News
NYS from the NYS Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities

Amy Paulin, Chair • Sheldon Silver, Speaker

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin

Amy Paulin
Chair

NYS Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities

LDAD 2006
The New York State Assembly Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day will be held in Albany on Wednesday, May 17, 2006. Watch your mail in the upcoming weeks for more details.

Contact Us At:
Agency Bldg. 4
13th Floor
Albany, NY 12248
phone: (518) 455-4592
fax: (518) 455-7099

A Message from the Chair...

March 2006

Dear Friend,

The 2006 Legislative Session is now in full swing, so I thought that I would take this opportunity to set forth the priorities that the Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities is working on this year. As usual, we have already launched our plan to fight for 2006-07 budget dollars that would improve the lives of people with disabilities while at the same time rejecting the Governor’s destructive cuts to such critical programs as Medicaid.

However, in addition to the efforts we are making to ensure that the 2006-07 state budget is a safe and fruitful one for New York’s disability community, there are several legislative initiatives that have become our driving force. For your convenience, we have listed a number of the bills that we are pushing for on page two of this newsletter. (You can track these bills by clicking here.) Some of our most important measures include:

  • Extending EPIC to low-income people with disabilities;

  • Reinforcing Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by putting their protections into state law and waiving the state’s sovereign immunity to liability under the ADA;

  • Establishing a statewide registry of accessible housing;

  • Reinforcing housing protections offered under Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act; and

  • Prohibiting discrimination on the basis of a person’s source of income.

Furthermore, in cooperation with many advocates and persons with disabilities, we are working to develop new legislation aimed at accomplishing the following:

  • Establishing a housing trust fund to improve the stock of accessible housing;

  • Requiring high-rise buildings to develop and maintain emergency evacuation plans for people with disabilities;

  • Allowing drivers with certain physical disabilities to park for free at metered parking; and

  • Improving access to taxis for people with disabilities in New York State.

We hope that the 2006 Legislative Session is a successful one for people with disabilities in New York State. With your help, encouragement and advocacy, we are certainly on the right track. I look forward to working and visiting with many of you in the coming months, and I especially hope to see you in Albany on May 17th for Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to call my Task Force office at 518-455-4592.

Sincerely,
signature
Amy Paulin, Chair
New York State Assembly
Task Force on People with Disabilities





2006 Legislative Agenda

Listed below are several of the legislative measures that the Task Force is advocating for on behalf of people with disabilities across New York State:

  • A.120 (Cahill) - Requires polling places to be accessible to physically disabled voters.

  • A.1852 (Koon) - Provides that ballots for all elections shall be available in Braille, upon request of a blind or visually impaired voter.

  • A.2159 (Lifton) - Waives the state’s sovereign immunity to liability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, restoring the rights of state employees to sue the State of New York for damages due to violations of the ADA.

  • A.3074 (Koon)/S.1357 (Seward) - Adds low-income persons with disabilities to the list of persons eligible to receive benefits from New York’s Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) program.

  • A.4082 (Weisenberg) - Requires ATMs to use both audio and visual systems of relaying messages to its customers, to provide equal access for all individuals.

  • A.4622 (Lavelle)/S.3907 (Spano) - Makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice to discriminate against a person based on such person’s lawful source of income.

  • 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, consistent with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the 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, consistent with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the current policies and practices of the Division of Human Rights.

  • A.7337 (Paulin)/S.4873 (Morahan) - Requires access aisles of handicapped accessible parking places to be at least 8 feet wide to ensure that they are wide enough for people with disabilities to enter and exit their vehicles.

  • A.7338 (Paulin)/S.4871 (Morahan) - Requires access aisles of handicapped parking spaces to be marked with a sign and diagonal stripes to further prevent people from parking in such spaces.

  • A.7339 (Paulin)/S.4796 (Flanagan) - Provides that polling places, whenever practicable, to be designated directly on a public transportation route.

  • A.7867 (Paulin)/S.4933 (Morahan) - Provides that programs or activities relating to housing which receives federal financial assistance shall comply with the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

  • A.7868 (Paulin)/S.4875 (Morahan) - Authorizes the commissioner of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal to maintain a housing registry of accessible or adaptable housing for people with disabilities called “Access-New York.”

  • A.8292 (Paulin)/S.4136 (Morahan) - Establishes a funding program for the improvement of disability services at institutions of higher education.

  • A.8695 (Paulin)/S.5583 (Spano) - Adjusts Medicaid rates to personal care service providers to enable them to meet the cost of paying personal care workers a statutorily-mandated living wage.

  • A.8697 (Paulin)/S.5734 (Morahan) - Increases income eligibility for real property tax exemption on property owned by one or more persons with disabilities.

  • A.9234 (Morelle)/S.1899 (Robach) - Creates a New York State interagency council for services to persons who are deaf, deaf-blind or hard of hearing to promote a comprehensive service system for this population.

  • A.10145 (Paulin)/S.1913 (Robach) - Directs the establishment and administration of a statewide program for telephone access for all New Yorkers, including the hearing and visually impaired.

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