Kevin A.
Cahill
Chairperson

NYS Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities

Inside:

• Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day 2002
• Olmstead Legislation Signed Into Law
• Other Disability Legislation
• 2002 Photo Gallery
• Important Survey

A Message from the Chair...

It is an exciting and productive time for those of us in New York’s disabilities community. From regulatory housing reform to improvement of health care under Medicaid to landmark legislation honoring the promise of community integration, this has been a most significant year in Albany for people with disabilities.

Among our greatest successes was the creation of the Most Integrated Setting Coordinating Council. This landmark legislation was brought about by the hard work of community-based groups and legislative leaders representing a coalition of the interests of people with disabilities and senior citizens statewide. New York State now has the framework to provide a system focusing on each individual’s needs and abilities, not bureaucratic protocol. We finally have the tools – among the strongest in the nation – for complying with the 1999 United States Supreme Court Olmstead vs. L. C. decision, which declared that unnecessary segregation of individuals with disabilities in institutions is discriminatory and could be considered a violation of a person’s civil rights.

The Assembly also saw agreement from the Senate and the Governor in our quest to allow people with disabilities to secure meaningful employment without the loss of essential Medicaid coverage. Under the new Medicaid Buy-In program, which takes effect in April 2003, workers with disabilities will be given the opportunity to pay premiums on a sliding scale for Medicaid coverage.

We made inroads in the defense of existing disability rights as well. In their quest to conform the New York Fire Prevention and Building Code with the International Code, the New York Building Codes Council initially refused our pleas to retain existing standards, which assure that virtually all newly-constructed multiple unit dwellings are accessible and livable for wheelchair users and others. Disabilities activists and the Assembly Task Force kept up the pressure, however, and within a month of adopting the new language, the Codes Council restored our model standard.

The Assembly Disabilities Awareness Day was a huge success, advancing a comprehensive disabilities agenda and providing valuable workshops and information to all. The Assembly Task Force hearing held in 2001 included important testimony which helped shape our goals in this new age of activism. While the information gathered had been put to work from the moment the hearing concluded, the final report has not yet been issued. The complete hearing transcript, findings and summary will be published and available in the near future.

As we join together to face a new legislative session, our priorities are clear and focused. I extend thanks to all who helped us deliver our message and look forward to a productive new year. We welcome your questions, comments and suggestions regarding disabilities issues and the upcoming legislative agenda.

Sincerely,

Kevin A. Cahill, Chair
Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities

For More Information Contact... New York State Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities Kimberly T. Hill, Director Agency Building 4, 13th Floor, Albany, New York 12248 Phone: (518) 455-4592    Fax: (518) 455-4731 or Jerome Adams, Committee Assistant Phone: (518) 455-4371    Fax: (518) 455-4693

Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day

The New York State Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities and the Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities co-sponsored the annual Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day (LDAD) on June 12, 2002 in Albany.

Over 50 organizations that serve people with disabilities displayed exhibits to provide information and demonstrate the services and opportunities that are available. And for the first time, five seminars on issues of interest to the disability community were also held. Topics included: "Using State of the Art Technology to Accelerate Learning," "State Advocacy Techniques," "Work Incentives for People with Disabilities," "The Status of Olmstead Compliance in New York State," and "Adult Home Reform."

2002 LDAD Legislative Agenda
As part of LDAD tradition, the Assembly passed a package of legislation aimed at making the lives of people with disabilities easier. The legislative package included:

• A.759a/Tonko – Establishes regional traumatic brain injury technical assistance centers.
• A.1978a/Stringer – Requires public officers and bodies to provide interpreters for the hearing impaired at public hearings under certain conditions.
• A.3225b/Sanders – Directs establishment and administration of a statewide program for telephone access for all New Yorkers.
• A.4625a/Cahill – Requires access aisles of handicapped accessible parking places to be at least 8 feet wide.
• A.4626a/Cahill – Requires access aisles of handicapped parking spaces to be marked with a sign and diagonal stripes.
• A.4707/Cahill – Clarifies the scope of protections against discrimination on the basis of disability under the New York State Human Rights Law in the area of public accommodations, consistent with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the current policies and practices of the Division of Human Rights.
• A.4884b/Cahill (S.5234a/Padavan) – Provides that the lease, lease-purchase or rental and maintenance of a motor vehicle shall be included within vocational rehabilitation services for the disabled.
• A.4885a/Cahill – Clarifies 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, consistent with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the current policies and practices of the Division of Human Rights.
• A.5248/Cahill – Authorizes the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance to establish a mobility reimbursement program for persons with disabilities to assist with the often high costs of their transportation needs.
• A.5249a/Cahill – Requires shopping centers or shopping facilities that have at least 3 separate retail stores and at least 20 off-street parking spaces to provide handicapped parking spaces of a minimum of 5% of such parking spaces or 10 spaces, whichever is less.
• A.5250a/Cahill – Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to collect and include information on persons being transported in wheelchairs who are involved in motor vehicle accidents in its annual summary of motor vehicle accidents.
• A.5971b/Luster (S.5493/Libous) – Waives state’s sovereign immunity to liability under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
• A.7536a/Sanders – Creates a New York state interagency council for services to persons who are deaf, deaf-blind or hard of hearing.
• A.9377/Cahill (S.4393a/Hannon) – Provides for the level of medical assistance for certain durable medical equipment for Medicare beneficiaries.
• A.9913b/Cahill (S.7342a/Maziarz) – Creates the Most Integrated Setting Coordinating Council, which will develop and oversee the implementation of a comprehensive plan to ensure that people of all ages with disabilities receive the services they need in the most integrated settings possible. (Chapter 551 of the laws of 2002)

After months of intense advocacy from New York’s disability community, legislation (A.9913b - Cahill/S.7342a - Maziarz) creating the Most Integrated Setting Coordinating Council was signed into law on September 17, 2002 (Chapter 551 of the laws of 2002). Pursued by the Legislature as a result of the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court’s Olmstead vs. L.C. decision which states that the unnecessary segregation of individuals with disabilities in institutions is discriminatory and could be considered a violation of a person’s civil rights, this law will go a long way towards ensuring that people with disabilities are guaranteed the independence in our communities that they deserve.

The Most Integrated Setting Coordinating Council will develop and oversee the implementation of a comprehensive plan to ensure that people of all ages with disabilities receive the services they need in the most integrated settings possible. Designed to encompass a fair and equitable representation of New York’s disability community, the Most Integrated Setting Coordinating Council will be comprised of the following individuals: the commissioners of the Department of Health, the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, the Office of Mental Health, the Department of Transportation, the Office of Children and Family Services, the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services, the Department of Education, and the Division of Housing and Community Renewal. Also included are the director of the Office for the Aging, representatives from the Office of Advocate for Persons with Disabilities and the Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled, three consumers of services for individuals with disabilities, three individuals with expertise in the field of community services for people of all ages with disabilities and three individuals with expertise in or recipients of services available to senior citizens with disabilities.

All who worked so tirelessly on this measure agree that there will now be increased opportunities for people with disabilities of all ages who wish to live at home and participate in their communities rather than residing in institutional settings. It is time that New York State ends the assessment systems in New York which have inappropriately steered residents into nursing homes and other institutions.

The majority of the legislation related to disabilities passed the Assembly in honor of Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day. Other measures of interest to people with disabilities passed this session include:

• A.1297/Tonko (S.1050/Seward) – Makes preferred source contracting permanent, which provides an immediate source of income to thousands of people with disabilities. (Chapter 426 of the laws of 2002)
• A.5797a/Weisenberg – Requires ATMs to use both audio and visual system of relaying messages to its customers.
• A.5895/Sanders – Extends the wheelchair warranty to all wheelchairs.
• A.6673b/Stringer (S.6360/Velella) – Includes persons with disabilities within the definition of head of household for purposes of the senior citizens' tax abatement for rent-controlled and regulated property.

Assemblymember Kevin Cahill speaks with Bob Kafka, of National ADAPT, at a press conference announcing the introduction of A.9913, which establishes the Most Integrated Setting Coordinating Council. The press conference was held by the "Coalition to Implement Olmstead in New York" on February 5, 2002.

Assemblymember Cahill speaks to disability advocates regarding the importance of a funding increase for New York’s independent living centers (ILCs). Thanks in great part to their advocacy, New York’s ILCs received a $1.2 million increase in this year’s budget.

Assemblymember Cahill joins a host of other Assemblymembers, Senators and disability advocates supporting the need for legislation to improve the lives of people with hearing disabilities in New York State.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver addresses the crowd at the Assembly’s annual Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day on June 12, 2002 as Assemblymember Cahill, Tanya Washington of the Attorney General’s Office, Assemblymember Luster and Assemblymember Brown look on.

*Click here for printable view.* Last year during Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day (LDAD), five seminars were held on various issues of interest to people with disabilities and their advocates. We are interested in again hosting similar seminars for next year’s LDAD, but we would like your input. Please let us know what issues you would like discussed next year on Disabilities Awareness Day. Just fill out the card below, detach, place it in an envelope and return it to: New York State Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities Agency Building 4, 13th Floor, Albany, NY 12248 Name Address City State Zip What issues would you like discussed in future hearings?