Includes entities that provide employment or services to formerly incarcerated persons in the preferred source exemption for purposes of state purchasing.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2496
SPONSOR: McDonald TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to preferred source
status for entities that provide employment and services to certain
persons
PURPOSE:
This legislation would allow the commissioner of education to approve
qualified charitable non-profit making agencies that provide vocational
and rehabilitative training to formerly incarcerated persons to partic-
ipate in the preferred source program. The legislation also makes other
minor language changes to accommodate the modernization of preferred
source services.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one amends subdivision 1 of section 162 of the state finance law
to add assembled or fulfilled to the tasks performed by preferred sourc-
es.
Sections two, three, three-a, four, four-a, and five amend section 162
of the state finance law to add formerly incarcerated persons, so that
qualified charitable non-profits that provide vocational and rehabilita-
tive training programs for formerly incarcerated may be approved by the
commissioner of education and participate in the preferred source
program.
Section six establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
People with disabilities are overrepresented at all stages of the crimi-
nal justice system, from jail and prison to probation and parole.
According to a February 2024 report by the Prison Population Initiative,
individuals in the prison population with disabilities is 40%, as
compared to 15% of the United States general population. For women,
those incarcerated with disabilities rises to 50%. While cognitive disa-
bilities such as autism, Down syndrome, and learning disorders impact
about 1/4 of incarcerated people, visual, hearing, and ambulatory disa-
bilities are not uncommon, and individuals with these disabilities are
often overlooked and subject to inhumane treatment.
This legislation would help the formerly incarcerated, many of whom
suffer from a disability, secure stabilizing employment opportunities.
NYSID has a network of service providers that provide vocational and
rehabilitative training to formerly incarcerated individuals. Allowing
access to the preferred source program would allow those individuals
employment opportunities at re-entry. NYSID could better capture indi-
viduals with disabilities through expansion of its service/catchment to
those who have been formerly incarcerated. NYSID currently works with
non-profits that serve both individuals with disabilities and individ-
uals that have been formerly incarcerated. Those agencies include, but
are not limited to, Second Chance Opportunities (Albany), Osborne Asso-
ciates (NYC), Good Will of NY (NYC), Good Will Finger Lakes (Rochester),
and Peter Young Housing Industries (Albany). There are a host of other
NFP's in the formerly incarcerated space that could become members of
NYSID.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: A.9544A/S.8937A
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
APPENDIX:
Prison Policy Initiative www.prisonpolicy.org
*Percent of people in state prisons who have a disability: 40*+
*Of Women in state prisons: 50%
*Percent of people on probation or parole who have a disability: 23%
*Fraction of people killed by law enforcement who have a disability:
1/3
*Percent of people in state prisons with a history of taking special
education classes: 25%.
*People with disabilities are overrepresented at all stages of the crim-
inal justice system, from jail and prison to probation and parole.
Compared to 15% of the US population, 40% of people in state prisons
have a disability. Cognitive disabilities such as autism, down syndrome
and learning disabilities impact incarcerated people."
*Barriers to Justice: Inaccessibility of New York's Criminal Justice
System for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
by Michelle H. Walton
*ID/DD is an invisible disability the criminal justice system often
fails to acknowledge or accommodate. Instead, behavioral manifestations
of disability may be misconstrued as criminal behavior. Individuals with
ID/DD are overrepresented in the justice system. Given the substantial
discrimination and challenges encountered by justice-involved individ-
uals with ID/DD from the time of arrest to incarceration, disproportion-
ality is inevitable. Justice-involved individuals with ID/DD are likely
to come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and from communities
with increased law enforcement presence. Many individuals with ID/DD
have histories of victimization and may struggle with the long-term
effects of trauma. Individuals with mild ID may have-learned to pass as
nondisabled, may attempt to hide their disability to gain social accept-
ance, and may have developed skills to hide limitations in communication
and cognition. Individuals may not be willing to disclose their disabil-
ity with criminal justice personnel because of fear. As a result, many
individuals are processed through the criminal justice system without
being identified as having a disability or being in need of additional
support services.
