AID Local Government Leadership Act
Bill: S.4595 | Sponsor: Sen. Casey, Robert P., Jr. (D-PA)
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Accessibility and Inclusion to Diversify Local Government Leadership Act or the AID Local Government Leadership Act
This bill establishes a community grant program for local elected or appointed officials who have disabilities.
Specifically, the Department of Labor must award grants to eligible entities in a state or associated with an Indian tribe to provide to local elected or appointed officials with disabilities reasonable accommodations needed to enable them to carry out their official work duties.
To be eligible to receive a grant an entity shall be a local government that has a local elected or appointed official with a disability who needs a reasonable accommodation to carry out official work duties for a jurisdiction that (1) is in a rural area; (2) has a population of less than 10,000; or (3) has a population of 10,000 to less than 200,000 and a poverty rate of 18% or greater.
The reasonable accommodations may include physical adaptations, specialized software, communication supports, certain devices, and transportation services.
Labor must annually report on the program's impact.

To support local governments for jurisdictions that elect or appoint a 
person with a disability in providing the accommodations needed for the 
elected or appointed official to carry out their official work duties, 
 and to build the capacity of local governments to have consistent and 
                  adequate funding for accommodations.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Accessibility and Inclusion to 
Diversify Local Government Leadership Act'' or the ``AID Local 
Government Leadership Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
        estimates approximately 1 in 4 adults in the United States has 
        a disability.
            (2) Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that 
        the labor force participation rate of people with disabilities 
        is consistently half of that of people without disabilities.
            (3) The National Council on Independent Living reports that 
        people with disabilities are underrepresented in elected 
        offices.
            (4) Local governments are required, under the Americans 
        with Disabilities Act of 1990, to provide reasonable 
        accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to 
        perform official work duties.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to support local governments for jurisdictions that 
        elect or appoint a person with a disability, in providing the 
        accommodations needed for the local elected or appointed 
        official to carry out the official's official work duties, to 
        enable the governments to meet the requirement described in 
        subsection (a)(4); and
            (2) to build the capacity of local governments, who 
        otherwise do not have adequate funding to provide the 
        accommodations, to have adequate and consistent funding to 
        provide the accommodations for such officials.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Assistive technology.--The term ``assistive 
        technology'' means technology designed to be utilized in an 
        assistive technology device or assistive technology service.
            (2) Assistive technology device; assistive technology 
        service.--The terms ``assistive technology device'' and 
        ``assistive technology service'' have the meanings given the 
        terms in section 3 of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 (29 
        U.S.C. 3002).
            (3) Disability.--The term ``disability'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 3 of the Americans with Disabilities 
        Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102).
            (4) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian tribe'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
        Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).
            (5) Local appointed official.--The term ``local'', used 
        with respect to an appointed official, means an individual 
        who--
                    (A) is appointed to a position on an advisory 
                committee that makes recommendations to local 
                government; and
                    (B) is not paid for the individual's work in the 
                position.
            (6) Local elected official.--The term ``local'', used with 
        respect to an elected official, means an official who is 
        elected for a position, from a village, town, county, or other 
        municipality that is not national or statewide, via an election 
        authorized by a local election board.
            (7) Local government.--The term ``local government'' means 
        the government of any village, town, city, county, or other 
        municipality that is not national or statewide.
            (8) Reasonable accommodation.--The term ``reasonable 
        accommodation'' has the meaning given the term in section 101 
        of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 
        12111).
            (9) Rural.--The term ``rural'', used with respect to an 
        area, means an area classified as a rural commuting area under 
        the Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes developed by the Secretary 
        of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
            (10) Secretary.--Except as otherwise specified, the term 
        ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Labor, acting through the 
        Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy.
            (11) State.--The term ``State'' means any of the 50 States, 
        the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 
        Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.
            (12) Work duties.--The term ``work duties'' means the 
        essential functions of an employment position.

SEC. 4. COMMUNITY GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--From the amounts appropriated to carry out this 
Act, the Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities in any State 
or associated with any Indian tribe in order to provide, to local 
elected or appointed officials who have disabilities, reasonable 
accommodations needed to enable the officials to carry out their 
official work duties, which accommodations may include--
            (1) physical adaptations of office space and other spaces 
        used for public events;
            (2) specialized software;
            (3) communication supports, including sign language 
        interpreters;
            (4) provision of transportation services for an official 
        work event (excluding transportation for commuting); and
            (5) other assistive technology devices and assistive 
        technology services needed to carry out official work duties.
    (b) Awards.--
            (1) Process.--During a fiscal year, the Secretary shall 
        award the grants on a first-come, first-served basis until the 
        funds appropriated under this section for that year are 
        exhausted. If funds appropriated under this section are not 
        exhausted for a fiscal year, the Secretary may use the funds to 
        award such grants during a subsequent fiscal year.
            (2) Amounts.--The Secretary shall award such a grant in an 
        amount of not less than $3,000 and not more than $50,000, per 
        year of the grant period.
    (c) Grant Period.--The Secretary shall award such a grant for a 
period equal to--
            (1) the number of years the local elected or appointed 
        official involved will be in office during the official's first 
        term; and
            (2) 2 years.
    (d) Eligible Entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
this section, an entity shall be a local government--
            (1) that has a local elected or appointed official who has 
        a disability and needs a reasonable accommodation to carry out 
        the official's official work duties; and
            (2) for a jurisdiction that--
                    (A) is in a rural area;
                    (B) has a population of less than 10,000; or
                    (C) has a population of 10,000 to less than 
                200,000, and a poverty rate of 18 percent or greater, 
                according to the most recent data available from the 
                Bureau of the Census.
    (e) Application and Selection.--
            (1) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
        this section, an entity shall submit an application to the 
        Secretary, in accordance with a process prescribed by the 
        Secretary, that shall include, at a minimum--
                    (A) a description of--
                            (i) the position, including the official 
                        work duties of the position, held by the local 
                        elected or appointed official involved;
                            (ii) the needed reasonable accommodations 
                        for the local elected or appointed official; 
                        and
                            (iii) a budget to cover those 
                        accommodations; and
                    (B) assurances that the eligible entity will--
                            (i) use the grant funds only for reasonable 
                        accommodations needed for the local elected or 
                        appointed official involved to carry out their 
                        official work duties;
                            (ii) provide, for each fiscal year, non-
                        Federal matching funds equal to not less than 
                        25 percent of the amount provided through the 
                        grant for that fiscal year;
                            (iii) use the non-Federal matching funds to 
                        fund a reasonable accommodations funding 
                        account;
                            (iv) continue the funding of that account 
                        for at least 4 years after the end of the grant 
                        period, maintaining a balance in the account 
                        equal to the total amount of non-Federal 
                        matching funds provided by the entity during 
                        the grant period;
                            (v) use the account solely for the purposes 
                        of assisting local elected and appointed 
                        officials who have disabilities, by providing 
                        reasonable accommodations needed to carry out 
                        their official work duties; and
                            (vi) submit annual reports on the grant 
                        activities as required by the Secretary.
            (2) Selection process.--The Secretary shall award grants in 
        accordance with a process prescribed by the Secretary.
    (f) Allowable Use.--An eligible entity that receives a grant under 
this Act may use the grant funds for reasonable accommodations needed 
to enable a local elected or appointed official who has a disability to 
carry out the official work duties of the local elected or appointed 
official. The reasonable accommodations may include the physical 
adaptations, specialized software, communication supports, and devices 
and services, described in subsection (a).
    (g) Annual Report.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall annually prepare a 
        report regarding the impact of the grant program carried out 
        under this section, which report shall include--
                    (A) the number of applications received under the 
                program;
                    (B) the number of eligible entities that received a 
                grant;
                    (C) a description of the communities receiving the 
                grant funding, such as--
                            (i) information on whether the communities 
                        are--
                                    (I) rural areas or jurisdictions 
                                described in subsection (d)(2); or
                                    (II) other types of communities;
                            (ii) race and ethnicity data for the 
                        communities;
                            (iii) information on the percentage of the 
                        population of the communities that is living in 
                        poverty; and
                            (iv) related community demographics;
                    (D) a description of the types of positions held by 
                the local elected or appointed officials supported; and
                    (E) a description of the types of adaptations, 
                services, assistive technology, technology, 
                communication services, and other reasonable 
                accommodations funded through the grants in order for 
                the local elected or appointed officials to carry out 
                their official responsibilities.
            (2) Information added after second year.--Beginning with 
        the third year of the program and for each subsequent year, in 
        addition to the information specified in paragraph (1), the 
        report shall include--
                    (A) the total amount of funds eligible entities 
                receiving the grants invested in reasonable 
                accommodations funding accounts; and
                    (B) aggregate data on the age, sex, gender 
                identity, race and ethnicity, and disability of the 
                local elected or appointed officials the grant program 
                is supporting.
            (3) Submission.--The Secretary shall annually submit the 
        report prepared under this subsection to--
                    (A) the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
                Pensions of the Senate;
                    (B) the Committee on Education and Labor of the 
                House of Representatives; and
                    (C) the Special Committee on Aging of the Senate.
    (h) Administration.--From the amounts made available under 
subsection (i) for a fiscal year, the Secretary may reserve and use not 
more than 1 percent for administration of the grant program carried out 
under this section.
    (i) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
        carry out this Act, $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 
        through 2030.
            (2) Availability.--Funds appropriated under paragraph (1) 
        shall remain available until expended.
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