BILL NUMBER: S1672

SPONSOR: BROOKS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to safeguarding cash
accounts for people with developmental disabilities in a facility

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to establish a uniform set of procedures and
guidelines for the management of cash accounts for residents who live in
individualized residential alternatives.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. directs the commissioner of the Office for People With Devel-
opmental Disabilities to provide for the oversight of facilities and
providers of services under section 16.03 of the mental hygiene law
relating to the management of the cash accounts of residents.  Oversight
of resident's cash accounts shall include a statewide policy mandating
              

audits, authorizing the use of bank and debit cards for all residents,
policies governing the purchase of gift cards, and prohibiting the use
of self-generated receipts as evidence of meal purchases by cash custo-
dians for meals outside of the residence.

Section 2. is the enacting clause.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Under New York State law, residents who live in individualized residen-
tial alternatives (such as community residences) and family care home
settings are entitled to personal allowance accounts that the resident
can use for personal expenses such as personal shopping, entertainment,
vacation, home and family visits. Staff members who assist residents
with their purchases must comply with the Personal Expenditure Plan.

In October 2016, Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott released the
results of an investigation of personal allowance accounts maintained by
OPWDD on behalf of OPWDD residents. The Inspector General's office
investigated ten instances of mismanagement of cash accounts maintained
by OPWDD and concluded that OPWDD's current policies regarding the
management of personal allowance accounts fails to adequately safeguard
residents' personal allowance accounts.

Among other things, the report found that residents' personal allowance
accounts were "pilfered" by OPWDD employees because of inadequate safe-
guards and oversight of the accounts by supervisors and OPWDD. The
report recommended OPWDD take the following actions:  Provide standard-
ized training on the management and review of individuals' personal
allowance accounts to staff in supervisory positions; Develop a state-
wide approach to implement the use of debit cards for individuals'
personal allowance accounts and a policy on their use; Issue a policy on
the process for purchasing, recording and using gift cards for individ-
uals in its care; Reinforce the requirement of an original receipt from
the vendor documenting a transaction for out-of-residence mean
purchases; Reinforce existing policy requiring purchases to be invento-
ried upon receipt in the home; and Retrain staff on the requirement to

conduct an inventory at the time of purchase and to follow proper proce-
dures.

This bill would require OPWDD to implement the recommendations made in
the Inspector General Report in order to better safeguard OPWDD resi-
dents' personal allowance accounts.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it
shall have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediately,
the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation neces-
sary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are
authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.