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2005 Disabilities
Awareness Day
Legislative Package Summary
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The following are brief descriptions of the
measures to be
presented on the floor
of the Assembly as part of our Legislative
Disabilities Awareness Day package.*
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*subject to change
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public service law, in relation to telephone access for all New Yorkers.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this bill is to ensure equitable access to basic telephone service for people
with disabilities.
JUSTIFICATION: Telecommunications services provide a rapid and essential link between the general public
and critical services such as police, fire and medical assistance. Currently, there are approximately 1.6 million New Yorkers
who are deaf or hard of hearing who are not entitled to the same basic telephone services that non-disabled people can
obtain easily. No deaf, deaf-blind or hard of hearing citizen of New York State should be denied equal access to our
telecommunications network. This group of individuals has been forced to purchase special devices to make telephone
service a reality to them. This bill would provide that all people, regardless of disability, have access to basic
telecommunications services. There are 11 states that provide similar programs utilizing a surcharge on all telephone
customers.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to the accessibility of public hearings
and meetings.
PURPOSE: To provide interpreters for deaf individuals and assistive listening devices at public hearings
and meetings.
JUSTIFICATION: The services of interpreters and assistive listening devices for individuals who are deaf
or hard of hearing are essential if such persons are to fully participate in public hearings and meetings conducted
by governmental bodies. Similar provisions exist for administrative rule making proceedings. Individuals who are
deaf who wish to attend such meetings or hearings would be required to request in advance the services of an
interpreter and the public body would be required to engage the services of a qualified interpreter of the deaf to
interpret the proceedings of the meeting or hearing. The same request process would apply for those who are
hard of hearing to have an assistive listening device at a public meeting or hearing.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation to including people with disabilities
in the definition of eligible head of the household for certain tax abatement purposes.
PURPOSE: This bill would authorize local governments to grant exemptions from rent increases for
people with disabilities of limited income who reside in rent-controlled, rent-subsidized, or Mitchell-Lama housing.
Its provisions would grant to people with disabilities the same protection from rent increases that are now provided
for low-income senior citizens under the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) program.
JUSTIFICATION: Real Property Tax Law sections 467-b and 467-c were enacted to authorize localities to
lessen the impact of rising rental obligations on low-income senior citizens, leaving more of their limited incomes
free to apply to other necessities, such as food, clothing and health care. For more than 25 years, these provisions
have helped low-income seniors residing in several municipalities to remain in their homes.
Providing vital housing assistance to persons of limited income is critical if current issues of adequate, affordable
housing are to be addressed. A recent comprehensive study of housing issues in New York City indicates conclusively
that there is a dramatic — and widening — housing affordability gap for low-income populations. Since 1981 rents in the
city have risen at a rate far exceeding the general inflation rate: while the consumer prices increased 96.4 percent from
1981-1999, median gross rents in New York City rose an alarming 166.2 percent. In 1999, more than 500,000 renting
households saw more than one-half of household income spent on housing - a nearly unbearable burden.
Adding to the affordability gap is the loss of 500,000 low-cost housing units in New York City since 1990. Moreover, the
number of rent-stabilized units renting for less than $600 per month fell by more than 40 percent between 1996 and
1999, and is expected to diminish even further.
Often, people with disabilities look to programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability
Insurance (SSDI) as their main sources of income. And, while nationally the fair market value of an efficiency rental unit
amounts to 58.5 percent of the monthly SSI benefit, figures from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
show that rental amounts are 121 percent of the monthly SSI benefit in New York City, 129 percent of the benefit in Nassau
and Suffolk counties combined, and 116 percent in Westchester County. It is clear that low-income people with disabilities
are seeing their incomes especially strained by the current trend toward higher rents.
While these trends have a negative impact on all people seeking affordable, adequate and safe housing, they pose even
greater challenges for people with disabilities, who also face the challenge of finding accessible housing. People who
use wheelchairs, for example, are faced with the fact that only one in five dwellings is accessible to them. Others are
confronted by similar problems: hearing-impaired people may need special intercom systems for building entry; blind
people need housing closer to public transportation; people with mental disabilities may need quiet environments. As
rents increase at much greater rates than general inflation and the supply of safe and affordable housing for people with
disabilities dwindles, these already vulnerable populations face an increasing risk of homelessness. High rates of
disability and serious medical problems among New York’s single-adult shelter population have been well chronicled
and illustrate the immediacy of the need to help people with disabilities remain in their homes.
The concept of extending SCRIE to people with disabilities is a logical one, and one that was first recommended in 1980
by the New York State Temporary Commission on Rental Housing. All of the myriad reasons for the original enactment of
these provisions for senior citizens are applicable to people with disabilities. Moreover, low-income people with disabilities
face greater challenges to maximizing income, while at the same time they face greater expenses in coping with their
disabilities. Assisting people with disabilities should be a high priority for government in an effort to avert the rising threat
of homelessness they face. Acknowledging this priority and recognizing the wisdom of averting homelessness, two
municipalities in Nassau County have passed local measures — one to expand eligibility for the SCRIE program and one
to adopt it — in the past year.
Currently, the City of New York and 14 other municipalities in Nassau and Westchester counties have granted the exemption
to low-income senior citizens. These jurisdictions would additionally be permitted to grant rent increase protection to people
with disabilities under this bill, while other jurisdictions subject to rent-control, rent-subsidy, or Mitchell-Lama laws would be
permitted to enact Local Laws protecting low-income households headed by eligible senior citizens and eligible people with
disabilities.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the election law and the education law, in relation to making ballots
available in Braille and large-print.
PURPOSE: To allow blind and visually impaired individuals access to ballots printed in Braille and large-print.
JUSTIFICATION: It is important that the blind and visually impaired have equal ballot access. This act will enable
blind and visually impaired persons access to the ballot in polling places or by absentee ballot. Currently, a blind or
visually impaired person must have someone accompany them into the voting booth and trust that the person will vote
according to the blind or visually impaired person’s wishes.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the civil rights law, in relation to waiving the state’s sovereign immunity
to claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
PURPOSE: This bill waives the state’s sovereign immunity with regard to application of the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 as it applies to the protection of state employees.
JUSTIFICATION: On February 22, 2001, the US Supreme Court ruled in Board of Trustees v. Garrett that in the
enactment of the ADA, US Congress has exceeded its power to authorize lawsuits by residents against their own
states under the 11th Amendment. However, the ruling allows states to opt to hold themselves to the standards that
were originally set out by the ADA, prior to that decision by waiving their sovereign immunity and thereby permitting
actions in state courts. This ruling effectively took away the protection for state workers under the ADA while upholding
the same protection for privately employed individuals, creating a disparity. This bill will ensure that all employees,
including those employed by the state, have the same protections under the ADA as they have had since 1990.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the banking law, in relation to making ATMs accessible to the visually impaired.
PURPOSE: To require ATMs to use both audio and visual systems of relaying messages to its customers, thus
providing equal access for all individuals.
JUSTIFICATION: As technology increases, more and more people rely on automated teller machines (ATMs)
as a method for doing daily banking tasks. While many ATMs currently have Braille labels indicating the functions of
some buttons, most machines do not have any non-visual method for reading or relaying the sequence of messages
that appear on the screen. All individuals should have an equal opportunity to access these machines.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public health law, in relation to authorizing the health department to
develop regulations pertaining to hard of hearing hospital patients and others.
PURPOSE: To authorize the Department of Health to develop regulations pertaining to deaf, deaf-blind and
hard of hearing hospital patients, or patients of minor age whose parents or guardians are deaf, deaf-blind or hard
of hearing.
JUSTIFICATION: Most deaf people tend to be cut off from auditory and written modes of information exchange.
As a result of the intercultural attitude barriers that keep deaf people isolated within the deaf communities, and the
barriers imposed by communication problems, it is difficult to estimate the degree and range of communication
difficulties or even the strategies deaf people may have evolved in order to access and use medical services.
Despite federal statutes mandating accessible health and mental health care for disabled persons (e.g. Americans
with Disabilities Act P.L.l0l-l36), this service need of deaf Americans remains profoundly underserved. This is also
very true for deaf-blind and hard of hearing people, especially in medical settings. Deaf people encounter barriers to
the use of routinely provided health and medical services that do not exist for hearing people. It is especially important
for health professionals (nurses, doctors, admission office personnel, social workers, and pharmacists) to realize that
deaf people communicate in different ways, depending on several factors including: language skills; amount of residual
hearing; speechreading skills and speech abilities. Deaf-blind patients need interpreter services appropriate to them.
Hard of hearing patients need assistive listening devices.
The health and mental health needs of the deaf population are comparable to their hearing counterparts. However,
barriers of communication, insensitivity to deaf culture, general lack of information about the deaf population and limited
training related to the unique needs of deaf people have resulted in a scarcity of effective health services for deaf people.
Trust and communication are perhaps the two greatest factors in improving health services for the deaf population. There
is a strong “grapevine” effect in the deaf community. Hearing health professionals can build an atmosphere of trust through
clear communication and sensitivity with deaf, deaf-blind or hard of hearing individuals. It is likely that lack of trust and
difficulty in communication inhibits many people from receiving adequate health care. Health services must be completely
accessible — socially, psychologically, and communicatively — to deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing people, in order for
them to be comfortable enough to use them. Without special services tailored to the unique communication needs of deaf,
deaf-blind and hard of hearing people, their medical and other health needs will continue to be largely unmet and health
communication problems will go on being undiscovered and unremediated.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to off-street parking for the handicapped
at retail stores.
PURPOSE: To provide convenient handicapped parking at shopping facilities.
JUSTIFICATION: Chapter 203 of the Laws of 1981 mandated that shopping centers and facilities with at least five
retail stores and twenty off-street parking spaces provide designated handicapped parking spaces for their customers
with disabilities. While this measure was a major step forward in recognizing the right of drivers with disabilities in New
York State to be accommodated with convenient access to retail stores, it’s become clear that there are still many small
shopping centers which aren’t covered by this law and which can’t be legally required to provide handicapped parking
spaces.
This bill would help correct this problem by requiring that all shopping centers and facilities with at least three stores
and twenty off-street parking spaces provide designated handicapped parking spaces. The number of stores would then
be reduced to one within a two-year period, allowing significantly more handicapped parking spaces to be gradually phased
in.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the executive law, in relation to clarifying the scope of protections against
discrimination on the basis of disability in the area of government services.
PURPOSE: To clarify the scope of protections against discrimination on the basis of disability under the New
York State Human Rights Law in the area of government services to be consistent with the federal Americans with
Disabilities Act and the current policies and practices of the Division of Human Rights.
JUSTIFICATION: Beginning with the adoption of Chapter 988 of the laws of 1974, true nondiscrimination requires
more than merely refraining from offensive conduct. In some instances, there are certain modest actions which must be
undertaken to assure that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in certain programs, services
and activities.
Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by public entities, which are defined to include the same
entities as covered by this proposal, plus certain transportation providers already covered under other sections of current
state law. For nearly twenty years, similar requirements have been applied to any entity, including state and local
government, which receives federal funds pursuant to the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Given the scope of the 1973
mandate and the extent to which state and local government continue to receive federal funds, the additional impact of this
requirement should be minimal. Although Section 296 of the Executive Law already prohibits such discrimination by public
entities as employers and operators of public facilities, this measure will clarify two key obligations of governmental entities
providing benefits, programs or services.
First, it will be clear that prohibitions against discrimination extend beyond employment and use of facilities to services,
programs and activities. This distinction becomes critical in the case of individuals who may be afforded full access to a
facility but are denied the opportunity to participate in a program offered in that facility because of their disability. Second,
the amendment will be consistent with comparable federal requirements and will clarify the obligation of the public entity to
take reasonable actions to assure that the rules, policies or practices by which services, programs or activities are
administered and that the existence of architectural, communication or transportation barriers or the absence of auxiliary
aids and services do not prevent the participation of eligible people with disabilities in public entity services, programs and
activities.
Given the minimal resources which the federal government is expected to devote to ADA enforcement, the availability of
state enforcement mechanisms through the Human Rights Law is essential to assure adequate protections against
discrimination on the basis of disability in the delivery of services by public entities.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to providing that access aisles of
handicapped accessible parking spaces have to be at least eight feet wide.
PURPOSE: To ensure that access aisles of handicapped parking spaces are wide enough for people with
disabilities to enter and exit their vehicles.
JUSTIFICATION: Access aisles that lie adjacent to handicapped accessible parking spaces are there for the
purpose of allowing disabled persons, many times wheelchair users, to get into and out of their vehicles. Often times,
these vehicles have ramps or lifts that extend quite a ways out the side door of the vehicle.
Eight feet is just enough space to allow wheelchair users to open the side door of their vehicles, extend the lift or
ramp, and still have enough room to get off of the lift platform or ramp and turn. Any less amount of space than eight
feet in width might not allow wheelchair users to maneuver between their vehicle and the vehicle parked next to theirs.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring access aisles of handicapped
parking spaces to be marked with "No Parking Anytime" signs.
PURPOSE: To prevent people from parking in the access aisles of handicapped parking spaces by further
identifying access aisles with signs that are distinctly different from the signs that are currently required to be posted to
identify handicapped accessible parking spaces.
JUSTIFICATION: Currently, many drivers, both disabled and able-bodied, use the access aisles that lie adjacent
to handicapped accessible parking spaces as additional parking spaces. Often times these access aisles have no
signage designating them as a no parking zone, and when disabled drivers who have properly parked in a handicapped
parking space return to their vehicles, they find that they cannot get into their vehicle because someone has blocked the
entrance by parking in the access aisle.
Adding signage that clearly identifies the access aisles will deter drivers who do not realize what these spaces are
reserved for. In addition, it will provide for an enforcement mechanism for those who choose to park in the newly designated
"No Parking Anytime" zones.
We need to ensure that people with disabilities who need to utilize the access aisles are not left unable to get into their
vehicles because someone has carelessly parked in the area reserved for entering and exiting a car or van.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the election law, in relation to polling places being situated on a public
transportation route.
PURPOSE: To ensure, whenever feasible, that polling places be designated on a line of public transportation
to enable individuals, particularly those with physical disabilities, who do not have their own transportation to get to
and from their polling places.
JUSTIFICATION: The intent of this measure is to increase voter participation for those individuals without their
own transportation, particularly for individuals who do not have transportation to vote or need parking currently not
available at existing polling sites. The populations that would most benefit from this requirement include people with
physical disabilities, senior citizens and low-income individuals.
This initiative is one way that New York State can ensure that every person who desires to vote is indeed able to do so.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public housing law, in relation to requiring any program or activity relating
to housing which receives federal financial assistance to comply with the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
PURPOSE: To ensure that housing protections offered to people with disabilities under Section 504 of the
Federal Rehabilitation Act are also offered, and therefore enforceable, on the state level as well.
JUSTIFICATION: New York’s disability advocates have identified a lack of enforcement of Section 504 of the
Federal Rehabilitation Act in New York State. Specifically, advocates have noted that some single and multi-family
projects that have received federal monies through the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal
(DHCR), local participating jurisdictions and the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) are not in compliance with Section 504.
Even in circumstances where these federally-funded projects have been in architectural compliance, developers who have
accepted federal funds have not marketed the accessible units to eligible individuals with disabilities.
Some funding agencies have asserted that compliance with the state building code is sufficient to demonstrate
compliance with Section 504. However, because these codes provide architectural standards and do not contain the set
aside and marketing requirements of Section 504, adherence to these codes does not equate to compliance with the
regulatory provisions of Section 504. Legislation to incorporate Section 504 into state law would greatly assist in the
enforcement of these provisions in New York State. The incorporation of Section 504 and the clarification of enforcement
responsibility in state law would assist individuals with disabilities in obtaining accessible housing by ensuring that
accessible units are built and are occupied by those who need them.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public housing law, in relation to establishing a centralized statewide
registry of accessible or adaptable housing for people with disabilities to be known as Access-New York.
PURPOSE: To enact a New York State housing registry containing up-to-date information regarding
accessible housing statewide for people with disabilities.
JUSTIFICATION: In recent years, a social demand has called upon legislators to help relieve the burdens of
finding accessible housing for people with disabilities. Locating housing that meets the needs of people with
disabilities is a challenging task because many people with disabilities face a twofold problem. Many live on a fixed
income, and cannot afford the high cost of housing, so they are very limited to the few units that are both inexpensive
and accessible.
A statewide accessible housing registry in New York State would help correct the issue of locating suitable housing for
people with disabilities. The registry would allow for people with disabilities to search for housing that suits their
accessibility needs and income levels. It should be noted that, while mandatory, this program entails no enforcement
mechanism that would be imposed on covered owners for non-compliance. The housing registry will provide free
advertising and marketing to covered owners and allow them to maximize their units for rent or sale with notoriously
long-term tenants.
This registry would be able to be accessed through both a website and a toll-free number. This bill calls for owners
and operators to submit information regarding all housing that is accessible or adaptable to the Access-New York housing
registry.
Information that must be submitted includes, but is not limited to, the following: location, rent levels or purchase price,
projects receiving local, state or federal government assistance, whether or not the covered owner accepts subsidies
such as Section 8, public assistance and/or local or municipal housing subsidies, the number of bedrooms, development
amenities, neighborhood features, including whether or not such unit is on a line of public transportation, year of
construction, particular accessible or adaptable features to assist persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or visually
impaired, other particular accessible or adaptable features, vacancy status, waiting list status, contact information, including
covered owner’s name, mailing address, phone number, fax number, e-mail address, website and TTY phone number and
any occupancy restrictions that apply to the unit.
This measure requires tenants who plan to vacate a unit to notify the owner or operator and Access-New York at least thirty
days in advance, who in turn must again notify the registry once the unit has become vacant within three business days.
Additionally, this measure requires the Commissioner of DHCR and the Secretary of State to market Access-New York to
relevant organizations.
This bill also establishes a special advisory panel to assist DHCR in the facilitation of the development and management
of Access-New York. This advisory panel will issue an annual report to the Legislature on the progress of Access-New York.
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