NYAPRS Note: Your Action is needed RIGHT NOW! State legislation is moving that would stop state OMH and OPWDD bed closures in their tracks over the next TWO years, denying people with those disabilities (PWDs) the opportunity to live in their home communities with the appropriate supports. This would put New York at legal risk for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision and needlessly keep people with disabilities in institutions that are far more costly to taxpayers.
Last night, the Senate unanimously passed last night the “Freeze Unsafe State Closures Act” that would prevent any downsizing in state facilities; An Assembly companion is scheduled for consideration THIS MORNING by the Assembly Ways and Means Committee Members this morning. Please take action now!
Call Albany Right Now!
Call Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver at 518-455-3791 and
Assembly Ways and Means Chairperson Herman Farrell at 518-455-5491
and leave the following message
“I’m a registered voter calling to oppose A.8294 because it needlessly confines people with disabilities and public dollars in institutions and violates the right of persons with disabilities to live in the community.
Background: The legislature reached agreement earlier this session to keep OMH wards and facilities open until next year, while investing in community supports that will ultimately help facilitate transition out of institutions. This bill redacts those assurances. Over the past year, New York State has shown great commitment towards removing the barriers to integration for New Yorkers with disabilities. Last October, Governor Cuomo issued the long awaited Olmstead Implementation Plan detailing how the State intends to comply with the Supreme Court’s Olmstead v. L.C. decision of 1999 to ensure individuals with disabilities receive services and supports in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. The plan commits to reducing the long term stay nursing facility population by 10 percent across the next five years, and continues deinstitutionalization efforts in the developmental disability and mental health systems through the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities’ Transformation Agreement with the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services and the Office of Mental Health’s development of the Regional Centers of Excellence.
The slated closures of OPWDD developmental centers and OMH mental health facilities across the New York support the full integration of people with disabilities into a community setting. However the proposed “Freeze Unsafe State Closures Act” (A.8294 Lupardo/S.5986 Libous) seeks to prevent that by delaying the closure and consolidation of these centers, prohibiting any institutional capacity reduction until January 2017, essentially forcing people to remain institutionalized.
Help support the right of individuals to live in the community. Call Albany right now!