ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday proposed the creation of a new state agency to better protect about a million New Yorkers with disabilities and special needs under state-funded care. The administration offered legislation that would establish a new special prosecutor and inspector general, with more than 400 staff, to oversee six state agencies and their contractors. The bill would create a single point for reporting and screening abuse allegations for those in residential care and day programs. It would have a hotline, statewide incident database and a list of employees banned from working with the disabled because of abusive behavior. “As a starting point, what every person who is in a human service facility in this state deserves, while we’re striving for the best, is a threshold,” Cuomo told a room packed with disabled people and advocates who gave him a standing ovation. “They deserve to be safe. They deserve human dignity,” he said. “They deserve to be treated fairly, free from abuse, be it physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse. These are people who are the most vulnerable New Yorkers amongst us. And they are in the state’s care.” There were more than 10,000 alleged abuse reports last year, according to the governor’s office. With the new agency, county prosecutors would continue to have authority to charge abusers, while an inspector general could also apply other sanctions. The proposed agency is expected to cost about $50 million a year to operate. Cuomo cited lax enforcement against abuse, some leading to deaths, in a culture where some workers feared speaking up and others had a sense of immunity. The governor said in contract negotiations with unions they will try to establish “a fair table of penalties,” and added that most staff do good and difficult work. Clarence Sundram, Cuomo’s special adviser on the issue, issued a report on what he called “decades of inadequate care” and said the inconsistencies in the ways the six state agencies set standards for reporting and investigating abuse “have exposed vulnerable people to needless risk of harm.” Cuomo said he’ll push for passage in the remaining weeks of this legislative session. Senate Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos said the allegations are serious and lawmakers are committed to addressing the issue as soon as possible. Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said his chamber’s hearings last year examined the abuse of people with developmental disabilities at group homes and institutions throughout the state. He said Cuomo outlined a plan “to inject much-needed accountability” into the system to eliminate abuse and they support the bill’s “overarching goals.” “Obviously, we need massive reform and this is a starting point,” said Michael Carey, an advocate for the disabled whose 13-year-old autistic son was killed in state care in 2007. He said it is vital that workers call 911 to establish outside records of incidents, and a bill of rights for the disabled is needed, along with the use of video cameras at group homes and institutions, drug testing of staff, and an end to mandatory staff overtime. The six state agencies whose institutions and contractors would be affected are the Department of Health, Office of Mental Health, Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, Office of Children and Family Services, Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services and State Education Department.