2023 New York Laws › EDN - Education › Title 1 - General Provisions › Article 21 - Vocational Rehabilitation › 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.