Amends provisions of the economically sustainable transportation demonstration program to provide an on demand transit service for seniors using automobiles driven by volunteer and paid drivers.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8229
SPONSOR: Lupardo TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the elder law, in relation to an
economically sustainable transportation demonstration program
PURPOSE:
To establish an economically sustainable transportation demonstration
pilot program in up to five counties.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends subdivisions 2 and 6 of the elder law, instructing the
director of the Office for the Aging to establish a pilot program for
the economically sustainable transportation program, within the amounts
appropriated therefor, in up to five counties, each with a population of
less than 300,000 persons (as of the 2010 Census). Also requires that
economically sustainable transportation providers which receive grants
submit a report to the director including participation rates, imped-
iments to implementation, and steps taken to ensure sustainability.
Section 2: Establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill seeks to enable seniors to remain independent and mobile in
their communities. Many seniors are dependent on adult children or care-
takers to provide transportation to and from medical appointments and
other errands such as grocery shopping. Unfortunately, not all seniors
have adult children nearby on whom they can rely, or access to afforda-
ble transportation services. Through a combination of paid and volunteer
drivers, communities can reengage their seniors within the community by
providing them with an on-demand transit service. This pilot program is
intended to demonstrate that such a program could grow to become self-
sustaining through consumer fares as well as voluntary community
support. Success of such a pilot program would encourage communities
throughout the state to adopt similar programs and help to bring seniors
all across the state back into their communities.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2016: S.7691 Passed Senate
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Subject to appropriation.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
The act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8229
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 2, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LUPARDO -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Aging
AN ACT to amend the elder law, in relation to an economically sustaina-
ble transportation demonstration program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 6 of section 223 of the elder law, as
2 added by section 3 of part J of chapter 57 of the laws of 2006, are
3 amended to read as follows:
4 2. The director shall establish the economically sustainable transpor-
5 tation demonstration program for the purpose of enabling seniors to
6 remain independent and mobile in their community. The program would
7 provide an on demand transit service for seniors [that would use] estab-
8 lishing, at a minimum, operational hours during normal business hours
9 using automobiles driven by volunteer and paid drivers to transport
10 seniors to where they need and want to go. [After a period of five
11 years, the program would no longer be eligible for state funding and
12 would be completely self-sustaining, relying on consumer fares and
13 voluntary community support to remain operational.]
14 6. [Within amounts appropriated, the] The director shall establish a
15 pilot program within amounts appropriated therefor, in up to five coun-
16 ties, each with not more than three hundred thousand persons as of the
17 two thousand ten United States census, or a collaborative project of two
18 contiguous counties that each do not have more than three hundred thou-
19 sand persons as of the two thousand ten United States census. The direc-
20 tor shall make grants available to qualified economically sustainable
21 transportation providers of no less than fifty-five thousand dollars per
22 grantee [in the first year of the operation of the program]. Each
23 provider shall be required to submit a report to the director within one
24 year of the implementation of such pilot program which shall include,
25 but not be limited to, documentation of participation rates, any imped-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04890-04-7
A. 8229 2
1 iments to implementation encountered, steps taken to ensure sustainabil-
2 ity of the program and proposals for expansion to other service areas.
3 Such providers shall be eligible to receive funding under this section
4 annually for up to five years. After such time, providers must be able
5 to provide economically sustainable transportation services without
6 receiving further public financial assistance for operating or capital
7 expenses.
8 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
