside City Hall until the bill is finally voted on.
When asked if Menin was being pressured by Hochul to pull the bill, the speaker’s spokesperson, Benjamin Fang-Estrada, would not comment on whether Menin had conversations with the governor.
“Home health aides are essential to the care and dignity of so many New Yorkers, yet they are too often expected to work excessive hours that lead to fatigue and burnout,” he said. “Speaker Menin has long fought for strong worker protections and believes more must be done to prevent exploitation and ensure safe working conditions. This legislation is still going through the legislative process, which allows for thorough public engagement, input, and negotiation. The Council continues to have productive discussions with all stakeholders.”
The governor’s office didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment on the bill.
Opponents of the bill argue that it will conflict with state law, as home care services are governed by Medicaid at the state level. Outlawing shifts over 12 hours per day in New York City, they argue, would not automatically convert 24-hour shifts into two 12-hour shifts. If an insurance plan has only authorized 24-hour live-in shifts, an agency cannot bill Medicaid for split shifts without committing fraud.
“Don’t force us, old women, to go on hunger strike.”
—Yinghao Tan, 60-year-old Chinese home care worker
Assemblymember Ron Kim, a longtime supporter of the No More 24 Bill, who authored a 2022 report on exploitation in the home care industry, criticized the governor for intervening to block reforms to a system that he believes exploits primarily immigrant women workers.
“She’s creating a stalemate predatory system instead of activating the state power to step in and hold them accountable, which is what the assembly had proposed two years ago in our budget,” he told Documented.
Frustrated by the delays, Councilmember Marte is urging the governor to support the bill on behalf of New York’s home care workers.
“We cannot continue to ask them to carry the physical, economic, and psychological burden of this broken system, nor should we continue to put patients at risk by placing them in the care of overworked caretakers,” Vittoria Fariello, a district leader with Downtown Independent Democrats, said in a statement. “Home care work is both physically and emotionally taxing, and many women who worked 24-hour shifts have become patients themselves because of the work. I would ask the governor if she would accept this if her own mother were a home attendant.”
Yinghao Tan, a 60-year-old Chinese home care worker who spent 16 years working exhaustive 24-hour shifts, says that she hopes that Menin will support the bill despite the governors’ apparent opposition.
“We want the Speaker to do the right thing. Keep your promise and submit the bill,” she said. Don’t force us, old women, to go on hunger strike.”
Correction, April 15, 2026: An earlier version of this article misattributed a quote from Vittoria Fariello.
