Albany, New York – Assemblyman David Weprin, Chair of the Assembly Task Force for People with Disabilities, announced the passage of legislation to better serve the needs of New Yorkers with disabilities in honor of this year’s ‘Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day’.

The Assembly’s legislation includes several Weprin sponsored bills to help improve the quality of life for people with disabilities:

• A2104A provides that absentee ballots for all elections shall be made available in Braille, upon the request of a blind or visually impaired voter.
• A2200 establishes an emergency evacuation plan for individuals with disabilities; and establishes a $500 fine for failure to comply.
• A2658A requires counties to maintain a confidential registry of people of all ages with disabilities for the purpose of evacuating and sheltering such persons during disasters.
• A6243B creates a tax credit for owners of residential buildings to retrofit homes for access to the disabled.

“I am so proud to again co-sponsor Disabilities Awareness Day because it gives us the opportunity to both recognize New Yorkers with disabilities and their fellow advocates and also focus closely on the issues that are priorities to them,” said Assemblymember David Weprin. “When people with disabilities, advocates, service providers and legislators all unite in the common goal of making our state a more inclusive, integrated and accessible place to live, great things can happen for New York’s disability community. I thank the Speaker, my colleagues and everyone in attendance today for their efforts in making New York a better place to live for people with disabilities.”