AID Local Government Leadership Act

Bill: 118-s-3749
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Casey, Robert P., Jr. [D-PA]
Introduced: 2024-02-07
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Latest action: action_date: 2024-02-07
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Summaries:

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3749 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 7, 2024 Mr. Casey (for himself, Ms. Klobuchar , Mrs. Gillibrand , Mr. Padilla , Mr. Welch , Mr. Van Hollen , Mr. Sanders , Mr. Brown , Mr. Fetterman , Ms. Hirono , Mr. Blumenthal , Ms. Duckworth , Mr. Wyden , and Mr. Whitehouse ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL 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.

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 . 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. 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. 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 the Workforce 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 2025 through 2031. (2) Availability Funds appropriated under paragraph (1) shall remain available until expended.