VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION SERVICES TO THE HANDICAPPED MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 1972 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D.C. The Select Subcommittee met at 10:15 a.m., pursuant to notice, in room 2261, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. John Brademas (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Committee members present: Representatives Brademas, Quie, and Reid. Staff members present: Jack G. Duncan, counsel, and Dr. Martin L. LaVor, minority legislative coordinator. (Text of H.R. 8395 and H.R. 9847 follows:) [H.R. 8395, 92d Cong., first sess.] A BILL To amend the Vocational Rehabilitation Act to extend and revise the authorization of grants to States for vocational rehabilitation services and for vocational evaluation and work adjustment, to authorize grants for rehabilitation services to those with sensory disabilities, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act, with the following table of contents, may be cited as the "Rehabilitation Act of 1971.” Sec. 300. Declaration of purpose. Sec. 301. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 302. State allotments. Sec. 303. State plans. Sec. 304. Payments to States, for planning, administration, and services. Sec. 306. Nonduplication. (1) PART B-SERVICES TO THE DEAT Sec. 310. Declaration of purpose. Sec. 311. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 312. State allotments. Sec. 313. State plans. Sec. 314. Payments to States, for planning, administration, and services. Sec. 316. Nonduplication. TITLE IV-SPECIAL FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITIES Sec. 400. Declaration of purpose. Sec. 401. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 402. Administration. Sec. 403. Promotion of employment opportunities. Sec. 404. National Information and Resource Center for the Handicapped. Sec. 406. Rehabilitation facility improvement. Sec. 407. Special projects. Sec. 408. National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults. Sec. 409. Comprehensive Rehabilitation Centers for Deaf Youths and Adults. Sec. 500. Effective date. Sec. 501. Effect on existing laws. TITLE V-MISCELLANEOUS STATEMENT OF FINDINGS AND PURPOSE SEC. 2. The Congress finds and declares that (1) there are at least five million disabled people in the United States who need vocational rehabilitation services and that the annual increment of individuals needing such services is about five hundred thousand; (2) almost all of these disabled people are poor or are likely to become so as a result of the disability; (3) there are many other disadvantaged people in need of vocational evaluation and work adjustment services in order to become suitably employed; (4) there are many thousands of blind and of deaf pepole in need of services to assist them in leading productive lives despite their visual or hearing loss; (5) rehabilitation facilities are an absolutely necessary component of a rehabilitation program; (6) rehabilitation involves both public and voluntary agencies; and (7) the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs would be improved by a simplification and streamlining of the grant structure and the use of a flexible, coordinated approach in mobilizing community, State and National resources to meet the needs of the handicapped. ADVANCE FUNDING SEC. 3. (a) For the purpose of affording adequate notice of funding available under this Act, appropriations under this Act are authorized to be included in the appropriation Act for the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which they are available for obligation. (b) In order to effect a transition to the advance funding method of timing appropriation action, the amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply notwithstanding that its initial application will result in the enactment in the same year (whether in the same appropriation Act or otherwise) of two separate appropriations, one for the then current fiscal year and one for the succeeding fiscal year. JOINT FUNDING SEC. 4. Pursuant to regulations prescribed by the President, where funds are advanced for a single project or program by more than one Federal agency to an agency or organization assisted under this Act, any one Federal agency may be designated to act for all in administering the funds advanced. In such cases, a single non-Federal share requirement may be established according to the proportion of funds advanced by each agency, and any such agency may waive any technical grant or contract requirement (as defined by such regulations) which is consistent with the similar requirements of the administering agency or which the administering agency does not impose. CONSOLIDATED REHABILITATION PLAN SEC. 5. (a) In order to secure increased flexibility to respond to the varying needs and local conditions within the State, and in order to permit more effective and interrelated planning and operation of its rehabilitation programs, the State may submit a consolidated rehabilitation plan which includes the State's program of vocational rehabilitation services, its program for evaluation of the rehabilitation potential of handicapped and other disadvantaged individuals, and its programs of services to the blind and the deaf under this Act, and its program for persons with developmental disabilities under the Developmental Disabilities Services and Facilities Construction Amendments of 1970, except that a separate consolidated rehabilitation plan may be submitted for the blind. (b) A consolidated rehabilitation plan must comply with all requirements imposed by the applicable individual titles of this Act and the Developmental Disabilities Services and Facilities Construction Amendments of 1970. (c) If the Secretary finds that the requirements of subsections (a) and (b) are satisfied, he shall approve the pian, which shall serve in all respects as the substitute for the separate plans which would otherwise be requested with respect to each of the programs included therein. (d) (1) If the Secretary finds, after notice and opportunity for a hearing to a State, that a program included in its plan approved under this section no longer complies with all applicable requirements, that program may no longer be included within the plan until the Secretary is satisfied that it meets such requirements. (2) If the statute authorizing the assistance for the program referred to in paragraph (1) requires notice and opportunity for hearing before suspension or termination of assistance or any other such sanction may be imposed, the notice and opportunity for hearing afforded pursuant to paragraph (1) may, at the option of the Secretary, be deemed to have been provided pursuant to the requirements in the statute under which such assistance is extended. (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal law (1) the Secretary may, upon request of the Governor, establish a single Federal share for expenditures under the plan based on (A) the Federal share or shares applicable to the various programs included in the plan, and (B) the total expenditures which may be claimed for Federal financial participation with respect to each such program; and (2) the Governor may transfer an amount, not in excess of 10 per centum of the Federal assistance available to the State with respect to any program included in the plan for any fiscal year, for use in carrying out one or more other such programs in the same fiscal year provided that there is no diminution of State effort in the program receiving the transfer. (f) Any Federal assistance transferred pursuant to subsection (e) shall be subject to the non-Federal share requirements applicable to such assistance prior to such transfer. DEFINITIONS SEC. 6. For the purpose of this Act (a) The population of the several States shall be determined on the basis of the latest figures, furnished by the Department of Commerce by October 1 of the year preceding the fiscal year for which funds are appropriated pursuant to statutory authorizations. (b) The term “Secretary”, except when the context otherwise requires, means the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. (c) The term "State" includes the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam; and for purposes of title IV only of this Act, American Samoa and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and for such purposes the appropriate State agency designated as provided in section 104 (a) (1) shall e the Governor of American Samoa or the High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands as the case may be. (d) (1) The allotment percentage for any State shall be 100 per centum less that percentage which bears the same ratio to 50 per centum as the per capita income of such State bears to the per capita income of the United States, except that (A) the allotment percentage shall in no case be more than 75 per centum or less than 33% per centum, and (B) the allotment percentage for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands shall be 75 per centum. (2) The allotment percentages shall be promulgated by the Secretary between July 1 and September 30 of each even-numbered year, on the basis of the average of the per capita incomes of the States and of the United States for the three most recent consecutive years for which satisfactory data are available from the Department of Commerce. Such promulgation shall be conclusive for each of the two fiscal years in the period beginning July 1 next succeeding such promulgation. (3) The term "United States" means (but only for purposes of this subsection) the fifty States and the District of Columbia. TITLE I-VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION SERVICES DECLARATION OF PURPOSE SEC. 100. The purpose of this title is to authorize grants to assist States in(a) developing and implementing a comprehensive and continuing plan for meeting the current and future needs for services to handicapped individuals; (b) rehabilitating handicapped individuals so that they may prepare for and engage in gainful employment to the extent of their capabilities; (c) developing new and innovative programs of vocational rehabilitation service; and (d) initiating and expanding services to groups of handicapped individuals. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS SEC. 101. (a) In order to make grants to States under section 102 to assist them in meeting costs of vocational rehabilitation services, including the development of new and innovative programs of vocational rehabilitation services, and carry out the State plan under section 104, there is authorized to be appropriated $800,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1973, $950,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1974, and $1,100,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1975. (b) For the purpose of making grants under section 103, relating to grants to States and public and private non-profit agencies to assist them in meeting the costs of projects to initiate or expand services to handicapped individuals, there is authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1973, $60,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June, 1974, and $75,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1975. STATE ALLOTMENTS SEC. 102. (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 subsection (a) of section 101 for meeting 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 6) bears to the sum of the corresponding products for all the States. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, unless enacted in specific limitation of the provisions of this subsection, the allotment to any State may not be reduced to an amount less than the amount to which the State is entitled under the preceding sentence of this subsection except for the purpose of the adjustments specified in the remainder of this subsection. The allotment to any State (other than Guam and the Virgin Islands) under the first sentence of this subsection for any fiscal year which is less than $2,000,000 (or such 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 such States under the first sentence of this subsection, 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 105(b) of the cost of vocational rehabilitation services under the plan for such State approved under section 104, 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 such payments |