I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4017

To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 with respect to

safety-sensitive employment functions and individuals who have a record

or history of the habitual or regular use of illegal drugs or of the

abuse of alcohol, or of clinical alcoholism, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 2, 1996

Mr. ZELIFF (for himself, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr.

SOUDER, Mr. BARTON of Texas, and Mr. SCARBOROUGH) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Economic and

Educational Opportunities

A BILL

To amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 with

respect to safety-sensitive employment functions and individuals who have a record or history of the habitual

or regular use of illegal drugs or of the abuse of alcohol,

or of clinical alcoholism, 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 ‘‘Drug-Free Workplace

5 and Public Safety Assurance Act of 1996’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS REGARDING PERFORMANCE OF

2 SAFETY-SENSITIVE FUNCTIONS BY EMPLOY3 EES WITH RECORD OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 104(a) of the Americans

5 With Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12114(a)) is

6 amended—

7 (1) by striking ‘‘(a) QUALIFIED’’ and all that

8 follows through ‘‘of this title,’’ and inserting the fol9 lowing:

10 ‘‘(a) QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY.—

11 ‘‘(1) EXCLUSION REGARDING CURRENT ILLE12 GAL USE OF DRUGS.—For purposes of this title,’’;

13 and

14 (2) by inserting at the end the following para15 graph:

16 ‘‘(2) EXCLUSION REGARDING SAFETY-SEN17 SITIVE FUNCTIONS AND RECORD OF SUBSTANCE

18 ABUSE.—

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the

20 performance of a safety-sensitive employment

21 function by an individual with a disability, an

22 employee or applicant shall not be considered to

23 be a qualified individual with a disability for

24 purposes of this title if, subject to subpara25 graph (B), the status of the employee or appli26 cant as an individual with a disability is based
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1 in whole or in part on the fact that the em2 ployee or applicant has a medical, legal, or

3 other verifiable record or history of the habitual

4 or regular use of illegal drugs or of the abuse

5 of alcohol, or of clinical alcoholism. This para6 graph applies notwithstanding any other provi7 sion of law.

8 ‘‘(B) LONG-TERM EXCLUSION.—An em9 ployee with a medical, legal, or other verifiable

10 record or history of the illegal use of drugs

11 shall be permanently excluded from employment

12 in a safety-sensitive employment function; an

13 employee with a medical, legal, or other verifi14 able record or history of the abuse of alcohol,

15 or of clinical alcoholism, shall be excluded from

16 employment in a safety-sensitive employment

17 function for at least 10 years.

18 ‘‘(C) SAFETY-SENSITIVE EMPLOYMENT

19 FUNCTION.—For purposes of this paragraph,

20 the term ‘safety-sensitive’, with respect to an

21 employment function, means an employment

22 function that, if performed improperly, would

23 pose a significant risk of physical harm to one

24 or more persons or a significant risk of sub25 stantial damage to real or personal property.
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1 ‘‘(D) REHABILITATION ACT OF 1973.—This

2 paragraph applies with respect to sections 503

3 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to

4 the same extent and in the same manner as this

5 paragraph applies with respect to this title.’’.

6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

7 (1) AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF

8 1990.—Section 104(b) of the Americans With Dis9 abilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12114(b)) is

10 amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by

11 striking ‘‘subsection (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection

12 (a)(1)’’.

13 (2) REHABILITATION ACT OF 1973.—Section

14 7(8) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C.

15 706(8)) is amended by adding at the end the follow16 ing subparagraph:

17 ‘‘(G) With respect to sections 503 and 504 as such

18 sections relate to employment, this paragraph is subject

19 to section 104(a)(2)(D) of the Americans with Disabilities

20 Act of 1990 (relating to safety-sensitive employment func21 tions and the abuse of drugs or alcohol).’’.

22 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

23 The amendments made by section 2 are effective in

24 the case of any cause of action arising under title I of
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1 the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 on or after

2 the date of the enactment of this Act.

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