Relates to providing for multi-formatted service menus for the cognitively impaired on websites operated by certain state agencies; includes the department of health, office for people with developmental disabilities and the office of mental health.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A8708B
SPONSOR: Santabarbara
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law and the state technology law, in
relation to providing for multi-formatted services menus for the cogni-
tively impaired on websites operated by certain state agencies
 
PURPOSE:
To require the Department of Health, the Office for People with Develop-
mental Disabilities, and the Office of Mental Health to develop multi-
formatted services menus accessible on their websites for persons with
cognitive disabilities.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill would require DOH, OPWDD, and OMH to develop
multi-formatted services menus accessible on their websites. Such menus
would include charts and graphs, dynamic flowcharts, and videos to help
visual and auditory learners.
Section 2 of the bill would require the Office of Information Technology
Services to assist the aforementioned agencies in developing such menus.
Section 3 of the bill provides the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Twenty-eight million United States citizens have cognitive disabilities
such as developmental disability; severe, persistent mental illness;
brain injury; stroke; and neurodegenerative disorders such as
Alzheimer's disease. The disruptive convergence of computing and commu-
nication technologies has substantially altered how people acquire,
utilize, and disseminate knowledge and information.
Access to comprehensible information and usable communication technolo-
gies is necessary for all people in our society, particularly for people
with cognitive disabilities, to promote self-determination and to engage
meaningfully in major aspects of life such as education, health
promotion, employment, recreation, and civic participation. Technology
and information access by people with cognitive disabilities must be
guided by standards and best-practices, such as personalization and
compatibility across devices and platforms, and through the application
of innovations including automated and predictive technologies, Ensuring
access to technology and information for the 28 million people with
cognitive disabilities in the United States will create new-markets and
employment opportunities; decrease dependency on public services; reduce
healthcare costs; and improve the independence, productivity, and quali-
ty of life of people with cognitive disabilities.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New legislation.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8708--B
IN ASSEMBLY
January 13, 2016
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SANTABARBARA, ABINANTI, SIMON, SKOUFIS, MOSLEY,
ORTIZ, COOK, TITONE, WALTER, BENEDETTO, BLAKE, ROBINSON, DUPREY,
MONTESANO, RICHARDSON, STECK, SCHIMEL, STIRPE, GOLDFEDER, MILLER,
LENTOL, RUSSELL, LINARES, BARRETT, RAMOS, PALMESANO, WEPRIN, JAFFEE,
HUNTER -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ABBATE, CERETTO, HYNDMAN,
RAIA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Oper-
ations -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged,
bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
AN ACT to amend the executive law and the state technology law, in
relation to providing for multi-formatted services menus for the
cognitively impaired on websites operated by certain state agencies
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 170-c
2 to read as follows:
3 § 170-c. Multi-formatted services menus for the cognitively impaired.
4 The department of health, the office for people with developmental disa-
5 bilities and the office of mental health shall develop, with the assist-
6 ance of the office of information technology services, multi-formatted
7 services menus for persons who suffer from a disability arising from a
8 cognitive impairment, which shall be accessible from the home page of
9 such website. Such services menus shall include a complete list of
10 available services from each such agency in the following formats:
11 1. charts and graphs for visual learners;
12 2. dynamic flowcharts for visual thinkers. Such flowcharts shall:
13 (a) match the website visitor to the areas most closely related to
14 such website visitor's inquiry by asking the website visitor individual
15 questions and then producing responses in logical sequence; and
16 (b) allow website visitors to revise their answers at any point in
17 order to be prompted to the next menu; and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13620-03-6
A. 8708--B 2
1 3. videos for auditory learners. Such videos shall include closed
2 captions and a full transcript of such videos for review of references
3 or information mentioned in such videos.
4 § 2. Subdivisions 20 and 21 of section 103 of the state technology law
5 are renumbered subdivisions 21 and 22, and a new subdivision 20 is added
6 to read as follows:
7 20. To advise and assist the department of health, the office for
8 people with developmental disabilities and the office of mental health
9 in developing multi-formatted services menus for persons who suffer from
10 a disability arising from a cognitive impairment pursuant to section one
11 hundred seventy-c of the executive law.
12 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day
13 after it shall have become a law.