Attached please find the information requested We hope it is satisfactory. Please let us know if we may be of further assistance to the Commission. ADDENDUM TO AGE DISCRIMINATION TESTIMONY You asked for the position of the Office of Revenue Sharing on whether the age discrimination prohibition is to be enforced under the Revenue Sharing Act, or the Age Discrimination Act of 1975. We are inclined to the view, and we believe correctly, that the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of age is enforceable under the procedures prescribed by the Revenue Sharing Act as amended, rather than the procedures set forth in the Age Discrimination Act. As you know, the Revenue Sharing Amendments were passed one year after the Age Discrimination Act. Since both Acts make age discrimination a prohibited practice by recipients of general revenue sharing funds, the later Act should govern where conflict exists regarding procedures. Secondly, § 122(a) of the Revenue Sharing Act as amended provides, with respect to age, that "Any prohibition against discrimination on the basis of age under the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 activity". shall also apply to any such program or (Emphasis added) We construe this provision to mean that the expenditure of revenue sharing funds by recipient governments in any program or activity which discriminates on the basis of age, is prohibited. The prohibition is against age discrimination in activities and programs financed by recipients of revenue sharing funds. The procedures used to effect compliance with all the prohibitions -2 against discrimination are provided in § 122(b) through (f) and SS 124 and 125 of the amended Revenue Sharing Act. Accordingly, it is our view that the enforcement procedures set forth in § 305 of the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 are not applicable where revenue sharing funds are involved because the Revenue Sharing Act has its own enforcement provisions against discriminatory conduct. We find support for the above-stated position in the legislative history of the renewal of the General Revenue Sharing Program. Congress clearly intended that age dis crimination, and other prohibitions added to § 122 (a) of the Revenue Sharing Act, should be enforced by the procedures The enforcement mechanism provided in the 1975 Act -3 an age bias prohibition to the Revenue Sharing Act Further, the House Report (H.R. 94-1165, pt. 1) on its version of the general revenue sharing renewal bill consistently referred to the enforcement procedures as applying to the prohibitions as a whole. The House Report never referred to separate procedures for enforcing the discrimination provisions on the basis of age or handicapped status or religion. For example, the House Report states that a recipient government will be notified of noncompliance after the Secretary has made an initial determination of noncompliance based on his own investigation, and ". . . when a federal or state court or adminis- (House Report 94-1165, Part 1, pg. 13). In conclusion, we take the position that the enforcement procedures contained in §§ 122, 124, and 125 of the Revenue Sharing Act apply to all protected classes established by the Revenue Sharing Act, as amended, including age, handicapped status and religion. The Office of Revenue Sharing is bound only by those provisions of the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 which set forth the scope of the age discrimination prohibition and determine its effective date. |