N.Y. Education Law § 1004-b: Integrated employment opportunities for individuals with severe disabilities

§ 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, the office for people with 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 respective 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-term 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 for people with 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 for

people with 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.