Senator James Skoufis (D-Hudson Valley) has been honored with a legislative leadership award by disabilities advocacy agency Independent Living. Skoufis, a former disabilities task force chair when he served in the Assembly and the sponsor of numerous pieces of legislation aimed at improving day-to-day life for those with disabilities, accepted the award at the organization’s 35th anniversary celebration earlier this month.
“President/CEO Doug Hovey and his entire team are one of the premier advocacy groups for folks with disabilities in New York State, and it’s been a true privilege to fight alongside them,” said Senator Skoufis. “I am honored to receive this award for my continued efforts in the state legislature and look forward to partnering with them in the years ahead on even more quality-of-life issues impacting our disabilities community.”
In 2022, the Senator’s bill (S.1836) creating an agency-level Chief Disabilities Officer position within state government was signed into law, and he was on the front lines of the Fair Pay for Homecare movement, advancing a $3 per hour pay raise for New York’s homecare workforce.
He has also sponsored legislation to establish a minimum staffing goal for people with disabilities within state employment (S.1629), to eliminate exemptions that keep employees with disabilities from earning the minimum wage (S.1828), to create Medicaid funding parity for those receiving residential day services (S.1846), to provide free access to public campsites and outdoor recreation spaces to those requiring use of a wheelchair (S.1833), to provide early dyslexia screening and supportive instruction for New York’s students (S.7418), and much more.