Senate Bill S291A

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S291A

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to psychological
assessments of employees who have regular contact with persons with
developmental disabilities

 PURPOSE :

This bill provides that the Office of People with Developmental
Disabilities (OPWDD) shall not require certain employees to complete
individualized psychological assessments unless required by provider
employees.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section one amends the mental hygiene law by adding a new section
16.39 which establishes that OPWDD shall not require the completion of
individualized psychological assessments of employees of the office
who have regular contact with clients of the office unless the office
requires the completion of individualized psychological assessments of
employees employed by a provider of services who contracts with, is
approved or is otherwise authorized by the office to provide services
and has regular contact with such clients.

              

Section two establishes the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

The Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) has a
long standing commitment to coordinating and providing essential
services to New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. In order to
provide the utmost care, OPWDD established standards of excellence in
their hiring practices to establish a workforce committed to providing
individualized quality care and services. Through an agency directive,
state employees of OPWDD are required to undergo a psychological
assessment; however, this requirement does not extend to the network
of 750 not-for-profit organizations providing approximately 80 percent
of the services throughout the state. This bill seeks to establish
parity among all systems of providers by requiring a psychological
assessment of all potential employees of not-for-profit organizations
contracted or authorized by OPWDD to provide services to the
developmentally disabled.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2016: S.7930 - referred to Mental Health and Developmental
Disabilities

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None noted

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.