Add Art 19-E §§460 - 467, rpld Art 25, §559, Exec L; rpld Art 23-A, Ed L; rpld Art 25, Priv Hous Fin L
Establishes the Office of Community Living to advocate on behalf of persons with disabilities and assure that persons with disabilities are afforded the opportunity to exercise all of the rights and responsibilities accorded to citizens of the state of New York and to promote and fund services that assist persons with disabilities to live independently in their home communities.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9479 Revised 03/17/16
SPONSOR: Weprin TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing the
office of community living; and to repeal certain provisions of the
executive law, the education law and the private housing finance law
relating thereto
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Since the Office of the Advocate of Persons with Disabilities was elimi-
nated, there has been no state agency charged with addressing the needs
of the disabled community. The creation of an Office on Community Living
would provide a focal point within state government to address the
community integration needs of people with disabilities and it would be
a powerful force to ensure that people with disabilities receive needed
supports and services without being forced into institutions.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Establishes purpose, powers, and responsibilities of the
Office of Community Living. This section outlines the general responsi-
bilities of the director, additional powers of the Office of Community
Living, the most integrated setting coordinating council, the role of
independent living centers, and the New York access to home program.
Section 2: Repeals Article 25 of the executive law.
Section 3: Repeals Section 559 of the executive law.
Section 4: Repeals Article 23-A of the education law.
Section 5: Repeals Article 25 of the private housing finance law.
Section 6: Effective date of April 1, 2017, provided that the governor
is authorized to take whatever steps are necessary to effectively and
efficiently transfer the functions transferred to the Office of Communi-
ty Living from other agencies of the state so that the Office may fully
operate on the effective date of this act.
JUSTIFICATION:
Last year's budget (2015-16 SFY) called for a stakeholder process, under
the leadership of the Commissioner of the Office for the Aging (NYSOFA),
to discuss the creation of a new Office on Community Living (OCL), with
a focus on furthering the Governor's Olmstead Plan and strengthening the
No Wrong Door approach to service delivery. That stakeholder process
resulted in a report, which identified a number of gaps in existing
services and areas for improvement in coordination of service delivery.
The study also highlighted the fact that - since the elimination of the
Office of the Advocate of Persons with Disabilities - there has been no
state agency charged with addressing the needs of the disability commu-
nity.
Additionally, during the stakeholder process, the state did not present
any model of what the OCL could look like or how it could operate.
Consequently, the lack of specifics - combined with misinformation on
the proposal - caused some stakeholders to fear that the OCL was merely
an attempt to eliminate NYSOFA. Stakeholders from the disability commu-
nity presented models to both the aging community and the state in which
NYSOFA would be preserved. Ultimately the disability community - which,
again, has no state agency dedicated to its unique needs - came to the
conclusion that that the state really needs to create OCL as an inde-
pendent office dedicated to the needs of the disability community, leav-
ing NYSOFA as a freestanding state office. In fact, at the public hear-
ing the Task Force sponsored last fall on this issue, advocates called
upon the Assembly to strongly consider the creation of an independent
OCL to resolve the issue.
The office would bring together the Independent Living Centers from the
Department of Education, Access to Home from the Division of Homes and
Community Renewal, the TRAID program from the Justice Center, and commu-
nity integration programs from the Department of Health. The Office
would also assume coordination of the Most Integrated Setting Coordinat-
ing Council (MISCC) currently under the auspices of the Office for
Persons with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD).
The creation of an Office on Community Living would provide a focal
point within state government to address the community integration needs
of people with disabilities and it would be a powerful force to ensure
that people with disabilities receive needed supports and services with-
out being forced into institutions. Furthermore, creating the Office on
Community Living as part of the budget process, without making changes
to NYSOFA, would address the significant and vital concerns being raised
by the disability community while preserving the vital independent role
that NYSOFA plays.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Effective date of April 1, 2017, provided that the governor is author-
ized to take whatever steps are necessary to effectively and efficiently
transfer the functions transferred to the Office of Community Living
from other agencies of the state so that the Office may fully operate on
the effective date of this act.
