In an interview last week, Stephen Madarasz, a spokesman for the Civil Service Employees Association, said that the union had not been briefed on any pending proposals related to people with developmental disabilities. “We don’t hear too much from the administration,” Mr. Madarasz said. “There’s not a lot of sharing or policy issue conversation. There certainly is an ongoing, day-to-day, nuts-and-bolts labor-management relationship, and we’re working through that. But there hasn’t been some of the big-picture conversation taking place.”

Asked what had held up negotiations for so long over penalties for problematic workers, he said, “We have nothing we can report on that at this time.”

There could also be resistance to Mr. Cuomo’s proposals from district attorneys, who may not want to share jurisdiction with the new agency. But in the past, they have shown only limited appetite for prosecuting crimes against developmentally disabled people, because many of the victims are unable to testify on their own behalf.

In addition to having criminal jurisdiction, the agency would take over many administrative investigations currently performed by six state agencies: the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, the Office of Mental Health, the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, the Health Department, the Education Department and the Office of Children and Family Services. The new agency would have several hundred employees and would be paid for in part with money taken from the budgets of the six existing agencies.

The governor’s proposal to improve oversight of nonprofit groups caring for vulnerable people is less fraught, because the nonprofit sector has less clout in Albany, and most of its employees are not unionized.

Among the changes that would affect the nonprofit sector are proposed expansions to the Freedom of Information Law. Under the proposal, the public could submit requests for abuse and neglect records to nonprofit groups that provide residential or even daytime activity programs. The new state agency would provide the legal staff to help the nonprofit organizations respond to such requests and redact documents as needed.