A group of people with disabilities last week "urged" New York Gov. George Pataki (R) to sign a bill that would create a state panel to study increasing access to home care, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports. According to the group, thousands of disabled people receive care in nursing homes and other institutions even though they could live at home or in a community-based setting if more services and support were available. Chris Hilderbrant, a member of the national disabled-rights group ADAPT, said that many disabled people currently cannot live in community settings because of a lack of wheelchair-accessible housing, a shortage of at-home health aides and the "difficulty many disabled people have finding jobs to pay rent and other expenses." The panel the group is asking for would consider ways for the state to comply with the 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Olmstead v. L.C., which declared that forcing people to live in institutions is discriminatory if they are capable of living in community settings. The panel would be charged with suggesting potential changes to existing laws and creating new state programs, Assembly member Kevin Cahill (D), the bill's sponsor, said. Cahill said he expects the bill to be sent to Pataki "within a day or so." Jennifer Farina, a spokesperson for Pataki, said the governor will "carefully review" the legislation (Jozkowski, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 8/23).