File #: Res 1180-2000    Version: * Name: MTA Half-fare, Mental Illness
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Transportation
On agenda: 2/8/2000
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling upon the Governor and the State Legislature to meet with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and either implement a comprehensive half-fare program for persons with serious mental illness who receive Supplemental Social Security Income or else revise existing law so that the reduced fare provided to the users of the commuter services between New York City and its suburbs may be extended to the users of New York City Transit.
Sponsors: Margarita Lopez, Una Clarke, Tracy L. Boyland, Adolfo Carrion, Pedro G. Espada, Lloyd Henry, Helen M. Marshall, Eva S. Moskowitz, Lawrence A. Warden, Juanita E. Watkins, Thomas White, Stephen DiBrienza, Kenneth K. Fisher, Wendell Foster, Julia Harrison, Sheldon S. Leffler, Guillermo Linares, Stanley E. Michels, Bill Perkins, Victor L. Robles, Michael J. Abel
Council Member Sponsors: 21
Res. No. 1180 Title Resolution calling upon the Governor and the State Legislature to meet with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and either implement a comprehensive half-fare program for persons with serious mental illness who receive Supplemental Social Security Income or else revise existing law so that the reduced fare provided to the users of the commuter services between New York City and its suburbs may be extended to the users of New York City Transit. Body By Council Members Lopez, Clarke, Boyland, Carrion, Espada, Henry, Marshall, Warden, Watkins and White; also Council Members DiBrienza, Fisher, Foster, Harrison, Leffler, Linares, Michels, Perkins, Robles and Abel. Whereas, Serious mental illness is often chronic, results in substantial functional disability and many persons suffering from serious mental illness are eligible to receive supplemental social security income benefits; and Whereas, Currently, reduced fares are available to persons with disability from blindness, mental retardation, deafness and conditions which impair a person's ability to use their limbs; and Whereas, Chapter 103 of the laws of 1997 authorized the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in consultation with the State Office of Mental Health to study the feasibility of providing half-fares to persons with serious mental illness; and Whereas, On May 18, 1999, the MTA distributed a draft of this study to, among others, members of the legislature and the mental health community; and Whereas, Subsequently, Chapter 422 of the Laws of 1999 added a new subdivision 15 to Section 1266 of the public authorities law and required the MTA to implement a half-fare program for persons with serious mental illness who receive SSI benefits; and Whereas, The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has taken the position that this law only applies to commuters traveling between New York City and the suburbs; and Whereas, Advocates for the mentally ill, and legislators from both parties in the State legislature including Member of the Assembly James F. Brennan, Chair of the State Assembly Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities and Senator Frank Padavan, who are sponsors of the legislation, agree that this result was not the intent of Chapter 422 of the laws of 1999; and Whereas, Reportedly, the cost to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of providing reduced fares in the City and the suburbs would be $7 million annually if the fare is restricted to those individuals who receive SSI benefits; and Whereas, The legislature manifestly did not intend to provide reduced fares to commuters from surrounding counties but not to the users of New York City Transit; and Whereas, This honorable body believes that persons with serious mental illness who need the assistance provided by Supplemental Social Security Income should receive a reduced fare that is already provided to persons with other kinds of disability; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the Governor and the State Legislature to meet with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and either implement a comprehensive half-fare program for persons with serious mental illness who receive Supplemental Social Security Income or else revise existing law so that the reduced fare provided to the users of the commuter services between New York City and its suburbs may be extended to the users of New York City Transit. Referred to the Committee on Transportation. ls# 2496 1/19/00 NMR:lc |1013|