STATE OF NEW YORK

4343--D

Cal. No. 438

1991-1992 Regular Sessions

IN SENATE

March 28, 1991

Introduced by Sens. LIBOUS, LOMBARDI, LARKIN, LEVY, MEGA, PADAVAN, SEWARD, SPANO, VOLKER -- (at request of the Department of Education) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education -- reported favorably from said committee with amendments and ordered reprinted as amended and when reprinted to be committed to the order of first report -- ordered to second report, ordered to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading -- passed by Senate and delivered to the Assembly, recalled, vote reconsidered; restored to third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading -- recommitted to the Committee on Education in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to first and second report, ordered to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading.

AN ACT to amend the education Law, the mental hygiene law and the social services law, in relation to establishing integrated employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

   Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds and determines that new and evolving program initiatives designed to expand employment opportunities in integrated settings for persons with severe disabilities need to be recognized, encouraged, and fully coordinated with the existing service delivery system. As these initiatives evolve, and as the number of persons with severe disabilities who obtain employment in integrated settings increases, it will become imperative to have in place a  coordinated, flexible service delivery system capable of meeting the needs of, and expanding the options for persons with severe disabilities throughout the state.
   In recognition of the complexity of the task of developing comprehensive interagency cooperative agreements, the purpose of this act is to stimulate the continued growth of integrated employment programs for persons with severe disabilities while ensuring that linkages with existing support service programs, including sheltered workshops, day treatment programs and day services programs are created and preserved. It is the belief of the legislature that persons with severe disabilities should have as many viable employment options available as possible as well as all necessary ongoing support services, including long term follow up services for persons in supported employment, in order for them to lead fulfilling lives while benefiting, without interruption from the service delivery system they require for support.
   § 2. Subdivision 4 of section 1004-a of the education law is renumbered subdivision 6 and two new subdivisions 4 and 5 are added to read as follows: 
   4. The department is authorized to contract with such nonprofit organizations for the provision of vocational rehabilitation services which lead to sheltered employment.
   5. The department shall assure that individuals in long-term sheltered employment operated by not-for-profit agencies are periodically reviewed to determine the feasibility of their employment, or training for employment, in integrated work settings and that maximum efforts toward such employment occur, whenever it is determined to be feasible.
   § 3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 1004-b to read as follows:
   § 1004-b. Integrated employment opportunities for individuals with severe disabilities. 1. The department shall have the responsibility to stimulate the development of programs intended to furnish opportunities for integrated employment including but not limited to, supported employment and paid competitive work, to individuals with severe disabilities, and to coordinate with state agencies responsible for furnishing necessary services to individuals with severe disabilities related to such opportunities.
   2. State integrated employment implementation plan. a. The commissioner, in consultation with and with the agreement of the commissioners of mental health, mental retardation and developmental disabilities and social services shall develop a state interagency plan for the implementation of integrated employment opportunities for individuals with severe disabilities, including supported employment. Such plan shall be designed so as to ensure that the state's integrated employment efforts, including the supported employment program, are planned, developed and implemented comprehensively, with roles and responsibilities of the respected agencies well-defined. Such plan shall reflect the department's primary responsibility for the development of integrated employment opportunities for individuals with severe disabilities, including short-term and intensive supported employment services, as well as appropriate responsibilities for long term extended support services. Such plan shall specify the role and responsibilities of each such agency in assuring that:
   ( i ) services are provided fully and equitably;
   ( ii ) an array of services is established and appropriate procedures are developed to allow persons with severe disabilities timely access to appropriate support services:
   ( iii ) compatible definitions, program evaluation and accounting standards and reporting documents are implemented;
   ( iv ) services and eligibility requirements are integrated and coordinated between agencies, including the manner in which appropriate responsibilities for funding and administering both short-term intensive and long-term extended support services for supported employment are to be implemented;
   ( v ) funding sources are clearly defined and amounts are adequate to support persons with short-term intensive and long-trem extended support needs;
   ( vi ) all necessary steps are taken to maximize the success and cost effectiveness of such programs and the potential of persons served by such programs;
   ( vii ) continuity of support services is not broken for individuals placed in an integrated employment setting in the event such placement is interrupted; and
   ( viii ) eligibility standards are consistent regarding the placement of individuals in integrated work settings, including supported employment and other competitive work placements.
   b. In addition, the plan shall address the manner in which continued support for current programs will be maintained; and establishment grants will be provided. Such establishment grants shall include, but not be limited to, special projects which enhance the provision of  supported employment and new integrated employment program initiatives which would target individuals who have severe disabilities who have aged-out or have otherwise exited the school system. In addition, such grants may be used to provide additional resources to existing programs for the purposes of increasing the numbers of persons served who have been determined by the commissioner to have been unserved or underserved. Such grants may also be used for new programs for these populations.
   c. The commissioner, in consultation with the commissioners of the office of mental health, the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities and the department of social services, shall develop an audit protocol to verify the actual costs of providing such programs.
   3. Reporting. a. It shall be the primary responsibility of the commissioner to provide annual reports on the progress of achieving the components of the implementation plan as contained in subdivision two of this section. In addition, such reports shall include:
   ( i ) a current description of individuals served, and services and technical assistance provided;
   ( ii ) employment status of persons transitioned from sheltered workshops, special education programs, day treatment centers, and day services programs into integrated employment programs, including supported employment programs and other competitive work placements;
   ( iii ) incidence of persons in reverse transition between integrated employment programs, including supported employment programs and paid competitive work, and sheltered workshops, day treatment programs and day services programs; and
   ( iv ) number of persons for whom employment in an integrated work setting has been requested and who are waiting for placement.
   The commissioners of the office of mental health, the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities, and the department of social services shall provide any information required to assist the commissioner in making such report.
   b. The implementation plan shall be transmitted to the state's board of regents, the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly and the senate committee on finance, the assembly committee on ways and means, the senate committee on education and the assembly committee on education on or before October first, nineteen hundred ninety-three with a report on the status of the implementation plan transmitted on or before October first of each succeeding year.
   § 4. Section 1002 of the education law is amended by adding four new subdivisions 11, 12, 13 and 14 to read as follows:
   11. "Supported employment" means paid competitive work performed by individuals with severe disabilities who require intensive support services to obtain such employment and extended support to sustain such employment, and which is performed in an integrated setting which provides regular interactions with individuals who do not have disabilities, other than paid caregivers.
   12. "Supported employment services" means support services needed by individuals with severe disabilities to obtain and sustain supported employment. Such term shall also include transitional employment services for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness, as defined by the commissioner in consultation with the commissioner of the office of mental health.
   13. "Paid competitive work", as used in the definition of supported employment pursuant to subdivision eleven of this section means work that is performed on a full-time or part-time basis, with a minimum expectation of averaging at least twenty hours per week as an employment goal, except that such requirement may be waived for the good cause by the commissioner, and for which an individual is compensated in accordance with the federal fair labor standards act and the state department of labor wage and hour regulations.
   14. "Individuals with severe disabilities" means persons for whom competitive employment has either not traditionally occurred or has been interrupted or intermittent as a result of having a permanent and substantially disabling physical, sensory, or mental condition.
   § 5. Section 1004 of the education law is amended by adding a new subdivision 9 to read as follows:
   9. To contract with not-for-profit organizations for the provision of supported employment services, as defined in subdivision twelve of section ten hundred two of this article, to individuals having severe disabilities defined in subdivision fourteen of section on thousand two of this article in integrated work settings. The commissioner shall ensure that funds provided pursuant to this subdivision are not used for the provision of services that are the responsibility of other state agencies pursuant to the plan developed pursuant to subdivision two of section one thousand four-b of this article. Services shall be provided at a cost not to exceed that which is necessary and reasonable, and shall include short-term intensive and extended support mechanisms within an integrated work setting. The commissioner shall require service providers to develop appropriate policies and procedures for directing their supported employment programs, and to provide such reports as the commissioner deems to be appropriate.
   § 6. The supported employment initiative established pursuant to section three of this act shall be conducted in accordance with a plan developed by the commissioner of education, in consultation with and agreement of the commissioners of mental health, mental retardation and developmental disabilities and social services and approved by the director of the budget to include, but not be limited to, the following: continued support for projects; and provision of extended support services for individuals currently ineligible for such services. The memorandum of understanding entered into by the commissioners of education, the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities, the office of mental health and the director of the commission for the blind and visually handicapped shall be updated annually and submitted to the director of the budget by October first of each year.
   § 7. Section 305 of the education law is amended by adding a new subdivision 23 to read as follows:
   23. The commissioner shall have primary responsibility for the development and implementation of integrated employment opportunities including short-term and intensive supported employment services and, as appropriate, long-term extended support services and shall coordinate with the commissioner of social services, the commissioner of the office of mental health and the commissioner of the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities under an integrated employment implementation plan, pursuant to article twenty-one of this chapter.
   § 8. Section 7.09 of the mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new subdivision (h) to read as follows:
   ( h ) The commissioner shall work cooperatively with the commissioner of the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities and the commissioner of social services to assist the commissioner of education in furnishing integrated employment services to individuals with severe disabilities, including the development of an integrated employment implementation plan, pursuant to article twenty-one of the education law.
   § 9. Section 13.09 of the mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new subdivision (d) to read as follows:
   ( d ) The commissioner shall work cooperatively with the commissioner of the office of mental health and the commissioner of social services to assist the commissioner of education in furnishing integrated employment services to individuals with severe disabilities, including the development of an integrated employment implementation plan, pursuant to article twenty-one of the education law.
   § 10. Subdivision (a) of section 13.15 of the mental hygiene law, as added by chapter 978 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read as follows:
   ( a ) The commissioner shall plan, promote, establish, develop, coordinate, evaluate, and conduct programs and services of prevention, diagnosis, examination, care, treatment, rehabilitation, training, and research for the benefit of (the) individuals who are mentally retarded and developmentally disabled. Such programs shall include but not be limited to in-patient, out-patient, partial hospitalization, day care, emergency, rehabilitative, and other appropriate treatments and services. He shall take all actions that are necessary, desirable, or proper to implement the purposes of this chapter and to carry out the purposes and objectives of the office within the amount made available therefor by appropriation, grant, gift, devise, bequest, or allocation from mental hygiene services fund established under section ninety-seven-f of the state finance law.
   § 11. Subdivision (e) of section 17 of the social services law is relettered subdivision (f) and a new subdivision (e) is added to read as follows:
   ( e ) work cooperatively with the commissioner of the office of mental health and the commissioner of the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities to assist the commissioner the commissioner of education in furnishing integrated employment services to individuals with severe disabilities, including the development of an integrated employment implementation plan pursuant to article twenty-one of the education law;
   § 12. Section 41.39 of the mental hygiene law, as amended by chapter 458 of the laws of 1983, is amended to read as follows:
   § 41.39 [Sheltered] Vocational programs; sheltered workshop industrial contract income.
   ( a ) The commissioner of mental health and the commissioner of mental retardation and developmental disabilities shall, consistent with the state integrated employment implementation plan developed pursuant to subdivision two of section one thousand four-b of the education law, and subject to appropriations made therefor, to develop and support services that provide individuals with mental disabilities the opportunity to learn and develop employment related skills and work experience, including but not limited to sheltered workshops and integrated employment opportunities, including supported employment, as provided pursuant to sections one thousand four-a and one thousand four-b of the education law. Such programs shall, to the extent possible:
   1. be integrated with and not duplicate employment programs provided through the state education department and shall ensure that funding provided pursuant to this subdivision is not used for the provision of services that are the responsibility of other state agencies pursuant to the plan developed pursuant to subdivision two of section one thousand four-b of the education law;
   2. provide an array of rehabilitation and support services necessary to meet the individual's vocational and career developmental needs;
   3. Integrate the office's vocational programs and other needed support services including but not limited to: clinical, social, case management, residential and transportation services to ensure flexibility in meeting the needs of individuals in transition between program models; and
   4. provide each individual with the appropriate supports to achieve and maintain employment in the most integrated setting appropriate, while maximizing each individuals personal strengths and preferences.
   (b.) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, income realized by a voluntary not-for-profit agency from industrial contracts entered into pursuant to its operation of a sheltered workshop shall be matched dollar for dollar by an office of the department of mental hygiene through direct contract with the agency provided that no part of the expenses of such expenses from the same office of the department provided that such a sheltered workshop is operating in accordance with an approved local or unified services plan. In no event shall any combination of income including state aid exceed the total cost of operation of such sheltered workshop.
   § 13. The commissioner of the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities shall review existing funding sources for vocational programs provided by the office and the state education department for individuals with developmental disabilities and prepare a report on feasibility of creating a comprehensive, unified funding model for these vocational services. The services considered shall include, but not be limited to the following program types: sheltered employment, enclaves, supported employment, and paid competitive work. Such a funding model should ensure a comprehensive system of services that provide continuing vocational services to an individual regardless of that person's employment status in a particular program type. Additionally, it should remove any financial disincentives to service providers to transition consumers to more integrated or competitive employment opportunities, or to temporarily provide services in a less integrated or competitive setting while awaiting placement or re-placement in an integrated setting. The report, with recommendations for any legislative and administrative actions necessary to implement such a model, shall be submitted to the governor, the speaker of the assembly and the temporary president of the senate no later than October 1, 1993. 
   § 14. The commissioner of mental health, in consultation with the education department, shall review programs funded by the office of mental health and the education department that currently provide either treatment, rehabilitation of support services to individuals with mental illness who are enrolled in programs funded by the office of mental health or the education department which are aimed at developing a vocational  or career goal. A report will be prepared to examine how these treatment, rehabilitation or support programs are operating  to assist consumers of mental health services with the achievement of their employment  goals. The report shall also examine the adequacy of existing vocational programs sponsored by either the office of mental health or the education department of meet the talents, abilities and preferences of individuals with mental illness. Data contained in this report will be derived from the office of mental health and education department experiences within the demonstration sites associated with the VESID/OMH Services Integration Project, the goal of which is to determine the best methods for achieving integration of mental health and vocational services. The report, with recommendations for any legislative and administrative actions necessary to ensure the continuation of such vocational opportunities, shall be submitted to the governor, the speaker of the assembly and the temporary president of the senate no later than October 1, 1993.
   § 15. Nothing in this act shall be construed as limiting in any manner the power, duties or authority of the commissioner of the office of mental health or the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities. 
   § 16. This act shall take effect on the first day of July in the year in which it shall have become a law; provided that the authority of the commissioner of education to promulgate rules and regulations as required by this act shall take effect immediately.

EXPLANATION -- Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD10222-11-2