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Senate bill · S5141 (2025-26)

Establishes a direct service professional credit and career ladder tuition assistance grant program

New York State Senate

Same as A11734, the matching bill in the Assembly.

Latest action Sep 16, 2026

Sponsor: Robert Jackson (State Senator, District 31, Democratic/Working Families)

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From NY Open Legislation, the NY Senate and Assembly, and official rosters. This record was last updated Oct 28, 2026. About our data

Summary

Establishes a direct service professional credit and career ladder tuition assistance grant program to develop training programs and improve existing workforce development programs for the purpose of training direct support professionals and establishing a career ladder for individuals working with individuals with developmental disabilities.

Summary from NY Open Legislation. How we handle summaries

Amends the Mental Hygiene Law.

Purpose, from the sponsor's memo

This legislation would help to address the continuing difficulty the state and providers of supports and services for people with develop- mental disabilities have had recruiting and retaining direct support professionals and creating a career ladder for these employees. This difficulty is particularly true for young people who are hard pressed to pursue their careers and their education while employed in these crit- ically important services.

Filed with the bill. Read it on nysenate.gov (opens in a new tab)

Where it stands

Out of committee and scheduled for a vote by the full chamber.

  1. Introduced
  2. In committee
  3. Up for a vote
  4. Passed one chamber
  5. Passed
  6. Enacted

Committee

Disabilities · New York State Senate

Also referred to Higher Education · New York State Assembly, Higher Education · New York State Senate.

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Cosponsors

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

Read on NY Senate (opens in a new tab)
  • Republican1

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

The sponsor's argument

Why Robert Jackson says this is needed

During the last several years it has become increasingly difficult for OPWDD and local not for profit providers who contract with OPWDD to recruit and retain new DSPs and related middle management personnel. The demands on people to meet various responsibilities in their family and personal lives continue to grow. Family life, career development, and other demands limit people's ability to take these demanding jobs. This is particularly true for DSPs, who need special training in light of the life-threatening situations they are exposed to and confronted with at any given time. This legislation attempts to provide some direct help by focusing on education. This should help OPWDD and OPWDD provid- ers to recruit people who want to attend college but are unable to while working low paying DSP jobs. It will also permit the development of career ladders as they expand their education and skill set.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.

Recorded votes

  • Vote: Committee vote · Disabilities

    Senate DisabilitiesApr 29, 2025Result: passed

    (6) (0) (0) (0)

Full history

  1. Sep 16, 2026

    Referred to committee

    REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION

    NY Assembly

  2. Jan 7, 2026

    Referred to committee

    REFERRED TO DISABILITIES

    NY Senate

  3. Apr 29, 2025

    Reported out of committee

    REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE

    NY Senate

  4. Feb 19, 2025

    Referred to committee

    REFERRED TO DISABILITIES

    NY Senate

Read the record