Cuomo Budget Plan Excludes Minimum Wage for Human Service Workers

A gradual minimum wage increase to $15 an hour is not fully funded for health care and human services workers in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget.
The lack of funding is likely to become an issue as the budget moves forward in the Legislature, where some Senate Republicans have expressed concern about the potential effects of a higher minimum wage on businesses and non-profits. Cuomo's budget does include funding for a phased-in higher minimum wage for state and SUNY workers.

NYSARC Sees Rough Year Ahead

Not exactly an uplifting story for the start of 2016, but important nonetheless.

People with developmental disabilities and their families are really worried about the New Year. Leaders at NYSARC, New York State’s largest advocacy and helping agency for disabled people, said they’re facing potential budget cuts and strict, new rules from the state. They also fear caretakers might quit their jobs in search of higher pay.

NYS to Decide on Group Home

EDEN, N.Y. — Eden residents do not want to see another group home built there. One woman said the push-back isn't against the developmentally disabled."It's the saturation levels. We have one group home for, roughly, every 1,100 people," said Susan Wilhelm, who said the proposed facility would be just 300 feet away from her own house.A hearing officer from the OPWDD listened to arguments from the town and from Community Services for the Developmentally Disabled, the group that wants to build the home. 

NYS Justice Center Secures Indictments

ALBANY — New York State’s Justice Center has secured indictments against two aides who allegedly abused a disabled man in a Niskayuna facility.

Yosmarvi Tovar and Dominique Mortimore allegedly pushed a man off the couch in an effort to have him take a shower and they were indicted by a Schenectady County grand jury.

Aging Parents Fear NYS Policy Changes

UTICA, N.Y. -- Who's going to take care of our children when we die?
That's what a group of aging parents whose children have developmental disabilities is asking the state in the face of policy changes they believe will jeopardize those with severe disabilities.
Particularly at issue is the state's new policy on admissions to certified group homes, which provide around-the-clock supervision.

New York State to Close 4 Institutions

ALBANY —

New York officials plan to close four state institutions that provide care for the disabled during the next four years in the ongoing shift to group homes and community settings.

Critics Turn to Academics To Do Cost-Benefit Analysis of OPWDD Services

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  -- Faced with a $90 million cut to the state Office of People With Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island advocates for the disabled have been highly critical of the borough's Albany lawmakers for not doing enough to prevent what amounts to a 4.5 percent reduction in aid. 

Donna Long and Laura Kennedy
are among those critical to the cuts.

But now Assemblyman Michael Cusick and one of the sharpest critics of the cuts to OPWDD, parent and activist Laura Kennedy -- who branded the reductions "cruel and shameful" -- told the Advance Thursday they've come up with a "plan of action" going forward.

Residents Question NYS Officials About Who Will Be Living in Group Home

NIMBY reaches an extreme in New York State.

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. -- Residents of Bascom Drive and Hillview Avenue have a better idea about the new residents of a 7 Bascom Ave. group home and also have a way to contact state officials with their concerns.But residents, some of whom have lived in the neighborhood for more than five decades, are still uneasy about how a home for people with developmental disabilities was opened up to clients with both developmental issues and criminal backgrounds.One resident asked for the names of those living in the home and was told that information was protected by privacy laws.

New York Strikes Deal on Policing Abuse

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders reached a deal Sunday night to create a new state agency to police abuse and neglect of more than one million New Yorkers with developmental disabilities, mental illnesses and other conditions that put them at risk, state officials said Sunday.

The governor also agreed to take some steps to bolster outside oversight of the state’s care, yielding to concerns raised by Assembly Democrats and some advocates for people with disabilities that state regulators have long failed to adequately respond to cases of abuse on their own. Lawmakers also agreed to expand the state’s public disclosure law, requiring thousands of nonprofit groups that provide services to disabled and mentally ill people to make records of abuse and neglect public.