The New York State Banking Department will issue a grant Request for Proposal to provide funding to help community and advocacy groups obtain the additional staffing, resources and tools needed to assist homeowners with mortgage distress issues. Qualified bidders may submit proposals for funds to support an expansion of existing housing counseling, legal assistance and advocacy programs throughout New York State that provide direct services to prevent foreclosure. The NYS Banking Department encourages proposals that target communities or groups facing foreclosures, including in particular, those that focus on low- to moderate-income (LMI) communities and constituents. Proposals should support the goals of preserving home ownership, engaging in loss mitigation and other foreclosure prevention services and stabilizing communities that face a high rate of foreclosures. To obtain a copy of the Request for Proposal please e-mail [email protected].

PURSUANT to the Open Meetings Law, the New York State Civil Service Commission hereby gives public notice of the following:

Please take notice that the regular monthly meeting of the State Civil Service Commission for March 2008 will be conducted on March 11 commencing at 9:30 a.m. and March 12 at 9:30 a.m. This meeting will be conducted at New York Network, Suite 146, South Concourse, Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY. Directions and parking information available at (www.nyn.suny.edu).

For further information, contact: Office of Commission Operations, Department of Civil Service, Alfred E. Smith State Office Building, Albany, NY 12239, (518) 473-6598.

The City of New York Office of Labor Relations (OLR) is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to provide a Standard & Poor's 500 Index Separate Account for the Equity Index Fund option of the City of New York Deferred Compensation Plan. The Request for Proposals will be available beginning on Monday, February 25, 2008. Responses are due no later than 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, April 7, 2008. To obtain a copy of the RFP, please visit the OLR web site at: http://nyc.gov/html/olr/html/requests/rfp.shtml

If you have any questions, please submit them by fax to Georgette Gestely, Director, New York City Deferred Compensation Plan, at (212) 306-7376.

Pursuant to Public Officers Law Section 104, the Division of Criminal Justice Services gives notice of a meeting of the Motor Vehicle Theft & Insurance Fraud Prevention Board:

If you have any questions regarding the meeting, please contact: Paula Raiti, Division of Criminal Justice Services, Office of Program Development and Funding, Albany, NY 12203, (518) 457-8404

Confirmation of Next Meeting

This will confirm the next meeting of the Probation Commission will be held on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Division of Criminal Justice Services CrimeStat Conference Rm. at Four Tower Place, 1st Fl., Albany, NY 12203.

Contact: Linda J. Valenti, (518) 485-2394 or Barbara Flanigan, (518) 485-7692

Pursuant to the provisions of 9 NYCRR, Section 9003.2 authorized by Section 5 of the State Finance Law, the New York State Deferred Compensation Board, beginning Monday, February 25, 2008 is soliciting proposals from Financial Organizations to provide custodian and trustee services for the Deferred Compensation Plan for Employees of the State of New York and Other Participating Public Jurisdictions, a plan meeting the requirements of Section 457 of the Internal Revenue Code and Section 5 of the State Finance Law, including all rules and regulations issued pursuant thereto.

A copy of the request for proposals may be obtained from Linda F. Schlissel, Senior Consultant, Evaluation Associates, 200 Connecticut Ave., Suite 700, Norwalk, CT 06854-1958, (203) 855-2260.

All proposals must be received no later than the close of business on Friday, March 28, 2008.

In accordance with the policy of the New York State Education Department to provide public notice of Regents Accreditation of Teacher Education (RATE) actions, the Department hereby gives notice that the Board of Regents has taken the following accreditation actions from February 2007 through January 2008.

• Accredit the teacher education programs offered by Roberts Wesleyan College, effective February 13, 2007, for a period beginning immediately and ending on February 12, 2010, with the following condition: RATE Annual Reports must address all areas of improvement or compliance as identified by the PSPB, with particular attention to faculty, curriculum (including collaboration between Teacher Education faculty and Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty), resources, and assessment of candidate achievement and the teaching effectiveness of graduates.

• Accredit the teacher education programs offered by Yeshiva University, effective February 13, 2007, for a period beginning immediately and ending on February 12, 2010, with the following condition: Submission of a compliance work plan within the 60 days following Regents action to accredit the institution. The actions described in the work plan must produce full compliance within the three-year term of accreditation, address each area for improvement in detail, and provide evidence of work in high-needs schools.

• Accredit the Childhood Education Program offered by Boricua College, effective February 13, 2007, for a period beginning immediately and ending on February 12, 2010, with the following conditions: Submission of a compliance work plan within 60 days of the Regents action to link to the actions/plans addressing all areas for improvement identified by the RATE team, which was presented in the College's September 19, 2006 and November 9, 2006 responses; and a focused site-visit to be conducted in 2007 to verify the evidence presented in the College's responses.

• Accredit the teacher education programs offered by Touro College, effective February 13, 2007, for a period beginning immediately and ending on February 12, 2010.

• Accredit the teacher education program offered by School of Visual Arts, effective October 23, 2007, for a period beginning immediately and ending on October 22, 2010, with the following condition: Annual reports focus on progress to address the following areas: faculty loads; diversity of faculty and students; assessment of candidates and graduates, including evidence of P-12 student learning; and curriculum alignment with New York State Learning Standards.

• Accredit the teacher education programs offered by Marymount Manhattan College, effective December 14, 2007, for a period beginning immediately and ending on December 13, 2014, with the following condition: Submission of a comprehensive report within three years to document evidence of 1) identification of education program goals; 2) assessment of how well program goals are met; and 3) assessment of graduate effectiveness.

Pursuant to 42 CFR § 447.205, the Department of Health hereby gives public notice of the following:

The Department of Health proposes to amend the Title XIX (Medicaid) State Plan for Long Term Care Services, to effect the following change based on regulatory action to be taken by the New York State Hospital Review and Planning Council.

Effective as of the adoption of the regulation by the Council, the Commissioner of Health will make rate enhancements to certain residential health care facilities (RHCFs) who demonstrate that they can meet or exceed defined quality measures for pressure ulcer care of chronic residents. The rate adjustments will be awarded based on a RHCF's performance in one or both of these categories:

1) An award will be made for the best performers in the evaluation period January 1 through December 31, 2007; and

2) An award will be made for the best improvement in care from the base period July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007, compared to the period July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008. An exception to this is those RHCFs in the bottom quarter percentile of all eligible facilities in this category will not receive an award even if they show an improvement in the evaluation period.

The following factors will be considered by the Commissioner in making the awards:

1) The quality measure of pressure ulcer will be risk adjusted using patient health factors to include, but be limited to, coma, malnutrition, diseases and conditions related to pressure ulcer, low body mass index, and plegia (paraplegia or hemiplegia);

2) Pressure ulcer rates will be considered only for chronic care residential health care facility residents;

3) In order to be eligible to be considered for a rate enhancement, a residential health care facility must have averaged more than one prevented pressure ulcer per quarter of the applicable evaluation period as calculated by comparing the actual number of residents with a pressure ulcer to the expected number of residents with a pressure ulcer based on the facility's risk adjusted pressure ulcer rate.

4) Any residential health care facility receiving a written deficiency for substandard quality of care, as defined in federal regulation 42 CFR § 488.301, during the evaluation periods contained in this section will be excluded from receiving an award.

Additionally, the RHCFs qualifying to receive the rate enhancements as the result of meeting the defined quality measures will, prior to the rate enhancement, inform the Commissioner in writing of their proposed use of the awards to further improve quality of care for the residents.

The rate enhancements will be made based on the qualifying RHCF's percent of patient days of care attributable to patients eligible for medical assistance pursuant to title eleven of article five of the social services law.

The estimated annual increase in gross Medicaid expenditures attributable to this provision for 2008 is $3 million.

Copies of the proposed state plan amendments will be on file in each local (county) social services district and available for public review.

For the New York City district, copies will be available at the following places:

The public is invited to review and comment on this proposed state plan amendment.

For further information and to review and comment, please contact: Mr. Philip N. Mossman, Department of Health, Bureau of Health Economics, Corning Tower Bldg., Rm. 1110, Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12237, (518) 473-8822, (518) 486-5796 (FAX), e-mail: [email protected]

Pursuant to 19 NYCRR 1205, the petitions below have been received by the Department of State for action by the Uniform Code Regional Boards of Review. Unless otherwise indicated, they involve requests for relief from provisions of the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code. Persons wishing to review any petitions, provide comments, or receive actual notices of any subsequent proceeding may contact Steven Rocklin, Codes Division, Department of State, 41 State Street, Albany, NY 12231, (518) 474-4073 to make appropriate arrangements.

2007-1605 Matter of Michael Giammarinaro, 7709 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11209 for an appeal and/or variances concerning fire-safety requirements, including the need to have a minimum 6 feet 8 inch ceiling height in a basement.

Involved is the alteration of a one-family dwelling, located at 127 Maple Avenue, Town of Brookhaven, County of Suffolk, State of New York.

2008-0082 Matter of Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building, 1550 Franklin Avenue, Mineola, NY 11550 for an appeal and/or variances concerning fire-safety requirements, including the need to have fire resistive protections for openings in a corridor.

Involved is the alteration of and addition to an Office Building, located at 1550 Franklin Avenue, Village of Meniola, County of Nassau, State of New York.

2008-0102 Jeff Flanders, Mayshark Builders Inc., P.O. Box 12, Maple Springs, New York 14756 for a variance concerning permission to install windows and door within a three-foot lot line (exterior wall) … Section 302.2 openings shall not be permitted in the exterior wall of a dwelling or accessory building with a fire separation distance less than three feet.

Involved is the renovation in a building of R2 (two-family dwelling unit) occupancy, two stories in height, of Type V combustible construction having a cumulative gross floor area of 2,172 square feet, known as Chautauqua Institute, located at Seven Roberts Ave., County of Chautauqua, State of New York.

Pursuant to Section 9-0505 of the Environmental Conservation Law, the Department of Environmental Conservation hereby gives public notice of the following:

Sealed bids for 14 cords, more or less, and 238.8 MBF, more or less, of red pine and white pine timber located on Allegany Reforestation Area No. 2; Stand 25, will be accepted at the Department of Environmental Conservation, Contract Unit, 625 Broadway, 10th Floor, Albany, New York 12233-5027 until 11:00 a.m., Thursday, March 13, 2008.

For further information, contact: Dave Zlomek, Senior Forester, Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Lands and Forests, Region 9, 5425 County Rte. 48, Belmont, NY 14813-9758, (585) 268-5392

Pursuant to Section 9-0505 of the Environmental Conservation Law, the Department of Environmental Conservation hereby gives public notice for the following:

Sealed bids for 146.8 MBF, more or less, of Norway spruce; 753 tons, more or less, of red pine; 243 tons, more or less, of European larch; 4.9 MBF, more or less, of black cherry; 0.7 MBF, more or less, of hard maple; 0.3 MBF, more or less, of white ash; 0.2 MBF, more or less, of red maple and 26 cords, more or less, of hardwood firewood located on Chenango Reforestation Area No. 20; Stands C-1, 3 & 4, will be accepted at the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Contract Unit, 625 Broadway, 10th Floor, Albany, New York 12233-5027 until 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 13, 2008.

For further information, contact: Robert Slavicek, Supervising Forester, Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Lands and Forests, Region 7, 2715 State Hwy. 80, Sherburne, NY 13460-4507, (607) 674-4036