Senate approves O'Mara's legislation to keep focus on public transportation in rural New York

Albany, N.Y., May 31—The New York State Senate has approved legislation sponsored by State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats) to focus state and local attention on the future of public transportation systems in rural New York.

According to O’Mara, the state’s ongoing Medicaid redesign strategy has included a shift over the past three years in the administration and management of Medicaid Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) from localities to the state.  It’s been viewed as a cost-cutting move by state officials, but a number of local public transportation officials from O’Mara’s district and across the Upstate region have continued to raise concerns about the plan and, especially, its long-term impact on rural communities and populations, including the disabled, elderly and the rural workforce.

“The Medicaid redesign effort in Non-Emergency Medical Transportation has resulted in a  significant shift in public transportation services in many areas, but especially in rural, Upstate regions,” said O’Mara, a member of the Senate Transportation Committee who also serves as one of the 10 members on the Legislature’s joint, bipartisan Commission on Rural Resources.  It remains a developing crisis for many rural residents.  So we keep trying to bring more widespread attention to the changes underway, fully assess the consequences for our counties and do what we can to ensure that the impact on rural, Upstate public transportation at least receives a full and a fair hearing.  We believe this committee’s work to facilitate stronger state-local cooperation and communication would represent an important step.”

Over the past few years, O’Mara has held numerous meetings and forums, including a public roundtable in Cooperstown last July to hear from local officials, mobility managers, transportation providers and community organizations in Upstate rural regions who say that the new, one-size-fits-all approach, which might be workable in suburban and urban areas downstate, isn’t proving cost-effective or efficient in their rural communities.  At the forums, officials from numerous counties, including all of the counties O’Mara represents as part of the 58th Senate District (Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Tompkins and Yates) have highlighted the shortcomings of the new system, including the elimination of existing transportation routes, the future of locally based cost-efficiency initiatives and the overall disruption of services to persons with disabilities, seniors and other local residents who have long depended on these rural public transportation systems.

O’Mara said that his legislation seeks to encourage counties and appropriate state agencies to collaborate on rural transportation solutions similar to recent interagency efforts to better address challenges in agriculture and other areas.  He believes it could produce revitalized, more efficient and cost-effective transportation plans in rural, Upstate counties where they’re being diminished but are badly needed by many residents  Specifically O’Mara’s legislation (S.5794/A.8202) would reconstitute the state’s "Interagency Coordinating Committee on Rural Public Transportation” in order to establish an active, collaborative forum for local representatives and state agency officials to fully examine the impact of state-level actions on public transportation in rural regions.  The committee would be charged with taking a look at and issuing an annual report to the governor and the Legislature on a range of issue areas including:

> existing rural transportation systems including data on ridership, revenue and other challenges for each system;

> a county-by-county analysis of costs savings, modes of transportation, reimbursement schedules, and public transportation utilization rates resulting from the state’s ongoing Medicaid redesign initiative; and

> the overall impact of reductions in state transit operating assistance on rural public transportation.

O’Mara’s legislation has been referred to the Assembly Transportation Committee, where it’s sponsored by Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi (D-Utica).