Bill Text: NY S08442 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires that applications submitted by individuals with developmental disabilities for eligibility determinations and service authorizations be processed in a timely manner; requires the office of mental health to provide a report regarding such applications.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-12-28 - APPROVAL MEMO.89 [S08442 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S08442-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8442

                    IN SENATE

                                      March 1, 2022
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen. MANNION -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Disabilities

        AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation  to  requiring  that
          applications  submitted by individuals with developmental disabilities
          for eligibility determinations and service authorizations be processed
          in a timely manner

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Section  13.07  of  the  mental hygiene law is amended by
     2  adding a new subdivision (c-1) to read as follows:
     3    (c-1) 1. In carrying out the responsibilities identified  in  subdivi-
     4  sion  (c) of this section, the office shall ensure that applications for
     5  eligibility determinations and service authorizations are processed in a
     6  timely manner. Specifically, except in a case where the  application  is
     7  not  reasonably  clear,  omits  required information, or when there is a
     8  reasonable basis supported by specific information available for  review
     9  by  the  office  that  such  application was submitted fraudulently, the
    10  office shall complete processing of the application within  one  hundred
    11  twenty  days of receipt of such application transmitted via the internet
    12  or electronic mail.
    13    2. In the case where the application is not reasonably clear or  lacks
    14  required  information,  the office shall notify the applicant in writing
    15  within thirty calendar days  of  the  receipt  of  such  application  to
    16  request all additional information needed to process such application.
    17    3.  Upon receipt of the information requested in paragraph two of this
    18  subdivision, the office shall complete  processing  of  the  application
    19  within sixty days.
    20    4.  The  office shall report on a quarterly basis to the developmental
    21  disabilities advisory council, the governor, the  chair  of  the  senate
    22  disabilities  committee  and  the  chair  of  the  assembly disabilities
    23  committee for both eligibility and  service  authorization  applications
    24  (i) the number and type of applications received, including by geograph-
    25  ic region and/or county and the age or age-range of applicants, (ii) the
    26  number of each type of application approved, (iii) the average timeframe

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14196-01-2
        S. 8442                             2

     1  for  approval  from  receipt to final approval for each type of applica-
     2  tion, (iv) the number of each type of application pending, and  (v)  the
     3  number  of  each  type  of  application  disapproved or rejected and the
     4  grounds  for  such disapproval or rejection. Such report shall be posted
     5  and made available by the office on its website.
     6    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
     7  it shall have become a law.