Requires the commissioner of the office for people with developmental disabilities to work with an independent firm to allow such firm to conduct a study on the OPWDD eligibility criteria and determinations following diagnostic evaluations by a licensed professional and distribution of services.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3410
SPONSOR: Santabarbara TITLE OF BILL:
An act in relation to requiring the commissioner of the office for
people with developmental disabilities to work with an independent firm
to allow such firm to conduct a study on the number of New York state
residents in need of disability services and the office for people with
developmental disabilities' eligibility criteria and determinations
following diagnostic evaluations by a licensed professional and distrib-
ution of services
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to require an independent firm to conduct on
the number of state residents in need of disability services and the
Office for People with Developmental Disabilities' (OPWDD) eligibility
criteria and determinations.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill would require the Commissioner of the OPWDD to
work with an independent firm to conduct a comprehensive study analyzing
the number of New York state residents in need of disability services
and the effect of using the adaptive behavior assessment system to
determine the eligibility for services. A report must be submitted to
the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of the assembly, the
temporary president of the Senate, the minority leader of the Senate,
and the governor's office of employee relations, and make the report
publicly available on the office's website no later than one year after
the effective date of this section.
The report shall include, but is not limited to, the number of persons
with a developmental disability in New York State that qualify for
services through OPWDD within the past five years, the number of persons
with a developmental disability who have applied for services and were
deemed ineligible through OPWDD within the past five years, and the that
are eligible. The office is required to separate its findings regionally
to target underserved areas.
OPWDD may conduct this study in conjunction with any other department,
division board, bureau, commission, agency, or public authority of the
state they deem necessary. The OPWDD commissioner is authorized to
request, receive, and utilize resources and data from any of those
departments. OPWDD shall promulgate rules and regulations as may be
necessary to effectuate the provisions of this section.
Section 2 of this bill provides that the effective date shall take
effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
According to the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities'
report from 2020, over 120,000 people receive OPWDD Medicaid services.
This makes up 95 percent of their served population and is an approxi-
mate 13 percent increase from 2014. Those receiving services have multi-
ple diagnoses, including, but not limited to Autism Spectrum Disorder,
Cerebral Palsy, and Epilepsy.
This legislation requires that the OPWDD commissioner works with an
independent firm to study the number of New York state residents in need
of disability services and the office for people with developmental
disabilities' eligibility criteria and determinations following diagnos-
tic evaluations by a licensed professional and distribution of services.
The data found while conducting the study will be put into a report and
separated regionally so OPWDD can target underserved areas in the state
and will include recommendations for improvements within OPWDD,
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22: S.8759 (Mannion) - Referred to Disabilities.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3410
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 27, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SANTABARBARA -- read once and referred to the
Committee on People with Disabilities
AN ACT in relation to requiring the commissioner of the office for
people with developmental disabilities to work with an independent
firm to allow such firm to conduct a study on the number of New York
state residents in need of disability services and the office for
people with developmental disabilities' eligibility criteria and
determinations following diagnostic evaluations by a licensed profes-
sional and distribution of services
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. 1. The commissioner of the office for people with develop-
2 mental disabilities shall work with an independent firm to allow such
3 firm to conduct a comprehensive study analyzing the office for people
4 with developmental disabilities, the number of New York state residents
5 in need of disability services and the effectiveness of using the adap-
6 tive behavior assessment system to determine eligibility for services
7 and submit a report to the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader
8 of the assembly, the temporary president of the senate, the minority
9 leader of the senate and the governor's office of employee relations,
10 and make publicly available on the office's website no later than one
11 year after the effective date of this section.
12 2. (a) Such report shall include, but not be limited to:
13 (i) the number of persons with a developmental disability in New York
14 state who qualified for services through the office for people with
15 developmental disabilities within the last five years;
16 (ii) the number of persons with a developmental disability who have
17 applied for services and were deemed ineligible through the office for
18 people with developmental disabilities within the last five years;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06705-01-5
A. 3410 2
1 (iii) the number of persons with a developmental disability for whom
2 the adaptive behavior assessment system determined their eligibility for
3 services within the last five years;
4 (iv) the number of persons with a developmental disability for whom
5 the adaptive behavior assessment system determined their ineligibility
6 for services from the office for people with developmental disabilities
7 due to scoring above the threshold of eligibility within the last five
8 years and who completed the office for people with developmental disa-
9 bilities' appeal process after being deemed ineligible;
10 (v) the number of persons with a developmental disability who appealed
11 their ineligibility determination and ultimately received services from
12 the office for people with developmental disabilities;
13 (vi) an analysis of eligibility requirements, services determination
14 process, and any other processes deemed necessary for review within the
15 scope of such report; and
16 (vii) recommendations based on the findings from the report as to
17 whether the state can take additional action to ensure those in need of
18 services provided by the office for people with developmental disabili-
19 ties are deemed eligible.
20 (b) The independent firm shall separate their findings in such report
21 regionally to assist in targeting the areas that are most underserved.
22 3. For the purposes of this section, the independent firm may conduct
23 such study in conjunction with any other department, division, board,
24 bureau, commission, agency, or public authority of the state deemed
25 necessary. To the maximum extent feasible, the commissioner of the
26 office for people with developmental disabilities shall be authorized to
27 request, receive, and utilize such resources and data of any other
28 department, division, board, bureau, commission, agency, or public
29 authority of the state as such commissioner may reasonably request to
30 properly carry out their powers and duties pursuant to this section.
31 4. The commissioner of the office for people with developmental disa-
32 bilities shall promulgate rules and regulations as may be necessary to
33 effectuate the provisions of this section.
34 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
