[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4595 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4595
To support local governments for jurisdictions that elect or appoint a
person with a disability in providing the accommodations needed for the
elected or appointed official to carry out their official work duties,
and to build the capacity of local governments to have consistent and
adequate funding for accommodations.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 21, 2022
Mr. Casey (for himself, Mr. Booker, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Duckworth, Mr.
Blumenthal, Mr. Brown, Mr. Wyden, Mrs. Gillibrand, and Mr. Padilla)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To support local governments for jurisdictions that elect or appoint a
person with a disability in providing the accommodations needed for the
elected or appointed official to carry out their official work duties,
and to build the capacity of local governments to have consistent and
adequate funding for accommodations.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Accessibility and Inclusion to
Diversify Local Government Leadership Act'' or the ``AID Local
Government Leadership Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
estimates approximately 1 in 4 adults in the United States has
a disability.
(2) Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that
the labor force participation rate of people with disabilities
is consistently half of that of people without disabilities.
(3) The National Council on Independent Living reports that
people with disabilities are underrepresented in elected
offices.
(4) Local governments are required, under the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990, to provide reasonable
accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to
perform official work duties.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to support local governments for jurisdictions that
elect or appoint a person with a disability, in providing the
accommodations needed for the local elected or appointed
official to carry out the official's official work duties, to
enable the governments to meet the requirement described in
subsection (a)(4); and
(2) to build the capacity of local governments, who
otherwise do not have adequate funding to provide the
accommodations, to have adequate and consistent funding to
provide the accommodations for such officials.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Assistive technology.--The term ``assistive
technology'' means technology designed to be utilized in an
assistive technology device or assistive technology service.
(2) Assistive technology device; assistive technology
service.--The terms ``assistive technology device'' and
``assistive technology service'' have the meanings given the
terms in section 3 of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 (29
U.S.C. 3002).
(3) Disability.--The term ``disability'' has the meaning
given the term in section 3 of the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102).
(4) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian tribe'' has the
meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).
(5) Local appointed official.--The term ``local'', used
with respect to an appointed official, means an individual
who--
(A) is appointed to a position on an advisory
committee that makes recommendations to local
government; and
(B) is not paid for the individual's work in the
position.
(6) Local elected official.--The term ``local'', used with
respect to an elected official, means an official who is
elected for a position, from a village, town, county, or other
municipality that is not national or statewide, via an election
authorized by a local election board.
(7) Local government.--The term ``local government'' means
the government of any village, town, city, county, or other
municipality that is not national or statewide.
(8) Reasonable accommodation.--The term ``reasonable
accommodation'' has the meaning given the term in section 101
of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.
12111).
(9) Rural.--The term ``rural'', used with respect to an
area, means an area classified as a rural commuting area under
the Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes developed by the Secretary
of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
(10) Secretary.--Except as otherwise specified, the term
``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Labor, acting through the
Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy.
(11) State.--The term ``State'' means any of the 50 States,
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,
Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.
(12) Work duties.--The term ``work duties'' means the
essential functions of an employment position.
SEC. 4. COMMUNITY GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--From the amounts appropriated to carry out this
Act, the Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities in any State
or associated with any Indian tribe in order to provide, to local
elected or appointed officials who have disabilities, reasonable
accommodations needed to enable the officials to carry out their
official work duties, which accommodations may include--
(1) physical adaptations of office space and other spaces
used for public events;
(2) specialized software;
(3) communication supports, including sign language
interpreters;
(4) provision of transportation services for an official
work event (excluding transportation for commuting); and
(5) other assistive technology devices and assistive
technology services needed to carry out official work duties.
(b) Awards.--
(1) Process.--During a fiscal year, the Secretary shall
award the grants on a first-come, first-served basis until the
funds appropriated under this section for that year are
exhausted. If funds appropriated under this section are not
exhausted for a fiscal year, the Secretary may use the funds to
award such grants during a subsequent fiscal year.
(2) Amounts.--The Secretary shall award such a grant in an
amount of not less than $3,000 and not more than $50,000, per
year of the grant period.
(c) Grant Period.--The Secretary shall award such a grant for a
period equal to--
(1) the number of years the local elected or appointed
official involved will be in office during the official's first
term; and
(2) 2 years.
(d) Eligible Entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
this section, an entity shall be a local government--
(1) that has a local elected or appointed official who has
a disability and needs a reasonable accommodation to carry out
the official's official work duties; and
(2) for a jurisdiction that--
(A) is in a rural area;
(B) has a population of less than 10,000; or
(C) has a population of 10,000 to less than
200,000, and a poverty rate of 18 percent or greater,
according to the most recent data available from the
Bureau of the Census.
(e) Application and Selection.--
(1) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
this section, an entity shall submit an application to the
Secretary, in accordance with a process prescribed by the
Secretary, that shall include, at a minimum--
(A) a description of--
(i) the position, including the official
work duties of the position, held by the local
elected or appointed official involved;
(ii) the needed reasonable accommodations
for the local elected or appointed official;
and
(iii) a budget to cover those
accommodations; and
(B) assurances that the eligible entity will--
(i) use the grant funds only for reasonable
accommodations needed for the local elected or
appointed official involved to carry out their
official work duties;
(ii) provide, for each fiscal year, non-
Federal matching funds equal to not less than
25 percent of the amount provided through the
grant for that fiscal year;
(iii) use the non-Federal matching funds to
fund a reasonable accommodations funding
account;
(iv) continue the funding of that account
for at least 4 years after the end of the grant
period, maintaining a balance in the account
equal to the total amount of non-Federal
matching funds provided by the entity during
the grant period;
(v) use the account solely for the purposes
of assisting local elected and appointed
officials who have disabilities, by providing
reasonable accommodations needed to carry out
their official work duties; and
(vi) submit annual reports on the grant
activities as required by the Secretary.
(2) Selection process.--The Secretary shall award grants in
accordance with a process prescribed by the Secretary.
(f) Allowable Use.--An eligible entity that receives a grant under
this Act may use the grant funds for reasonable accommodations needed
to enable a local elected or appointed official who has a disability to
carry out the official work duties of the local elected or appointed
official. The reasonable accommodations may include the physical
adaptations, specialized software, communication supports, and devices
and services, described in subsection (a).
(g) Annual Report.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall annually prepare a
report regarding the impact of the grant program carried out
under this section, which report shall include--
(A) the number of applications received under the
program;
(B) the number of eligible entities that received a
grant;
(C) a description of the communities receiving the
grant funding, such as--
(i) information on whether the communities
are--
(I) rural areas or jurisdictions
described in subsection (d)(2); or
(II) other types of communities;
(ii) race and ethnicity data for the
communities;
(iii) information on the percentage of the
population of the communities that is living in
poverty; and
(iv) related community demographics;
(D) a description of the types of positions held by
the local elected or appointed officials supported; and
(E) a description of the types of adaptations,
services, assistive technology, technology,
communication services, and other reasonable
accommodations funded through the grants in order for
the local elected or appointed officials to carry out
their official responsibilities.
(2) Information added after second year.--Beginning with
the third year of the program and for each subsequent year, in
addition to the information specified in paragraph (1), the
report shall include--
(A) the total amount of funds eligible entities
receiving the grants invested in reasonable
accommodations funding accounts; and
(B) aggregate data on the age, sex, gender
identity, race and ethnicity, and disability of the
local elected or appointed officials the grant program
is supporting.
(3) Submission.--The Secretary shall annually submit the
report prepared under this subsection to--
(A) the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on Education and Labor of the
House of Representatives; and
(C) the Special Committee on Aging of the Senate.
(h) Administration.--From the amounts made available under
subsection (i) for a fiscal year, the Secretary may reserve and use not
more than 1 percent for administration of the grant program carried out
under this section.
(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to
carry out this Act, $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024
through 2030.
(2) Availability.--Funds appropriated under paragraph (1)
shall remain available until expended.
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