What's happening
This bill requires the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities to submit detailed, biannual residential waitlist and placement reports to the legislature.
Why it matters
Provides detailed insight into residential service needs. The required reports will break down waitlists and placements by region, age, caregiver status, type of placement needed (including medically frail), and funding source, allowing for a granular understanding of service gaps and unmet needs.
Tracks placement outcomes and failures. By mandating data on placement failures, requests for alternative placements, reasons for these situations, and remedies taken, the bill aims to increase accountability and inform improvements in the residential placement process.
Links funding to service delivery. Requiring reports on the costs and funding sources for placements, as well as projections of future needs and funding requirements, will help ensure that budget decisions are tied directly to actual and anticipated demand for services.
Supports long-term planning for people with developmental disabilities. Five-year projections for both out-of-home and in-home support needs, along with a mandated plan for meeting those needs, can drive strategic investments and policy changes to reduce waitlists and better serve individuals and families.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Report on Disability Waitlists
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 14
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to mental health and developmental disabilities
- Referred to mental health and developmental disabilities
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Require Disability Waitlist Reports
In Assembly Committee · Mental Health · Sponsor Felix Ortiz
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2444
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 24, 2019
Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to requiring the office for people with developmental disabilities to submit an updated waitlist and placement report to the senate and assembly
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new section 13.28 to read as follows: § 13.28 Office for people with developmental disabilities; residential
waitlist and placement report.
The office shall submit by January first, two thousand twenty-one, and every six months thereafter, an updated waitlist and placement report to the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly, including the following information:
(a) Waitlist information. Such waitlist information shall include the statewide number of individuals awaiting placement broken down into the total number of individuals from within each developmental disability services office's geographic area who await residential placement and are expected to require such placement within the next year. Such information shall be grouped by the age of the individual awaiting placement and the age of their caregiver, if any. Such information shall also include:
1. the type of placement such individuals are expected to require divided into certified out-of-home, supervised, supportive placement and the number of such persons who are medically frail requiring intensive medical care;
2. non-certified residential placement outside of the parent's or parents' or other caregiver's home; and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08123-01-9
S. 2444 2
3. the number of individuals expected to require home and community based services waiver-funded habilitation services at-home;
(b) Placement information. Such placement information shall include:
1. the total number of individuals placed within each of the settings listed in paragraphs one, two and three of subdivision (a) of this section during the six months preceding the date of release of the report required pursuant to subdivision (c) of this section; and
2. the total number of individuals, who are not included on the waitlist, placed within each of the settings listed in paragraphs one, two and three of subdivision (a) of this section during the six months preceding the date of release of the report required pursuant to subdivision (c) of this section, and the reasons for such placements;
(c) The commissioner shall report the number of individuals who are currently placed in a residential program, whose current living situation is not adequate to meet their needs and who are awaiting an alternative placement. These individuals shall be divided according to:
1. the number and age of such individuals;
2. the settings listed in paragraphs one, two and three of subdivision (a) of this section; and
3. the number of children in residential placements expected to age out of such placements within a year and plans for continuing their placements as adults;
(d) The number of individuals whose placement failed or who have asked for an alternative placement, either themselves or through their parent or guardian acting on their behalf, over the six month period preceding the date of release of a report, with categorical descriptions of the reasons for such results and any actions taken or planned to remedy such situation;
(e) The cost of placements made during the period of such report divided into costs attributable to supervised, supportive, at-home residential placements or other placements;
(f) The appropriation authority used to fund placements made during the period of the report, including the year of the original appropriation and balance of remaining funds in such appropriation by category such as OPTS, NYS-CARES or other categories;
(g) Projected funding requirements for individuals remaining on the waiting list;
(h) An updated five year projection of individuals who will require out-of-home residential placement and a five year projection of individuals who require additional in-home supports;
(i) A plan for meeting the out-of-home residential placement needs shall also be developed and shall specify the type of placements according to such settings listed in paragraphs one, two and three of subdivision (a) of this section; and
(j) Any other information deemed necessary by the commissioner.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to requiring the office for people with developmental disabilities to submit an updated waitlist and placement report to the senate and assembly
Purpose
This bill requires OPWDD to submit a report by January 1st, 2019 to the legislature, and update it every six months thereafter, providing detailed information on the waiting list for out-of-home residential care and a summary of placement activity relating to persons on the waiting list for each six months period prior to the submission of the report.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the bill creates a new section 13.28 of the mental hygiene law to require that OPWDD submit a report by January 1, 2021, and update it every six months thereafter, providing detailed information on the waiting list for out-of-home residential care and a summary of placement activity relating to persons on the waiting list for each six month period prior to the submission of the report. The bill requires that the report specify placement settings used and note the number and reasons for those placements that did either failed or for which the individ- uals, his/her parent or guardian requested an alternative placement.
The bill requires that the report specify the type of placements expected to be required to meet the needs of individuals on the waiting list. It also requires OPWDD to list funding sources used for placement activity including pertinent cost information. Finally, the bill requires OPWDD to submit an updated plan every six months for meeting the needs of persons on the waiting list.
Justification
The waiting list for persons with intellectual and other developmental disabilities who require out-of-home residential care continues to be of great concern. Many persons remaining at home are being cared for by parents or other caregivers who themselves are acquiring age-related disabilities. This can be extremely problematic, especially when indi- viduals with disabilities themselves are aging. In fact, in February OPWDD's "Task Force on Aging" noted that a total of 27,211 persons with developmental disabilities over age 30 continue to live at home. Of these 27,211 people statewide, persons living at home ages 60 to 65 numbered 1,871; ages 70-75 numbered 581; and, age 80---numbered 320. Currently, it is not clear how many of these individuals require out of home placement. More importantly, critical information on the exact size and needs of the statewide waiting list is not readily available making it impossible for policy makers to plan and budget accordingly. Further- more, placement activity appears highly sporadic and hard to track. Placement plans seem as if they are continually changing. Increasingly, parents who had previously been led to believe that they would have a placement for their child find that this is no longer true.
This has left thousands of parents and families in a state of enormous uncertainty and anxiety regarding the status of their child or, loved one's current or future placement. This bill will give them critical information. It will also give the Legislature and others with an inter- est in development policy information critical to enable them to do their jobs.
Legislative history
2018: S 8378 COMRIE Same as A 4364 Ortiz
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.