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NY A05020
Bill
Status
2/10/2025
Primary Sponsor
Stefani Zinerman
Click for details
AI Summary
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Requires social services districts to establish a co-navigation services program for deaf-blind individuals, providing assistance with physical environment access, informed decision-making, visual/environmental information, and communication in the person's preferred language and mode
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Defines co-navigation services to include sighted guide services and communication accessibility, but explicitly excludes personal care, running errands, making decisions for the person, teaching, or formal interpreting in medical/legal/business settings
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Establishes that co-navigators must be specially trained, with reimbursement rates based on a tiered wage scale reflecting their level of training and fluency in communication modes (including American Sign Language, tactile communication, and protactile language)
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Requires social services districts to monitor co-navigator compliance, develop additional funding sources beyond state appropriations, and provide funding and technical assistance for training both co-navigators and deaf-blind service recipients
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Takes effect 180 days after becoming law, with the commissioner authorized to establish an advisory committee including deaf-blind individuals and stakeholders to guide program development
Legislative Description
Establishes a co-navigation services program for persons who are deaf-blind to provide services to a person who is deaf-blind that assist the person to physically access the person's environment and to make informed decisions, including providing visual and environmental information or sighted guide services and assisting with communication accessibility by communicating in the preferred language and communication mode of the person who is deaf-blind.
Last Action
referred to social services
1/7/2026