Assemblymember Paulin's Able Column
Happy Anniversary Americans with Disabilities Act - July 2005

As new Chair of the Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities, I would like to devote this month's column to celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Furthermore, I would like to inform Able readers of many of the initiatives that the Assembly has taken during the 2005 Legislative Session to improve access for people with disabilities and reinforce the protections of the ADA on the state level.

So, without any further delay, Happy Anniversary ADA! Without the establishment of this landmark federal act, the civil rights of people with disabilities would be much more compromised than they are today. But there is still a lot more that must be done to provide full access to government services, public accommodations, transportation, telecommunications and employment for people with disabilities.

The Task Force believes that the best way to celebrate the significance of the ADA is to further pursue its mission - to provide full and equal access to society for people with disabilities. Because we believe in the protections originally offered under the ADA, and because we believe that these rights must be protected, especially in light of recent attacks against the ADA which have made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Assembly has advanced and passed the following measures:

• A.2159 (Lifton) - Waives the state's sovereign immunity to liability under the ADA. This bill will restore the rights of state employees to sue New York for damages due to violations of the ADA's access and accommodation standards. This includes failure to accommodate state employees with disabilities and failure to provide access for people with disabilities to government services, programs and activities.

• A.6328 (Cahill)/S.3921 (Spano) - 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 to be consistent with the ADA and current policies and practices of the Division of Human Rights.

• A.7294 (Paulin)/S.5074 (Spano) - 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 to be consistent with the ADA and current policies and practices of the Division of Human Rights. Given the minimal resources the federal government has devoted 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 both the areas of government services and public accommodations.

Not only has the Assembly passed these measures in our house, but we are also pursuing them with the Senate and the Governor. Please rest assured that the Task Force is doing all that we can in our capacity to turn these legislative bills into the laws of New York State. Remember - adding your voice of support to your local Senator and the Governor's office only strengthens our fight. If we are not successful this year, we will begin anew in 2006.