STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 823 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 6, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sen. MANNION -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to requiring that applications submitted by individuals with developmental disabilities for eligibility determinations and service authorizations be processed in a timely manner The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision (c-1) of section 13.07 of the mental hygiene 2 law, as added by a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the mental 3 hygiene law relating to requiring that applications submitted by indi- 4 viduals with developmental disabilities for eligibility determinations 5 and service authorizations be processed in a timely manner, as proposed 6 in legislative bills numbers S. 8442 and A. 9920, is amended to read as 7 follows: 8 (c-1) 1. In carrying out the responsibilities identified in subdivi- 9 sion (c) of this section, the office shall ensure that applications for 10 eligibility determinations and service authorizations are processed in a 11 timely manner. [Specifically, except in a case where the application is 12 not reasonably clear, omits required information, or when there is a 13 reasonable basis supported by specific information available for review 14 by the office that such application was submitted fraudulently, the] The 15 office shall complete processing of the application within a processing 16 period of one hundred twenty days of receipt of such application trans- 17 mitted via the internet or electronic mail. 18 2. [In the case where] Where the application is not reasonably clear 19 or [lacks] omits required information, or where the office reasonably 20 suspects fraud based on specific information available to the office, 21 the office shall notify the applicant in writing within thirty calendar 22 days of the receipt of such application [to] and request [all addi- 23 tional] the specific information needed to process such application. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD04013-01-3
S. 823 2 1 Provided, however, that the processing period shall be tolled from the 2 date of notice to the applicant to the date of receipt of the complete 3 application by the office. 4 3. Upon receipt of the information requested in paragraph two of this 5 subdivision, the office shall complete processing of the complete appli- 6 cation within [sixty] the remaining days of the processing period. 7 [4. The office shall report on a quarterly basis to the developmental 8 disabilities advisory council, the governor, the chair of the senate 9 disabilities committee and the chair of the assembly disabilities 10 committee for both eligibility and service authorization applications 11 (i) the number and type of applications received, including by geograph- 12 ic region and/or county and the age or age-range of applicants, (ii) the 13 number of each type of application approved, (iii) the average timeframe 14 for approval from receipt to final approval for each type of applica- 15 tion, (iv) the number of each type of application pending, and (v) the 16 number of each type of application disapproved or rejected and the 17 grounds for such disapproval or rejection. Such report shall be posted 18 and made available by the office on its website.] 19 § 2. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same 20 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the mental hygiene law 21 relating to requiring that applications submitted by individuals with 22 developmental disabilities for eligibility determinations and service 23 authorizations be processed in a timely manner, as proposed in legisla- 24 tive bills numbers S. 8442 and A. 9920, takes effect.