The Rhode Island Senate has approved a bill to create a commission to develop a plan to help the state comply with the Olmstead plan.
A commission would be established to develop, maintain, and update a continuum of care to allow people with disabilities to receive adequate services and supports in the least restrictive environment possible, according to the legislation approved by the Senate on May 21.
The creation of the commission is in response to the state’s failure to comply with the Olmstead plan, which was established by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999. The Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead v. L.C. that states must make services available to individuals with disabilities in the most integrated setting possible.
“Frankly, the fact that Rhode Island does not have an Olmstead plan decades after the Supreme Court required one is completely unacceptable. We have been consistently failing some of Rhode Island’s most vulnerable residents for far too long and now is the time to rectify this terrible injustice,” said Louis DiPalma, D-Middletown, Little Compton, Newport, Tiverton, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
The legislation now moves to the Rhode Island House of Representatives for consideration.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.
