89th Congress, H. R. 8310 An Act To amend the Vocational Rehabilitation Act to assist in providing more flexibility in the financing and administration of State rehabilitation programs, and to assist in the expansion and improvement of services and facilities provided under such programs, particularly for the mentally retarded and other groups presenting special vocational rehabilitation problems, and for other purposes. 79 STAT. 1282 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may Vocational Rebe cited as the "Vocational Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1965". habilitation Act Amendments of 1965. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; ALLOTMENTS SEC. 2. (a) Sections 1, 2, and 3 of the Vocational Rehabilitation 68 Stat. 652. Act are amended to read as follows: "AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR GRANTS; PURPOSES FOR WHICH AVAILABLE "SECTION 1. (a) The Secretary is authorized to make grants as provided in this Act for the purpose of assisting States in rehabilitating handicapped individuals so that they may prepare for and engage in gainful employment to the extent of their capabilities, thereby increasing not only their social and economic well-being but also the productive capacity of the Nation. "(b) (1) For the purpose of making grants to States under section 2 to assist them in meeting the costs of vocational rehabilitation services, there is authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1966, the sum of $300,000,000, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1967, the sum of $350,000,000, and for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1968, the sum of $400,000,000. "(2) For the purpose of making grants under section 3, relating to grants to States to assist them in meeting the costs of projects for innovation of vocational rehabilitation services, there is authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1966, the sum of $5,000,000, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1967, the sum of $7,000,000, and for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1968, the sum of $9,000,000. 29 USC 31-33. "(3) For the purpose of making grants (A) under section 4(a) (1) Post, p. 1289. for research, demonstrations, training, and traineeships; (B) under clause (2)(A) of section 4(a) for planning, preparing for, and Post, p. 1290. initiating special programs to expand State vocational rehabilitation services; and (C) under clause (2) (B) of section 4(a) to meet the cost of planning for the development of a comprehensive vocational rehabilitation program in each State, there is authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1966, the sum of $80,000,000, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1967, the sum of $104,000,000, and for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1968, the sum of $117,000,000. "(4) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1969, and each of the succeeding fiscal years, only such sums may be appropriated for the purposes described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as the Congress may hereafter authorize by law. "GRANTS TO STATES FOR VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION SERVICES "SEC. 2. (a) For each fiscal year each State shall be entitled to an allotment of an amount bearing the same ratio to the amount authorized to be appropriated by paragraph (1) of section 1(b) for meeting 68 Stat. 661; 74 Stat. 417. 29 USC 41. Post, p. 1294. 79 STAT. 1283 Time limitation. the cost of vocational rehabilitation services, as the product of (1) the population of the State and (2) the square of its allotment percentage (as defined in section 11(h)) bears to the sum of the corresponding products for all the States. The allotment to any State under the preceding sentence which is less than the amount such State was entitled to receive under subsection (b) of this section for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1965, shall be increased to that amount, the total of the increases thereby required being derived by proportionately reducing the allotments of each of the remaining States under the preceding sentence, but with such adjustments as may be necessary to prevent the allotment of any of such remaining States from being thereby reduced to less than that amount. "(b) For each fiscal year the Secretary shall pay to each State an amount equal to the Federal share (determined as provided in section 11(i)) of the cost of vocational rehabilitation services under the plan for such State approved under section 5, including expenditures for the administration of the State plan, except that the total of such payments to such State for such fiscal year may not exceed its allotment under subsection (a) for such year, and except that the amount otherwise payable to such State for such year under this section shall be reduced by the amount (if any) by which expenditures from nonFederal sources (except for expenditures with respect to which the State is entitled to payments under section 3) during such year under such State's plan are less than such expenditures under such plan for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1965. "GRANTS TO STATES FOR INNOVATION OF VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION SERVICES "SEC. 3. (a) (1) From the sums available for any fiscal year for grants to States to assist them in meeting the costs described in paragraph (2) of this subsection, each State shall be entitled to an allotment of an amount bearing the same ratio to such sums as the population of the State bears to the population of all the States. The allotment to any State under the preceding sentence for any fiscal year which is less than $5,000 (or such other amount as may be specified as a minimum allotment in the Act appropriating such sums for such year) shall be increased to that amount, the total of the increases thereby required being derived by proportionately reducing the allotments to each of the remaining States under the preceding sentence, but with such adjustments as may be necessary to prevent the allotment of any of such remaining States from being thereby reduced to less than that amount. "(2) From each State's allotment under this section for any fiscal year, the Secretary shall pay to such State a portion of the cost of approved projects for vocational rehabilitation services (including their administration) under the State plan which (A) provide for the development of methods or techniques, which are new in the State, for providing vocational rehabilitation services for handicapped individuals, or (B) are specially designed for development of, or provision for, new or expanded vocational rehabilitation services for groups of handicapped individuals having disabilities which are catastrophic or particularly severe. The Secretary shall approve any project for purposes of this section only if the plan of such State approved under section 5 includes such project or is modified to include it. "(b) Payments under this section with respect to any project may be made for a period of not to exceed five years beginning with the commencement of the first fiscal year for which any payment is made with respect to such project from an allotment under this section. To the extent permitted by the State's allotment under this section, such payments with respect to any project shall be equal to 90 per centum of the cost of such project for the first three years and 75 per centum of the cost of such project for the next two years, except that, at the request of the State, such payments may be less than such percentage of the cost of such project. "(c) No payment may be made from an allotment under this section with respect to any cost with respect to which any payment is made under section 2." (b) The amendment made by this section shall be in effect for fiscal years beginning after June 30, 1965, except that payments may be made from a State's allotment under section 3 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act for any project approved under such section before the enactment of this Act. Such payments may be made for the period for which such project was approved and at the rate provided for in such section at the time of such approval. CONSTRUCTION OF REHABILITATION FACILITIES; WORKSHOP IMPROVEMENT; SEC. 3. The Vocational Rehabilitation Act is further amended by redesignating sections 12 and 13 as sections 16 and 17, and by inserting after section 11 the following new sections: "GRANTS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF REHABILITATION FACILITIES AND WORKSHOPS "SEC. 12. (a) Effective for fiscal years beginning after June 30, 1965, the Secretary is authorized to make grants to assist in meeting the costs of construction of public or other nonprofit workshops and rehabilitation facilities. Such grants may be made only for projects for which applications are approved by the Secretary under this section. 79 STAT. 1284 Ante, p. 1282. Ante, p. 676; 68 Stat. 662. 29 USC 31 note. "(b) To be approved, an application for a grant for a construction Applications, project under this section must "(1) contain or be supported by reasonable assurances that (A) for a period of not less than twenty years after completion of construction of the project it will be used as a public or other nonprofit workshop or rehabilitation facility, (B) sufficient funds will be available to meet the non-Federal share of the cost of construction of the project, and (C) sufficient funds will be available, when construction of the project is completed, for its effective use as a workshop or rehabilitation facility, as the case may be; "(2) be accompanied or supplemented by plans and specifications which comply with regulations of the Secretary relating to minimum standards of construction and equipment, and with regulations of the Secretary of Labor relating to safety standards for workshops and rehabilitation facilities: "(3) be approved, in accordance with regulations of the Secretary, by the appropriate State agency designated as provided in section 5(a)(1); "(4) contain or be supported by reasonable assurance that any laborer or mechanic employed by any contractor or subcontractor in the performance of work on any construction aided by payments pursuant to any grant under this section will be paid wages at rates not less than those prevailing on similar construction in the locality as determined by the Secretary of Labor in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act, as amended (40 U.S.C. 276a276a-5); and the Secretary of Labor shall have, with respect to the labor standards specified in this paragraph, the authority and requirements for approval. Post, p. 1291. Labor standards. 49 Stat. 1011; 78 Stat. 238. 64 Stat. 1267. 63 Stat. 108. 78 Stat. 461. Staffing, Federal share of costs. Post, p. 1291. 79 STAT. 1285 functions set forth in Reorganization Plan Numbered 14 of 1950 (15 F.R. 3176; 5 U.S.C. 133z-15) and section 2 of the Act of June 13, 1934, as amended (40 U.S.C. 276c). "(c) The amount of a grant under this section with respect to any construction project in any State shall be equal to the same percentage of the cost of such project as the Federal share which is applicable in the case of rehabilitation facilities (as defined in section 625 (g) of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 2910(g)) in such State, except that if the Federal share with respect to rehabilitation facilities in such State is determined under subparagraph (A) of section 625 (b) (1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2910(b)(1)), the percentage of the cost for purposes of this section shall be determined in accordance with regulations of the Secretary designed to achieve as nearly as practicable results comparable to the results obtained under such subparagraph. "(d) Upon approval of any application for a grant for a construction project under this section, the Secretary shall reserve, from any appropriation available therefor, the amount of such grant determined under subsection (c); the amount so reserved may be paid in advance or by way of reimbursement, and in such installments consistent with construction progress, as the Secretary may determine. In case an amendment to an approved application is approved or the estimated cost of a project is revised upward, any additional payment with respect thereto may be made from the appropriation from which the original reservation was made or the appropriation for the fiscal year in which such amendment or revision is approved. "(e) If, within twenty years after completion of any construction project for which funds have been paid under this section, the workshop or rehabilitation facility shall cease to be a public or other nonprofit workshop or rehabilitation facility, the United States shall be entitled to recover from the applicant or other owner of the workshop or facility the amount bearing the same ratio to the then value (as determined by agreement of the parties or by action brought in the United States district court for the district in which such workshop or facility is situated) of the workshop or facility, as the amount of the Federal participation bore to the cost of construction of such workshop or facility. "(f) The Secretary is also authorized to make grants to assist in the initial staffing of any public or other nonprofit workshop or rehabilitation facility constructed after the date of enactment of this section (whether or not such construction was financed with the aid of a grant under this section) by covering part of the costs (determined in accordance with regulations of the Secretary) of compensation of professional or technical personnel of such workshop or facility during the period beginning with the commencement of the operation of such workshop or facility and ending with the close of four years and three months after the month in which such operation commenced. Such grants with respect to any workshop or facility may not exceed 75 per centum of such costs for the period ending with the close of the fifteenth month following the month in which such operation commenced, 60 per centum of such costs for the first year thereafter, 45 per centum of such costs for the second year thereafter, and 30 per centum of such costs for the third year thereafter. "(g) The Secretary is also authorized to make grants (1) to the State agency or agencies designated as provided in section 5(a) (1) to assist in meeting the cost of determining the State's needs for workshops and rehabilitation facilities and (2) upon application approved by the appropriate State agency so designated for such State, to public or other nonprofit agencies, institutions, or organizations to assist them in meeting the costs of planning workshops and rehabilitation facilities and the services to be provided thereby. STAT. 1286 "(h) Payment of grants under subsection (f) or (g) may be made Payments. (after necessary adjustment on account of previously made overpayments or underpayments) in advance or by way of reimbursement, and in such installments and on such conditions, as the Secretary may determine. "(i) There is authorized to be appropriated for carrying out this Appropriation. section $1,500,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1966, $7,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1967, $9,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1968; and for each of the two succeeding fiscal years only such sums may be appropriated for carrying out this section as the Congress may hereafter authorize by law. Sums so appropriated shall remain available for payment with respect to construction projects approved or initial staffing grants made under this section prior to July 1, 1970. "(j) For purposes of this section— "(1) construction' includes construction of new buildings, acquisition of existing buildings, and expansion, remodeling, alteration, and renovation of existing buildings, and initial equipment of such new, newly acquired, expanded, remodeled, altered, or renovated buildings; "(2) the 'cost' of construction includes the cost of architects' fees and acquisition of land in connection with construction, but does not include the cost of offsite improvements; "(3) a project for construction of a workshop may include such construction as may be necessary to provide residential accommodations for use in connection with the rehabilitation of mentally retarded individuals or such other categories of handicapped individuals as the Secretary may designate. "WORKSHOP IMPROVEMENT "Grants for Projects for Training Services "SEC. 13. (a) (1) The Secretary is authorized, during the period beginning July 1, 1966, and ending June 30, 1971, to make grants to States and public and other nonprofit organizations and agencies to pay 90 per centum of the cost of projects for providing training services to handicapped individuals in public or other nonprofit workshops and rehabilitation facilities. "(2) (A) Training services, for purposes of this subsection, shall include training in occupational skills; related services, including work evaluation, work testing, provision of occupational tools and equipment required by the individual to engage in such training, and job tryouts; and payment of weekly allowances to individuals receiving such training and related services. Definitions. Training and related services defined. (B) Such allowances may not be paid to any individual for any Trainees' alperiod in excess of two years, and such allowances for any week shall lowances. not exceed $25 plus $10 for each of the individual's dependents, or $65, whichever is less. In determining the amount of such allowance for any individual, consideration shall be given to the individual's need for such an allowance, including any expenses reasonably attributable to receipt of training services, the extent to which such an allowance will help assure entry into and satisfactory completion of training, and such other factors, specified by the Secretary, as will promote such individual's fitness to engage in a remunerative occupation. "(3) The Secretary may make a grant for a project pursuant to this Conditions. subsection only on his determination that (A) the purpose of such |