2. The commissioner may provide state aid through the payment of fees for reimbursable services. For purposes of this paragraph, reimbursable services include, but are not limited to, room and board. The commissioner shall establish standards for programs funded under this section and shall by rule or regulation annually establish fees for each reimbursable service, subject to the approval of the director of the budget. Fees may be varied for geographic reasons or for other good cause shown. (f) Within amounts available therefor, the commissioner may provide state aid to local governments and voluntary agencies for capital costs for residential care centers for adults at the rate of up to fifty percent of such capital costs; provided, however, that no such state aid shall be granted unless the recipient enters into an agreement in a form acceptable to the commissioner guaranteeing that the residential care center for adults will be operated by the recipient or made available at no cost to another provider of services or the office of mental health for no less than twenty years, and grants the state such security and real property interests as the commissioner may require. § 12. Such law is amended by adding a new section 41.45 to read as follows: § 41.45 Development grants for residential care centers for adults. The commissioner of mental health is authorized, within appropriations made therefor, to make grants to local governmental units and voluntary agencies for up to one hundred percent of the reasonable pre-operational costs associated with efforts to establish residential care centers adults, including legal fees and initial management staffing. for § 13. Section two of the social services law is amended by adding a new subdivision thirty-four to read as follows: 34. "Residential care center for adults" shall have the meaning defined in section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law. § 14. Subdivision one of section one hundred fifty-seven of such law, as amended by chapter five hundred fifty-five of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-eight, is amended to read as follows: 1. Home relief means allowances pursuant to section one hundred thirty-one-a for all support, maintenance and need, and costs of suitable training in a trade to enable a person to become self-supporting, furnished eligible needy persons in accordance with applicable provisions of law, by a municipal corporation, or a town where home relief is a town charge, to persons or their dependents in their abode or habitation whenever possible and includes such relief granted to veterans under existing laws but does not include hospital or institutional care, except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, or aid to dependent children or medical assistance for needy persons granted under titles ten and eleven, respectively, or aid to persons receiving federal supplemental security income payments and/or additional state payments. Home relief may also include tuition fees and other costs of suitable training in a trade or occupation furnished pursuant to section one hundred fifty-nine-a to an eligible person to enable him to become selfsupporting or to increase his earning capacity. Home relief may also be provided in a family home or boarding home, operated in compliance with the regulations of the department, and on and after January first, nineteen hundred seventy-four, in facilities in which a person is receiving family care or residential care, as those terms are used in title six of article five of this chapter, and to persons receiving care in a facility supervised by the office of alcoholism and substance abuse or in a residential facility for the mentally disabled approved, licensed or operated by the office of mental health or the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities, other than those facilities defined in sections 7.17 and 13. 17 of the mental hygiene law or residential care centers for adults operated by the office of mental health, when such type of care is deemed necessary. Payments to such homes and facilities other than residential care centers for adults for care and maintenance provided by them shall be at rates established pursuant to law and regulations of the department. The department, however, shall not establish rates of payment to such homes or facilities without approval of the director of the budget. § 15. Paragraph (d) of subdivision three of section two hundred nine of such law, as amended by chapter nine hundred nine of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-four, is amended to read as follows: (d), "Receiving residential care" shall mean residing in a residence for adults or an adult home certified by the department in accordance with applicable law and regulations; an enriched housing program which is certified by the department, in accordance with applicable provisions of law and regulations, and which provides residential care for dependent adults and is sponsored by a private not-for-profit corporation or by a public corporation or public agency to the extent permitted by federal law and regulation; [or] a privately operated community residence. residential substance abuse treatment program or community residential facility for alcoholism, certified by the appropriate office of the department of mental hygiene; or a residential care center for adults certified by the office of mental health, in accordance with applicable law and regulations. For the purpose of this paragraph, a person receiving care in an intermediate care facility, certified by the department of health or by the appropriate office of the department of mental hygiene, or receiving respite services shall not be deemed to be receiving residential care. § 16. Subparagraph six of paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section three hundred sixty-six of such law, as added by chapter four hundred fifty of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-nine, is amended to read as follows: (6) is a resident of a home for adults operated by a social services district or a residential care center for adults operated or certified by the office of mental health, and has not, according to criteria promulgated by the department consistent with this title, sufficient income and resources, including available support from responsible relatives, to meet all the costs of required medical care and services available under this title; and § 17. Paragraph (d) of subdivision one of section three hundred sixtysix of such law, as added by chapter five hundred sixteen of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-three, is amended to read as follows: (d) is not a patient in a public institution operated primarily for the treatment of tuberculosis or care of the mentally disabled, except as follows: (1) is sixty-five years of age or older and is a patient in any such institution; or (2) is under twenty-one years of age and is receiving in-patient psychiatric services in a public institution operated primarily for the care of the mentally disabled; or (3) is a patient in a public institution operated primarily for the care of the mentally retarded and is receiving medical care or treatment in that part of such institution that has been approved pursuant to law as a hospital or nursing home; or (4) if a patient in an institution operated by the state department of mental hygiene, is under care in a hospital while on release from such institution for the purpose of receiving care in such hospital; or (5) is a person residing in a community residence or a residential care center for adults; and § 18. Subdivision seven of section three hundred sixty-five of such law, as added by chapter five hundred eleven of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-three, is amended to read as follows: 7. Any inconsistent provision of this chapter or other law notwithstanding, the department may, with the consent of the commissioner of mental health, designate the office of mental health as its agent to discharge its responsibility, or so much of its responsibility as is permitted by federal law, for determining eligibility for medical assistance pursuant to subdivisions two, five [and], six and eight of this section. § 19. Section three hundred sixty-five of such law is amended by adding a new subdivision eight to read as follows: Any inconsistent provision of this chapter or other law notwithstanding, the department shall be responsible for determining eligibility of and furnishing medical assistance to eligible persons who reside in residential care centers for adults operated by the office of mental health. The department may, at its option, discharge its responsibility for eligibility determinations or for providing medical assistance or both, in whole or in part, through designated social services districts. While so designated, a social services district shall act as agent of the department and shall be entitled to reimbursement as provided in section three hundred sixty-eight-a of this article. § 20. Subdivision one of section three hundred sixty-eight-a of such law is amended by adding a new paragraph (i) to read as follows: (i) The full amount expended on behalf of the department for medical assistance furnished to persons described in subdivision eight of tion three hundred sixty-five of this article, including the administra sec EXPLANATION-Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law tion thereof, after first deducting therefrom any federal funds properly received or to be received on account thereof. § 21. Section four hundred sixty-one-b of such law is amended by adding a new subdivision eight to read as follows: 8. No adult care facility certified by the department on or before July first, nineteen hundred eighty-five which is operating in compliance with this chapter and regulations shall be required to be certified by the office of mental health as a residential care center for adults. § 22. Subdivision ten of section three of section one of chapter three hundred fifty-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred sixty-eight, as reentitled by chapter six hundred fifty-eight of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-three,, constituting the facilities development corporation act, as amended by chapter five hundred forty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-nine, is amended to read as follows: 10. "Mental hygiene facility" shall mean a building, a unit within a building, a laboratory,, a classroom, a housing unit, a dining hall, an activities center, a library, or any structure on or improvement to real property of any kind or description, including fixtures and equipment which are an integral part of any such building, unit, structure or improvement, a walkway, a roadway or a parking lot, and improvements and connections for water, sewer, gas, electrical, telephone, heating, air conditioning and other utility services, or a combination of any of the foregoing, whether for patient care and treatment or staff, staff family or service use, located at or related to any [state hospital] psychiatric center, ány [state school] developmental center, or any state psychiatric or research institute or other facility now or hereafter established under the professional jurisdiction, supervision and control of the department. A mental hygiene facility shall also mean and include a residential care center for adults, a "community mental health and retardation facility" and a treatment facility for use in the conduct of an alcoholism or substance abuse treatment program as defined in the mental hygiene law unless such residential care center for adults, community mental health and retardation facility or alcoholism or substance abuse facility is expressly excepted, or the context clearly requires otherwise. The definition contained in this subdivision shall not be construed to exclude there from a facility to be made available under license or permit from the corporation to a voluntary agency at the request of the commissioners of the offices of the department having jurisdiction thereof for use in providing services in a residential care center for adults, community mental health and retardation services or for use in the conduct of an alcoholism or substance abuse treatment program. § 23. Paragraph a of subdivision eight of section five of such act, as amended by chapter five hundred forty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-nine, is amended to read as follows: a. With the approval of the appropriate commissioner of the department and the director of the budget, to purchase real property necessary or convenient for a mental hygiene facilities improvement program in the name of the state, except where such purchase is for the purpose of providing community mental health and retardation facilities in which case such purchase shall be in its own name; provided, however, that all such purchases shall be made pursuant to legislation or appropriations in accordance with section nine of this act. Nothing in this section contained shall be construed to prohibit the acquisition of real property by purchase or appropriation by the appropriate commissioner of the department pursuant to article seventy-one of the mental hygiene law for the purpose of making mental hygiene facilities available under license or permit from the corporation to a voluntary, agency, subject to the terms and conditions of any lease, sublease or other agreement with the state housing finance agency, (i) for use in providing community mental health and retardation services, including services in a residential care center for adults, or (ii) for the conduct of an alcoholism or substance abuse treatment program as defined in article nineteen of the mental hygiene law. § 24. Subdivision thirteen-a of section five of such act, as amended by chapter five hundred forty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-nine, is amended to read as follows: 13-a. Subject to the terms and conditions of any lease, sublease or other agreement with the state housing finance agency and to the determination of the appropriate commissioner of the department, to make a mental hygiene facility available under license or permit from the cor poration to a voluntary agency for use in providing community mental health and retardation services and services in a residential care center for adults, and thereafter, notwithstanding the provisions of the public lands law or any other general or special law to the contrary, to convey the right, title and interest of the people of the state of New York in and to such facility and the land appurtenant thereto to such voluntary agency upon such terms and conditions as shall be provided in an agreement among the appropriate commissioner of the department, the corporation and such voluntary agency with the approval of the director of the budget and the comptroller. § 25. Subdivision five of section six of such act, as amended by chapter five hundred forty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred seventynine, is amended to read as follows: 5. To provide mental hygiene facilities to be made available under license or permit from the corporation to voluntary agencies at the request of the appropriate commissioner of the department in accordance with the provisions of this act for use in providing community mental health and retardation services and services in a residential care center for adults. § 26. For the fiscal year commencing on April first, nineteen hundred eighty-five, capital grants may be made by the office of mental health, with the approval of the director of the budget for capital costs associated with the establishment of a residential care center for adults incurred by a local government or voluntary agency, in an amount in excess of fifty percent of total capital costs when it is determined by the director of the budget that such an additional grant is essential to establishment of a facility. The total expenditure for all such additional capital grants shall not exceed one million four hundred thousand dollars ($1,400,000). be § 27. Capital appropriations to the office of mental health or the facilities development corporation for the construction of community residences or residential care centers for adults may, with the approval of the commissioner of mental health and the director of the budget, used for the selection of potential sites, the design, construction and rehabilitation of, and the improvement and rehabilitation of leaseholds held by the state, for residential care centers for adults or community residences, whether or not located on the grounds of a psychiatric center. $28. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, moneys appropriated to the office of mental health pursuant to chapter fifty-three of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-five for approved operating expenses and program development costs pursuant to sections 41.33, 41.37, 41.38 and 41.44 of the mental hygiene law shall not be available for the residential care centers for adults program as established by this chapter. § 29. Capital appropriations to the office of mental health or the facilities development corporation for the fiscal year beginning on April first, nineteen hundred eighty-five which have not been identified as available for the payment of the cost of preparation of plans and estimates, and for the cost of construction or for the rehabilitation, conversion, or construction of alternative residential facilities, or as available for state aid to municipalities and other public and not-forprofit private agencies for the acquisition of property, construction and rehabilitation of community mental health facilities, may not be transferred between schedules or subschedules of appropriations to enable an increase in the funds available for such capital expenditures or state aid for capital expenses associated with development of residential care centers for adults. § 30. Appropriations to the office of mental health for the fiscal year beginning on April first, nineteen hundred eighty-five, for state aid to municipalities and other public and not-for-profit private agencies for the acquisition of property, construction and rehabilitation of community mental health facilities shall be available for payments of one hundred percent grants to local governments and voluntary agencies for expenses associated with the acquisition of potential sites, provided, however, that no more than a total of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) of such appropriation may be used for the purpose of making such grants. EXPLANATION-Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law and § 31. The commissioner of mental health shall evaluate the residential care centers for adults (RCCA) program and report to the governor the chairpersons of the senate finance committee and the assembly ways and means committee regarding the implementation of the RCCA program. Such report shall describe the size of residential care centers for adults which are established, their geographic location, the disability level of residents of those facilities, the quality of care provided to residents, the quality of life in residential care centers for adults, the ability of residential care centers for adults to provide linkage to social, vocational and clinical services in the community, and the cost of providing residential and off-site services to residents of these facilities. The report shall also compare residential care centers for adults to other residential alternatives, including the various levels of care available in the community residence program. The commissioner shall make a recommendation as to whether the RCCA program should be continued, modified, or discontinued. The commissioner shall issue a preliminary report by January fifteenth, nineteen hundred eighty-seven and a final report by October fifteenth, nineteen hundred eighty-seven. § 32. The office of mental health shall not certify any residential care center for adults or establish any state operated residential care centers for adults after March thirty-first,`nineteen hundred eightyeight. § 33. This act shall take effect immediately provided that the amendments to section 7.05 and subdivisions (c) and (d) of section 31. 23 of the mental hygiene law made by sections three and eight of this act shall expire on the same date as such section and subdivisions shall expire as provided by section nine of chapter seven hundred twenty-four of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-two. CHAPTER 352 AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to increasing state reimbursement under community residence development grants Became a law July 18, 1985, with the approval of the Governor. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1. Subdivision (a) of section 41.37 of the mental hygiene law, as added by chapter three hundred eighty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-three, is amended to read as follows: (a) The commissioner of the office of mental health or the commissioner of the office of mental retardation and developmental disabilities is authorized, within appropriations made therefor, to make grants to local governmental units and voluntary nonprofit agencies developing a community residence as defined in subdivision twenty-eight of section 1.03 of this chapter. Such grants shall be limited to the development costs incurred prior to the operation of a community residence. [1] Development costs which may be eligible for up to [eighty] one hundred percent reimbursement under this grant include: [a] 1. reasonable legal and other professional fees; [b] 2. initial staffing; [c] 3. up to [two] six months rent[. ]; [2. Development costs which may be eligible for up to one hundred percent reimbursement under this grant are: a] 4. furniture; and [6] 5. reasonable minor rehabilitation costs. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. |