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1 That this Act shall be known as the "Bill of Rights for the

2 Mentally Retarded".

SEC. 2. (a) The Congress finds that

(1) there are more than two hundred thousand mentally retarded persons in the United States currently living in publicly and privately operated residential facilities for the mentally retarded;

(2) the prime purpose of residential services for the mentally retarded is to protect and nurture the mental, physical, emotional, and social development of each individual requiring responsible full-time services and to provide those experiences which will enable the individual (A) to develop his physical, intellectual, and social capabilities to the fullest extent possible; (B) to develop emotional maturity commensurate with social and intellectual growth; (C) whenever possible, to develop skills, habits, and attitudes essential for return to contemporary society; and (D) to live a personally satisfying life within the residential environment for whatever period he may need to remain there;

(3) the basic obligation of residential services is to

assure to the mentally retarded the same constitutional

rights and guarantees as every other American citizen;

(4) voluntary and involuntary admissions to a residential facility should be based on sound professional

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considerations that include a comprehensive assessment

of mental ability, physical health, and adaptive behavior which demonstrate a handicap sufficiently severe to justify placement;

(5) legal guardians should be appointed for both adults who are incompetent because of the severity of their mental retardation and minors who are deprived of parental guardianship, prior to their admission to a residential facility and, also, for each such individual who is in residential facilities at the date of enactment of this Act:

(6) residential facilities for the mentally retarded should provide a warm, stimulating setting devoid of dehumanizing conditions, the living quarters should be designed for optimum safety and to insure the provision of basic needs, including the right to privacy, and the location of the residential facility should where appropriate be within the community served and provide for normal contacts within the community life;

(7) the protection of the human dignity, the integrity and the life, of the mentally retarded must be realized as the first consideration in research and planning for the mentally retarded; and

(8) residential facilities should consist of small,

homelike units located within, coordinated with, and

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integrated into existing community living situations and although the demand for resources to build these new

facilities may seem to conflict with the demand for re

sources to upgrade the old ones to humane care, treat

ment and protection standards, the two objectives are equally necessary.

(b) The purpose of this Act is to establish standards 8 which assure the humane care, treatment, habilitation, and 9 protection of the mentally retarded in residential facilities 10 and improve the system for the provision of services to the 11 mentally retarded through the encouragement of and sup12 port for the planning and development of strategies to im13 plement such standards, minimize inappropriate admissions 14 to residential facilities and stimulate the development of re15 gional and community prograins integrating such residential 16 facilities which conform to such standards. It is the further 17 purpose of this Act to encourage and support planning and 18 development of strategies which survey and analyze residen19 tial facilities and their compliance with the standards estab20 lished under title XI of the Public Health Service Act and 21 stimulate regional and community programs and services for 22 the mentally retarded which integrate such residential 23 facilities.

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AMENDMENT TO PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT

SEC. 3. The Public Health Service Act is amended by

26 inserting after title X the following new title:

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"TITLE XI-SUPPORT OF RESIDENTIAL FACILI

TIES FOR THE MENTALLY RETARDED

"PART A-STATE STRATEGY PLANNING

"SEC. 1101. (a) In order to assist the States in compre

hensive surveys and analyses of the cost of bringing existing

residential facilities into compliance with the standards estab

lished under part C of this Act, review existing State plans 8 concerned with providing services and programs for the 9 mentally retarded and develop strategies which include im10 plementation and monitoring mechanisms which minimize 11 inappropriate placement in residential facilities particularly 12 through the provision of alternative programs of care and co13 ordinate and integrate existing residential facilities with exist14 ing and future regional and community mental retardation 15 programs and services, which shall be done in cooperation 16 with the National Advisory Council on Standards for Resi17 dential Facilities for the Mentally Retarded established 18 under section 1109 of this Act, and to study administrative 19 relationships, including the identification of legal, economic, 20 social and other barriers to compliance with the standards 21 established under part C of this Act and financing of pro22 grams and services from both public and private sources 23 among Federal, State, and local governments in the field of 24 mental retardation with recommendations for improvement, 25 the Secretary may make grants, to such applicants and upon 26 such terms and conditions as he shall by regulations prescribe.

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1 “(b) In order to assist the States in improving existing 2 residential facilities for the mentally retarded so as to con3 tribute more effectively in providing the resident with 4 experiences which will enable such individual (1) to develop 5 his physical, intellectual, and social capabilities to the fullest 6 extent possible; (2) to develop emotional maturity commen7 surate with social and intellectual growth; (3) whenever 8 possible, to develop skills, habits, and attitudes essential for 9 return to contemporary society, and (4) to live a personally 10 satisfying life within the residential environment and to other11 wise conform to the standards established under part C of 12 this title, the Secretary may, in accordance with the provi13 sions of this part, make grants, not to exceed $300,000 per 14 institution, to cover costs of administering and operating 15 demonstration facilities and training programs to render serv16 ices in the care of mentally retarded persons in residential 17 facilities and reduce excess residential facility population, 18 which shall be evaluated for effectiveness in improving resi19 dential care for the mentally retarded.

20 "(c) For the purpose of making grants under section 21 (a) of this part there are authorized to be appropriated 22 $15,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1973 and for 23 each of the next two succeeding fiscal years and for the pur24 pose of making grants under section (b) of this part there 25 are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for the fiscal