Below is a video clip from the hearing, in which Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky discusses how the TLC’s Taxi of Tomorrow Request for Proposal (RFP) does not make accessibility a requirement in vehicle designs, only a goal. My bill (A.7842) would mandate a 100% accessible taxi fleet by requiring that after June 30, 2011, taxi owners may put only accessible cabs into service when replacing old vehicles.

You can access video footage of the entire hearing here.

On Wednesday I held a hearing with the Assembly Committee on Cities, Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, Committee on Transportation, and the Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities, focusing on the need to achieve a fully accessible taxi fleet, and on my legislation (A. 7842) to mandate that after June 30, 2011, taxi owners may put only accessible cabs into service when replacing old vehicles.

At the hearing, Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky admitted that the TLC’s central dispatch pilot program was a failure. Back in December 2007, I wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Post raising concerns about the program. Unfortunately, my predictions proved correct. Now that this two-year pilot program has ended, the TLC has no way of getting accessible taxis to the people who need them. Until there are more accessible taxis on the road, the nearly 60,000 people with disabilities in New York City will continue to be left stranded- and as it stands, the TLC still has no firm plans to provide equal service for customers with disabilities.

As the hearing highlighted, the Commission’s plans for a “Taxi of Tomorrow” fail to include any guarantee of accessibility. The TLC’s Taxi of Tomorrow Request for Proposals (RFP) only makes accessibility a goal, not a mandate. Without such a mandate, the door is left open for accessibility criteria to fall by the wayside when determining the vehicle chosen for the Taxi of Tomorrow initiative. Accessibility should be a requirement, not a goal.

This bill means that Islanders will have a greater role in the governing process—it opens up the corporation to the public and establishes the principle that Island residents must have a say in how the Island is run.

The legislation gives the public a role in the process of hiring the RIOC President — requiring the Board of Directors to consider at least three candidates for the job and to hold hearings allowing members of the public as well as Board members to interview the candidates. It requires that meetings of the Board of Directors be subject to the state’s open meetings law, and specifies that members of the public must have an opportunity to comment on all agenda items before the Board votes on those items.

The bill also provides that two of the public members of RIOC’s Board of Directors will be chosen upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the Assembly and the Temporary President of the State Senate—who will make their suggestions based on consultation with the local member of the Assembly and the Senate, ensuring input for the elected officials who are most answerable to Roosevelt Island residents.

The bill’s passage is a victory for Roosevelt Islanders — a clear affirmation of residents’ right to be part of the Island’s decision making process.

I am pleased to announce that my bill to ban this outrageous practice has now passed the Legislature, and will go to the Governor for his signature. This bill will protect millions of New Yorkers who might otherwise find themselves unable to afford the medication they depend upon.

In states such as California, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, insurance companies have created specialty price tiers for patients with conditions including breast cancer, leukemia, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, HIV and AIDS, cystic fibrosis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, hepatitis B and C, diabetes, psoriasis, kidney disease, anemia, and other serious medical conditions. These patients are charged “coinsurance,” typically 25%-33% of the total retail cost of the drug per month, instead of a flat co-payment for drugs they need to save their life or to prevent disease progression—many of which cost of hundreds or thousands of dollars each month.

Specialty tiering is an insidious practice which has become a major problem for patients in states where it is allowed. This bill will stop it from happening here in New York. I urge the Governor to do the right thing for patients and sign the legislation into law.

The bill passed the Assembly yesterday. It had passed the State Senate, where it was sponsored by Senator Tom Duane, on June 3. You can read my report on the how this legislation will benefit New Yorkers by clicking here: http://www.micahkellner.net/specialtytiers.pdf.

Below is a joint statement from myself and Council Member Lappin about this exciting news:

“It is with great joy that we are able to announce that the Roosevelt Island gifted and talented program has been saved. Two weeks ago, the Department of Education unilaterally announced that the program would not be accepting a class of kindergarteners for next year. This was the wrong decision and our offices immediately began working with parents and school officials to make it right. At a meeting with us and parents on June 11, the DOE committed to maintaining the program if at least 18 students could be found who were interested in attending. Our offices worked with parents from Manhattan, Queens, and Roosevelt Island to spread the word and recruit families for this program.

“We’d especially like to commend PTA President Nikki Leopold, Principal Mandana Beckman, and Elizabeth Rose of the DOE for their efforts to preserve the G&T program on Roosevelt Island. This is excellent news and we look forward to continuing to watch the G&T program on the Island grow and thrive in the years to come.”

I was proud to be one of the first elected officials to sign the three reform pledges sponsored by Mayor Ed Koch’s New York Uprising. The pledges are aimed at changing the culture of Albany and reforming our state’s government.

I am passionate about cleaning up Albany. I have introduced important new reform legislation–toughening anti-corruption laws, cracking down on government waste, making government more transparent, and opening up policy debates to the public. The New York Uprising pledges represent precisely the kind of change I am working to bring about.

“I applaud Assembly Member Micah Kellner as a “Hero of Reform” for signing the three New York Uprising pledges. This year voters are counting on candidates to commit to specific reforms in advance, as Assembly Member Kellner has done. I look forward to working with him to see them swiftly implemented should he be reelected.” — Mayor Koch

The pledges include the following:

Ethics Reform: As a signer, I pledge to support the creation of a state ethics commission, a comprehensive annual financial disclosure form for state officials, and an end to “pay-to-play” campaign contributions;

Redistricting Reform: I pledge to support the creation of an independent, nonpartisan redistricting commission in order to end gerrymandering and take politics out of the redistricting process; and

Responsible Budgeting: I pledge to support the adoption of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to prepare and manage the state’s budget, as well as the creation of an Independent Budget Office, and other reforms to the state’s budget process.

Roosevelt Island Day is one of my favorite summer events — it’s great to spend time with so many members of the Island community, enjoying the wonderful weather, the games, and the festive atmosphere.

I was happy to be part of this year’s celebration, and pleased to be able to sponsor a free Child ID service in conjunction with New York Life, the Masons, and the Eagle Scouts–offering parents the opportunity to obtain a record of their children’s identifying information which can be used in the event that a child becomes lost or missing.

It was a pleasure seeing so many of my Roosevelt Island friends on Saturday, and I look forward to another year of working with Island residents.

Assembly Member Kellner (r) with Lynn DeGregorio, Foundation Board Member Jennifer Carlson, and members of the DeGregorio family.

Yesterday the Assembly passed my resolution calling on Governor Paterson to declare today Gastric and Esophageal Cancer Awareness Day.

Upper Gastrointestinal Malignancies - including cancers of the stomach, esophagus, and the gastroesaphogeal junction - are responsible for over one million new cancer diagnoses worldwide, and are the second most common cause of global, cancer-related deaths.

I introduced the resolution after coming to know of the work of the DeGragorio Family Foundation, which was created by Lynn DeGregorio. Lynn lost 10 members of her family to gastric cancer. After she herself tested negative for the genetic mutation associated with the cancers, Lynn decided she was spared for a reason, and she dedicated herself to helping others – working toward containment and treatment of these cancers.

Lynn founded the DeGregorio Family Foundation to carry on this mission. In the short time since, she has almost single-handedly raised $1 million to fight Gastric and Esophageal Cancer. She has also worked with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to create gastric cancer registries in the United States, Germany, Korea, and Nigeria. The registries will provide a database of the individuals at highest risk for gastric cancer. They will also include tissue and blood samples for future studies, to help researchers and physicians manage and treat these cancers.

I commend the DeGregorio Foundation for their enormously important work in fighting Gastric and Esophageal Cancer. I hope that by declaring June 17 Gastric and Esophageal Cancer Awareness Day we will help raise awareness and inspire action on the part of the public and private sectors to find effective treatments and eventually a cure.

The submetering plan at Eastwood presented a host of problems for tenants. The building’s poor insulation and clunky electric heat would have meant that under submetering, tenants would be paying enormous electric bills just to keep warm in the winter. And the electric charges would be deemed as rent in tenant’s leases–meaning that tenants could be taken to housing court and potentially evicted for nonpayment of their electric bills. Tenants faced the prospect of having to choose between paying the rent and heating their homes.

I am proud to report that, yesterday, the Assembly passed a critical tenant protection bill which I introduced in response to this threat. The bill (A. 7353-A) prohibits landlords from deeming electrical charges as rent. This legislation means that tenants will no longer be faced with the possibility of eviction in the event that they are unable to pay their electric bill. It will also help guarantee that tenants are able to exercise their rights as energy consumers, and if necessary, get assistance in paying their bills.

I will continue working to ensure that all the necessary protections are put into place to eliminate the threat of electrical submetering once and for all.

Today, I released a report (”Prohibiting Specialty Tiers in Prescription Drug Formularies”), which you can download as a PDF or read below.
Prohibiting Specialty Tiers in Prescription Drug Formularies

Specialty tiering is a rapidly growing practice, and we need to stop it in New York while we still can. In 2004, only 3% of health insurance plans nationwide included a specialty tier, but that number jumped to 17.5% in 2009—and there is reason to believe that insurers in New York are contemplating incorporating specialty tiers into their plans. This is antithetical to the purpose of insurance, which is the spreading of costs. Charging New Yorkers who are the most ill for the bulk of the cost of insurance is morally reprehensible—and terrible public health policy.

The drugs that insurance plans commonly categorize as “specialty” drugs under specialty tier schemes are used to treat conditions that impact almost four million New Yorkers. These diseases and conditions include: breast cancer, colorectal cancer, leukemia, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, HIV and AIDS, cystic fibrosis, Chron’s disease, ulcerative colitis, hepatitis B and C, diabetes, psoriasis, kidney disease, anemia, and neutropenia, among other serious medical conditions.

When severely ill people face financial problems because of medical bills they are four to five times more likely to stop treatment. Banning specialty tiers in New York will ensure that people with life threatening illnesses and chronic diseases never have to choose between spending hundreds—or even thousands—of dollars on the drugs they need to stay alive or to pay the rent or buy groceries for their family.

The bill (A.8278-b/S.5000-b) has passed the State Senate and is scheduled for a vote in the Assembly’s Insurance Committee on Wednesday.