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 in-
dividuals 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Drug-Free Workplace
and Public Safety Assurance Act of 1996’’.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS REGARDING PERFORMANCE OF
SAFETY-SENSITIVE FUNCTIONS BY EMPLOY-
EES WITH RECORD OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 104(a) of the Americans
With Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12114(a)) is
amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘(a) QUALIFIED’’ and all that
follows through ‘‘of this title,’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(a) QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY.—
‘‘(1) EXCLUSION
REGARDING
CURRENT
ILLE-
GAL USE OF DRUGS.—For purposes of this title,’’;
and
(2) by inserting at the end the following para-
graph:
‘‘(2) 
EXCLUSION
REGARDING
SAFETY-SEN-
SITIVE
FUNCTIONS
AND
RECORD
OF
SUBSTANCE
ABUSE.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the
performance of a safety-sensitive employment
function by an individual with a disability, an
employee or applicant shall not be considered to
be a qualified individual with a disability for
purposes of this title if, subject to subpara-
graph (B), the status of the employee or appli-
cant as an individual with a disability is based
in whole or in part on the fact that the em-
ployee or applicant has a medical, legal, or
other verifiable record or history of the habitual
or regular use of illegal drugs or of the abuse
of alcohol, or of clinical alcoholism. This para-
graph applies notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law.
‘‘(B) LONG-TERM
EXCLUSION.—An em-
ployee with a medical, legal, or other verifiable
record or history of the illegal use of drugs
shall be permanently excluded from employment
in a safety-sensitive employment function; an
employee with a medical, legal, or other verifi-
able record or history of the abuse of alcohol,
or of clinical alcoholism, shall be excluded from
employment in a safety-sensitive employment
function for at least 10 years.
‘‘(C) 
SAFETY-SENSITIVE
EMPLOYMENT
FUNCTION.—For purposes of this paragraph,
the term ‘safety-sensitive’, with respect to an
employment function, means an employment
function that, if performed improperly, would
pose a significant risk of physical harm to one
or more persons or a significant risk of sub-
stantial damage to real or personal property.
‘‘(D) REHABILITATION ACT OF 1973.—This
paragraph applies with respect to sections 503
and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to
the same extent and in the same manner as this
paragraph applies with respect to this title.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(1) AMERICANS
WITH
DISABILITIES
ACT
OF
1990.—Section 104(b) of the Americans With Dis-
abilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12114(b)) is
amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by
striking ‘‘subsection (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection
(a)(1)’’.
(2) REHABILITATION
ACT
OF
1973.—Section
7(8) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C.
706(8)) is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing subparagraph:
‘‘(G) With respect to sections 503 and 504 as such
sections relate to employment, this paragraph is subject
to section 104(a)(2)(D) of the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990 (relating to safety-sensitive employment func-
tions and the abuse of drugs or alcohol).’’.
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by section 2 are effective in
the case of any cause of action arising under title I of
the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 on or after
the date of the enactment of this Act.
Æ