504 Democratic Club: Questionnaires (Candidate for State Senator Kevin Parker's response)

Candidate Name: Kevin Parker

Campaign Manager: Jeremy John

Phone: 718-434-4510

Fax: 718-434-5090

Campaign Name: Friends of Kevin Parker

Campaign Address: 2917 Glenwood Road, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11216

Contact Person: Glynda Gair

Email: glynda@kevinparker.org

Website: www.kevinparker.org

State Senate District: 21

Please describe any experience with disability you have had in your life or career.
Is your campaign headquarters accessible to persons with disabilities? If you are an incumbent, is your district office accessible to persons with disabilities?

Yes - both offices are accessible.
If you are in private practice, is your office accessible to persons with disabilities? If not, what have you done to ensure access?

n/a
How will you incorporate people with disabilities into your campaign?

When the ADA goes unenforced, disabled Americans suffer. The State of New York must demonstrate equal employment practices when it hires public employees, including focused efforts on recruiting people with disabilities to work at all levels of government. Private industry must simularly follow suit and provide employment opportunities to individuals with disabilities; their reluctance on this matter cannot be tolerated. I will fight to restore funding to VESID for Vocational Rehabilitation Case Services, and for increasing funding to cover the costs of supported employment services OMRDD consumers who transfer into the VESID system. It is time disabled New Yorkers are fairly represented in the workplace.
Are you willing to hire and use flex-time and job-sharing if necessary?

Yes.
Seventy (70%) percent of people with disabilities of working age are unemployed at any given time, no matter how well or poorly the economy is doing. How will you use your office to advance employment opportunities for people with disabilities?

I have established the Building Blocks Local Development Corporation. This Local Development Corporation will assist local small businesses grow. Studies have shown that when small businesses increase their capacity, they are able to hire people within the community.
What will you do to reverse the negative impact of recent decisions in Federal Courts which are undercutting the powers of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 to protect the civil rights of people with disabilities in New York State? How would you change the laws of New York State to protect the rights of its citizens with disabilities?

Disabled New Yorkers are unjustly harmed by the narrow scope with which the ADA has come to be defined. It is essential that we ensure the protection of ALL people's civil rights. We must comply with the Olmstead decision; the state should establish a new Medicaid waiver program so that people can seek treatment in an integrated community setting, rather than restrict them to institutions.

We need leaders at the Federal Level who appreciate the importance of a broad interpretation of the ADA. I will only support candidates who will work to eliminate the barriers disabled Americans face everyday that prevent them from being independent, empovered job-holders. Supporting mandatory, full finding for the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a crucial first step.
Currently, over 130,000 people reside in nursing homes and other care facilities in New York State. In 1999, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) found in L.C. v Olmstead that individuals with disabilities have a right to live in the most integrated setting. What will you do to encourage Olmstead implementation in New York?

Transitioning disabled New Yorkers from an institutional setting to a community environment would benefit both patients and taxpayers. Community alternatives like home health care are significantly cheaper than instititionalization and more preferable for those individuals living with disabilities. I support providing incentives to those individuals who stay at home, including reimbursing the cost of in-home nursing services. As I previously mentioned, I support the establishment of a Medicaid waiver program to allow people with disabilities of my age, who are ineligible for exisiting Medicaid waivers, to be served in an integrated setting that is conducive to their needs.
We are in the midst of a housing crisis. Accessible, affordable housing is in short supply. People with disabilities are being priced out of the market. What would you do to develop a housing policy that would lead to the development and maintenance of accessible, affordable and integrated housing stock?

It is crucial that legislation be passed to repeal the Urstadt Law. We must restore the ability of New York City to determine its own housing policy, rather than have ideologically distant legislators in Albany impose regulations that harm residents of New York City. As it stands now, urban city dwellers face regulation without representation, and that is intolerable.

A housing policy must be developed that reflects a true commitment to enhanced accessibility and opportunity, including allocating suffiecient funds, streamlining zoning regulations, modifying land-use regulations, modernizing building codes, identifying potential housing sites that reduce the costs of construction such as former brown-fields and tax distressed land, tax incentives and increased partnerships between private developers and public entities.
Timothy's Law was designed to end health insurance discrimination by enacting parity in coverage for people with biologically-based psychiatric disabilities. To address cost concerns raised by small businesses, the agreement directs the state Superintendent of Insurance to develop a methodology that would hold businesses with 50 or fewer employees harmless from any increase in insurance premiums that result from this measure. It also requires the state Insurance Department and the Office of Mental Health to conduct a two year study to determine the effectiveness and impact of mental health parity legislation in New York and other states. What would you do to help small business?

I fully support passage of Timothy's Law. Small businesses should not be excluded from providing coverage for their employees. Genuine mental health parity is only guaranteed under the original version, and this is the legislation that I support.
Under Kendra's Law, a state-funded Medicaid grants program has been established to provide medications for eligible individuals with a psychiatric disability upon release or discharge from institutions. This will help eliminate some of the problems associated with the Medicaid coverage gap. Do you support Medicaid Presumptive Eligibility legislation which would eliminate the standard 45 days without coverage, and thus without access to treatment?

To ensure that individuals with psychiatric disabilities make a successful transition back to their communities, we must provide them with access to treatment. Not only is it morally imperative, the Federal government has mandated that states allow for presumptive Medicaid eligibility for people being discharged from institutions into the community. Providing coverage upfront makes for sound social and fiscal policy, as it prevents costly emergency rooms visits and re-instititionalization later on.
By passing the Help America Vote Act of 2002 the U.S. Congress has tried to ensure that people with disabilities will, by 2006, be able to cast an independent, private ballot for the first time. What will you do to ensure successful implementation HAVA?

Increasing ballot access for disabled Americans is critical. I supported the legislative agreement on HAVA. Furthermore, I support legislation S5905, eliminating New York's full-face ballot requirement that currently limits the state's choices in adopting new election technology that could increase ballot access for disabled New Yorkers. We should all be entitled to cast independent, private votes. We have made great strides in this legislative session. I will continue to advocate for increased voting access for people with disabilities.
Disabled children in grades K-12 are entitled to receive a "free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment," but there have been major problems. Most often, schools are not physically accessible and not accommodating their students' needs. What do you propose to correct this problem?

We must strenghten the enforcement of IDEA. Funding must be made available to ensure that ALL students have access to public schools, and that the teachers have the resources necessary to address the needs of students with disabilities. Investments in recruiting and retaining special education teachers is critical to ensuring that more students are educated in an integreted setting with the least possible restrictions. Classrooms, laboratories, and computer facilities must be fully accessible for disabled students. I support the Senate Democrats' budget proposal that includes $20 billion to upgrade old school buidings and build new ones. This commitment of funds would enable necessary and meaningful change for many disabled students. I support the Senate Democrats' budget proposal that includes $20 billion to upgrade old school buildings and build new ones. This commitment of funds would enable necessary and meaningful change for many disabled students.
Despite Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, students with disabilities face problems when pursuing higher education. These statutes do not specify how students should request accommodations or assistance in asserting their rights under the law. Will you support a fully funded office of disability services on each SUNY and CUNY campus to assist students with disabilities in securing accommodations?

I support a fully funded office of disabilities on each SUNY and CUNY campus. The office should advocate on belalf of these students wand help them secure assistance and assert their rights. We must better coordinate financial asssitance programs also, to ensure that students with disabilities can compete on a level playing field. The level of independence necessary for prusuing higher educatoin is rarely attainable for youth with disabilities. We must give disabled students the resources and opportunity they need to excel. Colleges should have disabled student services to help students with disabilities.
What is your position on expanding DRIE (Disabled Rent Increase Exemption) to be the same as SCRIE (Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption) to low-income, eligible persons with disabilities under the age of 62 on the same basis and income level (currently the SCRIE's income cap is $25,000, while DRIE's is $17,000)?

Along with the Senate Democrats, I have proposed the following: a comprehensive preservation strategy to save the State's subsidized housing and help rehabilitate disressed private homes and neighborhoods, the passage of legislation requiring inclusionary zoning policies, which call for inclusion of affordable units as part of market rate residential development and the repeal of the Urstadt Law.
Do you support the extension of Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) to low-income persons with disabilities regardless of age? What would you do to ensure this?

Fifty percent (50%) of New Yorkers have inadequate-to-no prescription drug coverage. Sixty percent (60%) of the uninsured in our state have incomes under 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. By extending EPIC to low-income persons with disabilities the state can better provide prescription drug coverage to those in need.
What would you do to expand accessible transportation options for people with disabilities in NYS?

We must expand and improve the mass transit service for all New Yorkers, and particularly those with disabilties. The subway station renovation program msut be expedited, which will make subway stions more accessible for disabled New Yorkers. I oppose MTA proposals to close street level token booths and similar servic restrictions, which you have an unfailr and disproportionate impact of the disabled.

I would establish a working group with state transit officials and persons with disablities to monitor state and local compliance with making facilities accessible. Input in accessibility compliance for facility construction and upgrades should start in the design phase. This would promote greater compliance as well as reducing compliance costs by reducing the need for modifying facilities after the fact.

The state must ensure addequate MTA funding in the budget for making subway stations more accessible for disabled persoons. The state should also fund subsidized transportation for persons with disabilities, with accessibility criteria beyond current ADA guidelines. The State needs to promote and encourage alternatives that address gaps in service or coordination.

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