By Alex Robinson
In the wake of Avonte Oquendo’s death, a package of bills aimed at providing additional services for disabled children was highlighted at a joint hearing last Friday.
Among them was City Councilman Paul Vallone’s (D-Bayside) bill that seeks to expand U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) Avonte’s Law.
Schumer’s legislation proposed expanding a U.S. Department of Justice program that provided GPS tracking devices for people with Alzheimer’s to include children with autism as well as other disorders in which running away from parents and caregivers is common.
Vallone’s bill seeks to expand that further to include all children with any disabilities.
Other bills in the package proposed creating a registry for disabled people and amending the city’s silver alert program to include missing people with disabilities. A fourth bill called on the DOJ to fund projects that work to find missing people with autism.
The 14-year-old autistic boy’s remains were found on the College Point shore in January after he disappeared from his Long Island City school three months earlier.
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
