Senator PURTELL. That is extremely important, I think. Mr. ROCKEFELLER. It not only repeals the restrictive language, but adds something new. Secretary HOBBY. Some liberalizing things. Senator PURTELL. Yes. Are there any other questions about these charts? (No response.) Senator PURTELL. Do you have some more, Mrs. Secretary? Senator PURTELL. You may proceed. Secretary HOBBY. While the new three-part grant structure is the most significant aspect of the bill before you, the bill also contains many other desirable changes which would facilitate an expanded and modernized program. II. PROPOSED BROADENING OF THE SCOPE OF THE PROGRAM The bill would authorize Federal funds to be expended for certain important purposes which have heretofore not been authorized by the law, but which are essential to a well-rounded rehabilitation program. These include: Personnel training, to help relieve the present extremely acute shortages of doctors specializing in rehabilitation, physical therapists, Occupational therapists, and rehabilitation counselors, as well as psychologists and social workers skilled in rehabilitation. Research and demonstration, to improve rehabilitation techniques and to disseminate knowledge concerning such techniques. Expansion of special facilities by the State, such as community workshops, speech and hearing clinics, and the like, including the initial staffing of such facilities. III. PROVISIONS FOR INCREASED STATE AND LOCAL RESPONSIBILITY Another set of provisions in the bill would have the general effect of increasing State and local responsibility and flexibility in the administration of the program, with a corresponding reduction in Federal controls. These provisions are as follows: 1. Opportunity for community or county administration of the program under State supervision, rather than requiring all administration to be at the State level. 2. Opportunity for the States to create independent rehabilitation &gencies, not under the State boards of vocational education. 3. Opportunity for separate State plans for the State agencies for the blind. 4. Assignment to the States of responsibility for establishing certain standards relating to facilities and personnel; priorities among applicants for services; and cooperative arrangements with other related agencies, such as public-assistance agencies and employment. offices. 5. Elimination of the present requirement of Federal approval of fee schedules for medical services, hospitalization, training, and prosthetic appliances, as well as of rates of compensation for State agency personnel. IV. SUGGEST AMENDMENTS We wish to recommend for the committee's consideration three amendments to S. 2759: First, a judicial review provision similar to the one recommended yesterday for the public health grant-in-aid bill, S. 2778. Second, a provision to define the District of Columbia as a State and to transfer the District's rehabilitation program from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to the government of the District of Columbia. Third, a provision to amend the Randolph-Sheppard Act so as to increase employment opportunities for the blind under the vendingstand program. The proposed amendment would Make the act applicable to all Federal property, instead of buildings only; Provide that licensed blind persons be given preference in the operation of vending stands on Federal property; and Provide that Federal custodial agencies establish regulations to assure that the preference is actually put into effect. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Before concluding this statement, Mr. Chairman, I should like to call to the attention of the committee two other administration proposals which bear directly on the rehabilitation program. The first is the proposed amendment to the Hospital Survey and Construction Act to authorize financial aid for the construction of comprehensive rehabilitation facilities. The second is the proposal which would preserve the benefit rights, under the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance System, of persons who become totally disabled. This second proposal, which provides for the use of State rehabilitation agencies to perform the medical evaluation functions for the Bureau of OldAge and Survivors Insurance, would result in the referral of thousands of disabled workers annually to the State rehabilitation agencies. These two related proposals would complement the bill before you today so as to provide a well-rounded national plan for the improvement of rehabilitation opportunities. To summarize, S. 2759 would establish the legal and financial framework within which to achieve the administration's goal of rehabilitating 200,000 disabled persons annually by 1959. It would initiate a constructive program for restoring thousands more of our fellow citizens to positions of independence and self-respect. It is a bill which combines a recognition of human needs with the promotion of the economic interests of the Federal, State, and local governments. urge that you give the bill your favorable consideration. We Senator PURTELL. Thank you very much, Mrs. Secretary. I would like to have included in the record your complete statement, with the charts and the bill S. 2759 and the suggested amendments which we received this morning from your Department, addressed to the chairman of the whole committee. That will become a part of the record. (The complete statement of Secretary Hobby and S. 2759 and the proposed amendments are as follows:) [S. 2759, 83d Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To amend the Vocational Rehabilitation Act so as to promote and assist in the extension and improvement of vocational rehabilitation services, provide for a more effective use of available Federal funds, and otherwise improve the provisions of that Act, 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 may be cited as the “Vocational Rehabilitation Amendments of 1954." AMENDMENTS TO THE VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION ACT SEC. 2. The Vocational Rehabilitation Act (29 U. S. C., ch. 4) is amended to read as follows: "AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR GRANTS; PURPOSES FOR WHICH AVAILABLE "SECTION 1. For the purpose of assisting the States in rehabilitating physically and mentally handicapped persons so that they may prepare for and engage in remunerative 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, there are hereby authorized to be appropriated for each fiscal year, beginning with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1955, such sums for grants to carry out the purposes of this Act as the Congress may determine. The sums so appropriated for any fiscal year shall be available for "(1) grants to States to assist them in meeting the costs of vocational rehabilitation services; "(2) grants to States to assist them in initiating projects for the extension and improvement of their vocational rehabilitation services; and "(3) grants to States and to public and other nonprofit organizations and agencies to assist in meeting the cost of projects which hold unique promise of making a substantial contribution to the solution of vocational rehabilitation problems common to a number of States and of projects or measures directed at meeting problems of special national significance or concern, including temporary assistance in initiating a substantial nationwide expansion of vocational rehabilitation programs in the States. The portion of such sums which shall be available for each of such three types of grants shall be specified in the Act appropriating such sums. "GRANTS TO STATES FOR VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION SERVICES "SEC. 2. (a) From the sums available for any fiscal year for grants to States to assist them in meeting the costs of vocational rehabilitation services, each State shall be entitled to an allotment of an amount which bears the same ratio to such sums as the product of (1) the population of the State and (2) the square of its allotment percentage (as defined in section 10 (h)) bears to the sum of the corresponding products for all the States. The allotment to any State under the preceding sentence for any fiscal year which is less than $50,000 (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. "(b) From each State's allotment available for such purpose for any fiscal year, the Secretary shall pay to such State, an amount equal to the Federal share (determined as provided in section 10 (i)) of the cost of vocational rehabilitation services under the plan of such State approved under section 5, including expenditures for the administration of the State plan. "(c) In the case of any State for which there is a separate State agency administering or supervising the administration of the part of a State plan under which vocational rehabilitation services are provided for the blind, the State's allotment under this section shall be divided between such agency and the State agency administering (or supervising the administration of) the remainder of the State plan in the same proportion as the Secretary estimates at the beginning of the year State and other non-Federal funds will be available, during the fiscal year for which the allotment is made, for meeting the cost of vocational rehabilitation services under the two portions of the State plan, except that for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1955, and June 30, 1956, the allotment to any State in which there were such separate agencies shall be divided in the same proportion as the grants to the State under this Act for expenditures during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1954, were divided between such agencies. "GRANTS TO STATES FOR EXTENSION AND IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS "SEC. 3. (a) (1) From the sums available for any fiscal year for grants to States to assist them in initiating projects for the extension and improvement of vocational rehabilitation services, each State shall be entitled to an amount bearing the same ratio to such sums as the population of such 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 available for such purpose for any fiscal year, the Secretary shall pay to such State a portion of the cost of approved projects for the extension and improvement of vocational rehabilitation services (including their administration) under the State plan. 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 and only if he finds the project constitutes an extension or improvement of vocational rehabilitation services under the State plan or will contribute materially to such an extension or improvement. "(b) Payments under this section with respect to any project may be made for a period of not to exceed six years beginning with the commencement of the first fiscal year for which any payment is made with respect to such projects from an allotment under this section. To the extent permitted by the State's allotments under this section, such payments with respect to any project shall be equal to 75 per centum of the cost of such project for the first biennium in such period, 50 per centum of such cost for the second biennium in such period, and 25 per centum of such cost for the last biennium in such period, 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) In the case of any State for which there is a separate State agency administering or supervising the administration of the part of a State plan under which vocational rehabilitation services are provided for the blind, the State's allotment under this section shall be divided between such agency and the State agency administering (or supervising the administration of) the remainder of the State plan in the same proportion as the Secretary estimates at the beginning of the year State and other non-Federal funds will be available, during the fiscal year for which the allotment is made, for meeting the cost of vocational rehabilitation services under the two portions of the State plan, except that for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1955, and June 30, 1956, the allotment to any State in which there were such separate agencies shall be divided in the same proportion as the grants to the State under this Act for expenditures during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1954, were divided between such agencies. "GRANTS FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS "SEC. 4. (a) From the sums available therefor for any fiscal year, the Secretary shall make grants to States, and public and other nonprofit organizations and agencies (1) for paying part of the cost of projects which, in the judgment of the Secretary, hold unique promise of making a substantial contribution to the solution of vocational rehabilitation problems common to all or several States, and of projects or measures directed at meeting vocational rehabilitation problems of special national significance or concern, and (2) for planning, preparing for, and initiating, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1955, and the fiscal year ending June 30, 1956, a substantial nationwide expansion of vocational rehabilitation programs in the States. "(b) 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. "STATE PLANS "SEC. 5. (a) To be approvable under this Act, a State plan for vocational rehabilitation services shall— 66 "(1) designate the State agency administering or supervising the administration of vocational education in the State, or a State rehabilitation agency (primarily concerned with vocational rehabilitation), as the sole State agency to administer or supervise the administration of the plan, except that where under the State's law, the State blind commission, or other agency which provides assistance or services to the adult blind, is authorized to provide them vocational rehabilitation services, such State blind commission or other State agency may be designated as the sole State agency to administer or supervise the administration of the part of the plan under which vocational rehabilitation services are provided for the blind and the State vocational education agency or the State rehabilitation agency shall be designated as the sole State agency with respect to the rest of the State plan; "(2) provide for financial participation by the State, and provide that the plan shall be in effect in all political subdivisions of the State; "(3) show the plan, policies, and methods to be followed in carrying out the work under the State plan and in its administration and supervision, and in case vocational rehabilitation services cannot be provided all eligible disabled individuals who apply for such services, show the order to be followed in selecting those to whom vocational rehabilitation services will be provided; "(4) provide such methods of administration, other than methods relating to the establishment and maintenance of personnel standards, as are found by the Secretary to be necessary for the proper and efficient administration of the plan; "(5) contain (A) provisions relating to the establishment and maintenance of personnel standards, including provisions relating to the tenure, selection, appointment, and qualifications of personnel, and (B) provisions relating to the establishment and maintenance of minimum standards governing the facilities and personnel utilized in the provision of vocational rehabilitation services; "(6) provide that, in addition to training, maintenance, placement, and guidance, physical restoration services will be provided under the plan; "(7) provide that the State agency will make such reports, in such form and containing such information, as the Secretary may from time to time reasonably require to carry out his functions under this Act, and comply with such provisions as he may from time to time find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of such reports; "(8) provide for cooperation by the State agency with, and the utilization of the services of, the State agency administering the State's public assistance program, and the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (Department of Health, Education, and Welfare) and of other Federal, State, and local public agencies providing services relating to vocational rehabilitation services; and "(9) provide for entering into cooperative arangements with the system of public employment offices in the State and the utilization of the services of such offices. (b) The Secretary shall approve any plan which the Secretary finds fulfills the conditions specified in subsection (a) of this section. "(c) Whenever the Secretary, after reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing to the State agency administering or supervising the administration of the State plan approved under this section, finds that "(1) the plan has been so changed that it no longer contains any provision required by subsection (a) of this section to be included in the plan; or |