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10. VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION ACT, AS AMENDED THROUGH THE 90TH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

Enacted on June 2, 1920, as Public Law No. 236, 66th Congress (41 Stat. 735). Amended on June 5, 1924, by P.L. 200, 68th Congress (43 Stat. 430); on June 9, 1930, by P.L. 317, 71st Congress (46 Stat. 524); on June 30, 1932, by P.L. 222, 72nd Congress (47 Stat. 448); on July 6, 1943, by P.L. 113, 78th Congress (57 Stat. 374); on August 3, 1954, by P.L. 565, 83rd Congress (68 Stat. 652); on November 8, 1965, by P.L. 89-333 (79 Stat. 1282); and on October 3, 1967, by P.L. 90-99 (81 Stat. 250).

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Vocational Rehabilitation Act."

AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR GRANTS: PURPOSES FOR
WHICH AVAILABLE

SECTION 1. (a) The Secretary is authorized to make grants as 29 U.S.C. 31. 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, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1969, the sum of $500,000,000, 81 Stat. 250. and for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1970, the sum of $600,000,000.

(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.

(3) For the purpose of making grants (A) under section 4(a) (1) for research, demonstrations, training, and traineeships; (B) under clause (2) (A) of section 4(a) for planning, preparing for, and 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.

29 U.S.C. 32.

29 U.S.C. 33.

(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 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 non-Federal 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 REHABILI

TATION 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.

(d) 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.

GRANTS FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS

SEC. 4. (a) From the sums available therefor for any fiscal 20 U.S.C. 34. year, the Secretary shall make grants (1) to States and public and other non-profit organizations and agencies for paying part of the cost of projects for research, demonstrations, training, and traineeships, and projects for the establishment of special facilities and services, which, in the judgment of the Secretary, hold promise of making a substantial contribution to the solution of vocational rehabilitation problems common to all or several States, and

(2)(A) to States and public and other nonprofit organizations and agencies for paying part of the cost of planning, preparing for, and initiating special programs to expand vocational rehabilitation services in those States where, in the judgment

81 Stat. 251.

81 Stat. 251. 81 Stat. 251.

of the Secretary, such action holds promise of yielding a substantial increase in the number of persons vocationally rehabilitated, except that sums appropriated for any fiscal year beginning after June 30, 1970, shall not be available for grants under this clause, and sums appropriated for any fiscal year ending prior to July 1, 1970, for grants under this clause shall remain available for such grants until the close of June 30, 1971, and (B) to States (but not to exceed $100,000 for any State for any fiscal year) to meet the cost of planning for the development of a comprehensive vocational rehabilitation program in each State, with a view to achieving the orderly development of vocational rehabilitation services in the State (including vocational rehabilitation services provided by private nonprofit agencies), and making vocational rehabilitation services available to all handicapped individuals in the State by July 1, 1975, except that sums appropriated for any fiscal year beginning prior to July 1, 1965, or ending after June 30, 1968, shall not be available for grants under this clause, and sums appropriated for the period beginning July 1, 1965, and ending June 30, 1968, for grants under this clause shall remain available for such grants until the close of June 30, 1969. Grants for training and traineeships under clause (1) of this subsection may include training and traineeships in physical medicine and rehabilitation, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology and audiology, rehabilitaion nursing, rehabilitation social work, prosthetics and orthotics, rehabilitation psychology, rehabilitation counseling, recreation for the ill and handicapped, and other specialized fields contributiong to vocational rehabilitation. No grant shall be made under clause (1) or clause (2) of this subsection for furnishing to an individual any one course of study extending for a period in excess of four years.

(b) The Secretary shall be authorized to cooperate in assisting with the financing of a pilot demonstration rehabilitation center in the metropolitan Washington area to be used as a guide for rehabilitation centers which may be set up later in other parts of the country. Sums made available for such a pilot demonstration center in the Washington area may be used during such initial period as the Secretary may determine for such services as hospitalization, domiciliary care, and rehabilitation training, including costs of board and room of trainees and other services essential to the program, as in the discretion of the Secretary deems desirable. The services of such a pilot demonstration rehabilitation center in the metropolitan Washington area shall be made available to area civil service employees as well as to other patients.

(c) Payments under this section may be made in advance or by way of reimbursement for services performed and purchases made, as may be determined by the Secretary; and shall be made on such conditions as the Secretary finds necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

(d)(1) There is hereby established in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, a National Advisory Council on Vocational Rehabilitation, consisting of the Secretary, or his designee, who shall be Chairman, and twelve members appointed

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