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, mental retardation and 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 of mental retardation and 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 of mental retardation and 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.
Last modified: February 3, 2019