7

1 payment by the United States of all or part of the cost of

2 projects to carry out the purposes of this subsection."

3 DEFINITION OF "VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION SERVICES"

4

5

AMENDED

SEC. 2. The Vocational Rehabilitation Act as amended

6 is further amended by redesignating section 11 (a) (1) (E) 7 as section 11 (a) (1) (F) and adding the following new

8

9

10

11

12

paragraph:

"(E) rehabilitation teaching services for the blind and orientation and mobility services for the blind;".

EFFECTIVE DATE

SEC. 3. This Act shall become effective on July 1, 1971.

This replies to your request of March 4, 1971, for a report on
S. 1030, 92d Congress, a bill to amend the Vocational Rehabilitation
Act (29 U.S.C. 31, et seq.) in order to assure rehabilitation services
to older blind persons.

We have no information as to the advantages or disadvantages of the proposed legislation and, therefore, make no recommendation on its merits. We are concerned, however, in that neither the proposed legislation nor the Vocational Rehabilitation Act contain a specific requirement for access to records or audit. We recommend that a provision be included in the bill to add a new section to the Vocational Rehabilitation Act authorizing access to records by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and by the Comptroller General for the purposes of audit. The following language is submitted for your

consideration:

"RECORDS AND AUDIT

"(a) Each recipient of a grant or contract under this
Act, other than a contract entered into under competitive
bidding procedures, shall keep such records as the Secretary
prescribes, including records which fully disclose the amount
and disposition by such recipicnt of the proceeds of such
grant or contract, the total cost of the project or under-
taking in connection with which such grant or contract is
given or used, and the amount of that portion of the cost of
the project or undertaking supplied by other sources, and
such other records as will facilitate an effective audit.

"(b) The Secretary and the Comptroller General of the United States, or any of their duly authorized representatives, shall have access for the purpose of audit and examination to any books, documents, papers, and records of such recipients that are pertinent to any such grant or contract."

We believe that access to records is particularly important in view of the provisions in the bill (pages 6-7) and in the present act relating

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to the making of grants to and contracts with public and private nonprofit agencies. We have similar authority under section 202 of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968, Pub. L. 90-577, with respect to all grants to states.

Sincerely yours,

Mikkelen.

Assistant Comptroller General
of the United States

The Honorable Harrison A. Williams, Jr.
Chairman, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare
United States Senate

-2

92D CONGRESS 1ST SESSION

S. 2813

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 5, 1971

Mr. TOWER (for himself. Mr. Boggs, and Mr. WILLIAMS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare

A BILL

To amend the Vocational Rehabilitation Act to provide improved vocational rehabilitation services to individuals.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 That this Act may be cited as the "Vocational Rehabilita4 tion Amendments Act of 1971".

5 SEC. 2. Section 1(b) (3) is amended by adding at the 6 end thereof the following new sentence: "For the purpose 7 of making grants and contracts set forth in this paragraph 8 (3), in addition to the amounts authorized in the previous 9 sentence, there is authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1972, the sum of $25,000,000 for

10

VII-O

2

1 vocational rehabilitation services for handicapped individuals

2 suffering from end stage renal disease".

3

4

SEC. 3. Section 9 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act

is amended by inserting "(a)" after the section designation

5 and by inserting at the end thereof the following new sub

6 section:

7

"(b) The annual report required by subsection (a) of 8 this section for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1972, shall 9 set forth the number of grants made for the vocational re10 habilitation services to individuals suffering from end stage 11 renal disease together with an evaluation of the success of 12 such services."

13

SEC. 4. (a) Section 11 (a) (2) (A) of such Act is 14 amended by adding at the end thereof a comma and the 15 following: "(v) special services, artificial kidneys, and sup16 plies necessary for the treatment of individuals suffering 17 from end stage renal disease.".

18

(b) Section 11 (b) of such Act is amended by striking 19 out "or six months in the case of an individual with any other

20 disability” and inserting in lieu thereof a comma and the 21 following: "or twelve months in the case of an individual 22 suffering from end stage renal disease or six months in 23 the case of an individual with any other disability".