I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5859 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a program to provide 

grants to protection and advocacy systems to advocate for individuals 

with disabilities to access transportation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023 

Ms. WILSON of Florida (for herself, Mr. MOLINARO, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, 

Ms. TITUS, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. ROSS, 

Mr. MOULTON, Ms. NORTON, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. COHEN, 

Mr. STANTON, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. CARSON, and Mr. 

SCHIFF) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a 

program to provide grants to protection and advocacy 

systems to advocate for individuals with disabilities to 

access transportation, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transportation Assist5 ance for Individuals with Disabilities Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Transportation is significantly more dif4 ficult for Americans with disabilities. According to 

5 the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 3.6 million 

6 Americans with travel-limiting disabilities do not 

7 leave their homes because of a lack of accessible 

8 transportation. 

9 (2) According to the American Association of 

10 People with Disabilities, people with disabilities are 

11 twice as likely to struggle with procuring transpor12 tation than those who are not disabled, which limits 

13 access to medical care, employment, and everyday 

14 activities. 

15 (3) The Developmental Disabilities Assistance 

16 and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (in this section re17 ferred to as the ‘‘DD Act’’) assures that ‘‘individuals 

18 with developmental disabilities and their families 

19 participate in the design of and have access to need20 ed community services, individualized supports, and 

21 other forms of assistance that promote self-deter22 mination, independence, productivity, and integra23 tion and inclusion in all facets of community life’’. 

24 (4) The DD Act requires States and territories 

25 to establish a protection and advocacy system that 


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1 protects and advocates the rights of individuals with 

2 disabilities. 

3 (5) Even though the Americans with Disabil4 ities Act requires all State and local governments to 

5 make public services accessible for people with dis6 abilities, protection and advocacy systems continu7 ously receive reports of ineffective and inadequate 

8 services from county and city paratransit services. 

9 These systems work to address these issues by pro10 viding legally based advocacy resources for those im11 pacted. 

12 (6) In 2017, protection and advocacy systems 

13 received over 550 individual transportation related 

14 cases and in 2020 received over 2000 individual 

15 cases. 

16 (7) Currently, there are 9 established protection 

17 and advocacy programs administered by several Fed18 eral agencies, including the Department of Edu19 cation, the Department of Health and Human Serv20 ices, and the Social Security Administration. 

21 (8) There is currently no similar program ad22 ministered by the Department of Transportation to 

23 ensure that protection and advocacy systems have 

24 dedicated funding to serve individuals who face 

25 issues related to transportation access. 


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1 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM TO IMPROVE 

2 ACCESS TO TRANSPORTATION. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Transpor4 tation shall establish a program to award grants to protec5 tion and advocacy systems to advocate for individuals with 

6 disabilities to access transportation. 

7 (b) GRANTS.— 

8 (1) AWARD.—In carrying out subsection (a), 

9 the Secretary shall select 10 protection and advocacy 

10 systems to receive a grant under this section. 

11 (2) GRANT TERM.—The term of a grant award12 ed under this section shall be 5 fiscal years. 

13 (3) AMOUNT.—During the 5-year term of a 

14 grant awarded under this section, the Secretary shall 

15 distribute $110,000 for each fiscal year to the recipi16 ent of such grant. 

17 (4) CARRYOVER.—Any amount distributed 

18 under paragraph (3) to a grant recipient for a fiscal 

19 year that remains unobligated at the end of a such 

20 fiscal year shall remain available to such recipient 

21 for obligation during the subsequent fiscal year. 

22 (c) SUNSET; TERMINATION OF GRANTS.— 

23 (1) SUNSET.—The authority of the Secretary to 

24 award grants under this section shall terminate on 

25 the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment 

26 of this Act. 


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1 (2) TERMINATION OF GRANTS.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may ter3 minate a grant awarded under this section be4 fore the end of the grant term under subsection 

5 (b)(2) if the Secretary determines there is good 

6 cause to terminate such grant, including— 

7 (i) misuse of grant funds; and 

8 (ii) redesignation of the recipient of 

9 such grant pursuant to section 143(a)(4) 

10 of the Developmental Disabilities Assist11 ance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000. 

12 (B) AWARD OF NEW GRANT.—If the Sec13 retary terminates a grant under subparagraph 

14 (A), the Secretary shall award a new grant 

15 under this section to a different protection and 

16 advocacy system. 

17 (d) AUTHORITY.—A protection and advocacy system 

18 that receives a grant awarded under this section shall have 

19 the same authorities, including access to records, as such 

20 system would have under subtitle C of title I of the Devel21 opmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 

22 2000 (42 U.S.C. 15041 et seq.). 

23 (e) SELECTION.—In selecting the protection and ad24 vocacy systems to receive grants under this section, the 

25 Secretary shall— 


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1 (1) select at least 3 protection and advocacy 

2 systems located in States in which at least 1 per3 sistent poverty county (as defined by the Secretary 

4 of the Treasury) is located; and 

5 (2) select at least 3 protection and advocacy 

6 systems that are located in States in which— 

7 (A) the percentage of individuals aged 65 

8 or older is greater than 18 percent; and 

9 (B) the percentage of individuals with a 

10 disability is greater than 16 percent. 

11 (f) REPORTS.—Each recipient of a grant under this 

12 section shall submit to an office designated by the Sec13 retary an annual report documenting the work such grant 

14 recipient has done to address the barriers to accessing 

15 transportation for individuals with disabilities. 

16 (g) PROGRAM INCOME.—Any income generated from 

17 advocating for individuals with disabilities to access trans18 portation with a grant under this section for a fiscal year 

19 shall— 

20 (1) remain available to the grant recipient until 

21 expended and be considered an addition to the 

22 grant; and 

23 (2) only be used to provide advocacy to enable 

24 individuals with disabilities to access transportation. 

25 (h) TRAINING GRANT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—During each fiscal year in 

2 which a protection and advocacy system advocates 

3 for individuals with disabilities to access transpor4 tation with a grant under this section, the Secretary 

5 shall award a grant to 1 eligible organization to pro6 vide training and technical assistance to such protec7 tion and advocacy system. 

8 (2) GRANT AMOUNT.—Each grant awarded 

9 under paragraph (1) shall be in the amount of 

10 $100,000. 

11 (3) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATION DEFINED.—In 

12 this subsection, the term ‘‘eligible organization’’ 

13 means a national organization with extensive knowl14 edge of protection and advocacy systems. 

15 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

16 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

17 out this Act $1,200,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 

18 through 2028. 

19 (j) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

20 (1) PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY SYSTEM.—The 

21 term ‘‘protection and advocacy system’’ means a 

22 protection and advocacy system established under 

23 subtitle C of title I of the Developmental Disabilities 

24 Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (42 

25 U.S.C. 15041 et seq.) that has— 


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1 (A) demonstrated monitoring experience; 

2 and 

3 (B) demonstrated knowledge of accessi4 bility barriers facing individuals with disabilities 

5 in accessing transportation. 

6 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the sev7 eral States, the District of Columbia, the Common8 wealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Is9 lands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth 

10 of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any other ter11 ritory or possession of the United States. 

Æ 


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