Senate Bill S7460

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S7460

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the social services law, in relation to adult care
facilities under the jurisdiction of the justice center for the
protection of people with special needs

 PURPOSE OF THE BILL :

This bill would require all adult care facilities and enriched housing
programs licensed under Article 7 of the Social Services Law to report
reportable incidents to the Justice Center for the Protection of
People with Special Needs ("Justice Center").

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill would amend the definition of a "facility" or
"provider agency" under the jurisdiction of the Justice Center to
include all adult care facilities and enriched housing programs
licensed under Article 7 of the Social Services Law (SSL).

Section 2 of the bill would make it effective six months days after
the bill is signed into law.

 STATEMENT IN SUPPORT :
              

SSL § 488(4) defines those facilities and provider agencies that are
under the jurisdiction of the Justice Center for purposes of reporting
allegations of reportable incidents, and providing protections to
individuals served by them. Under SSL § 488(1), "reportable incidents"
include seven types of abuse, neglect and other significant incidents
set forth in law and regulations. With respect to adult care
facilities defined in SSL Article 7, only those facilities or programs
that meet two criteria are included in the Justice Center's
jurisdiction: those facilities or programs that (1) have a licensed
capacity of 80 or more beds; and (2) in which at least 25% of the
residents are persons with serious mental illness as defined by Mental
Hygiene Law § 1.03(52); but not including adults homes or enriched
housing programs that are authorized to operate 55% or more of their
total licensed capacity of beds as assisted living program beds
pursuant to SSL § 461-1.

Thus under the current statutory framework, adult care facilities may
fall within and outside the jurisdiction of the Justice Center at any
given time, depending on their populations. As a result, when the
Justice Center became operational on June 30, 2013, there were 42
facilities under its jurisdiction. Based on population changes at
particular facilities, that number fell to a low of 27 facilities,
rose to 30 facilities in October 2015, and fell to a new low of 25
facilities in December 2015. It is difficult to justify providing the
protections of the Justice Center to residents of a facility on one
day, and not the next, based on a minor change in the population of
patients at a particular facility, and based on a factor that likely
has little to do with the safety of patients at the facility.

The Justice Center's Advisory Council, whose members include
representatives from boards of visitors, consumers of services, family
members and guardians of service recipients, providers of services,
advocates, and employees of facilities or provider agencies, is
charged with advising and assisting the Justice Center in developing
policies and programs to carry out its functions, powers and duties,
and in advising the Justice Center on any matter related to improving
the quality of life of citizens of the State who have disabilities.
Executive Law § 561(1), (6). As part of this authorization, the
Advisory Council has recommended that all adult care facilities
licensed under SSL Article 7 be included within the jurisdiction of
the Justice Center.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

This is a new bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

This bill would be implemented within the Justice Center's existing
resources.

 LOCAL IMPACT :

This bill would have no known impact on local governments.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This bill would take effect six months days after it is signed into
law.