BILL NUMBER: S1273

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
Developmental 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.

 
JUSTIFCATION:

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.