State lawmakers called attention this week to legislation that would help New Yorkers who stutter or have a reading-related learning disorder access essential services they need.

There's less than a month to get bills through both houses of the Legislature, but several Democrats said they feel confident they'll get the measures to Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk this year.

"I had a lot of doubt about how I will ever talk as a, you know, as a kid, as an athlete, as a son, father and husband," said former NBA star Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

Kidd-Gilchrist, the second overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft, is a stuttering advocate who has spoken with a stutter since he was a young man. He visited the Capitol this week to push for a bill that would require New York health insurers cover speech therapy for people who have the neurodevelopmental condition. 

"I had made this a major, major priority to leave basketball and also advocate to show my family and my friends, and also me, that I can do it," he told reporters. "I can hold a conversation."

If signed into law, health insurance providers statewide would be required to cover therapy without copayments or visitation limits.

"Families will no longer have to choose between their finances and their child's future," sponsor Assembly Insurance Committee chair David Weprin said. "Everyone deserves a chance to be heard. Everyone deserves access to the tools that help them express themselves and reach their full potential."

The assemblyman said about 3 million Americans have the speech disorder, also known as disfluency. 

The measure is expected to be brought to the floor after advancing through both insurance committees in the last week.

Lawmakers said they're not concerned that insurance companies will put up a fight to mandate coverage for speech therapy for people who stutter. Insurance companies often oppose proposals that expand coverage, which they perceive as an unfunded mandate. Representatives with a handful of insurance companies said Friday the legislation is fair and their companies do not plan to take a position — indicating it could have an easier path to clear both houses in the coming weeks.

Similar legislation has become law in Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

"As long as there's time on the clock, we're going to put the shots up," Senate Insurance Committee chair Jamaal Bailey said. "We have to do that." 

And several literacy organizations rallied for several proposals in Albany this week — marking the 10th annual Dyslexia Advocacy Day.

Children and families affected by dyslexia met with lawmakers to advocate for bills that would mandate school districts conduct early screening for reading-related learning disorders before Kindergarten, and improve literacy instruction training for teachers.

"Currently, we have too many young people who aren't learning to read who arrive in middle school or in high school with very deficient reading skills because they haven't been taught," Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon said.

Gov. Hochul announced a plan last year to implement new literacy guidelines that take effect in the upcoming 2025-26 school year to teach phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, vocabulary and comprehension. 

Simon said the Legislature is working with the State Education Department, Board of Regents and the governor's office to strengthen literacy education for prospective teachers to identify issues earlier.

They also rallied for a bill to require people in prison who do not have a high school diploma be screened for reading-related learning disorders.

"In New York we are lagging behind," Assemblyman Robert Carroll told Spectrum News 1. "We are one of only about seven states now that have no comprehensive literacy laws that outline what are the best practices when it comes to professional development...when it comes to screening and early diagnosis. And then what are the best curriculum that should be implemented in our schools?"

Carroll struggled with dyslexia as a child and said the state must improve its early diagnosis for dyslexia and similar disorders as 41% of fourth-graders in the state read at the lowest performance level. 

The proposals come from recommendations released by the state's Dyslexia and Dysgraphia Task Force last year to influence legislative action.

One of the group's top suggestions was for the state to create guidance for libraries to improve evidence-based literacy practices and better align libraries with New York school districts.

"There's homeschoolers, or kids are in school for a certain amount of time per day," said Marion Waldman, executive director and founder of Teach My Kid to Read. "But the library is most parents' first or second reading teacher after the parent."