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Several New York state Senators and Assembly members say they were surprised to learn that Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration does not provide internet access to people living in state-run group homes and other congregant settings, and they want that fixed immediately.
Senator James Skoufis, the chair of the Committee on Investigations and Government Operations, says two of his constituents alerted him to the lack of Wi-Fi at the state-run group homes. Phil and Maryann Smith’s daughter Michelle, who has a disability, was living at a state-run home when the COVID-19 pandemic started last March. They were not allowed to visit her, and she had no internet access to visit with them virtually. Skoufis, a Democrat, said he was shocked to learn that no facility operated by the state’s Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, or OPWDD, provides broadband access for residents.