Federal Policy Briefing
Granite State Independent Living is an active participant in shaping Federal policies as they affect New Hampshire residents with disabilities--and all residents. Through our work in Washington, we strive to create true equality for all New Hampshire residents for today and the future.
This section outlines important federal legislation related to disability issues, and makes suggestions about what you can do to help. Follow these links to review specific topics:
Both the House and Senate have passed budget resolution S. Con. Res. 21. The concurrent resolution sets forth the congressional budget for fiscal year 2008 and includes the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2007 and 2009 through 2012.
Although the final Budget Resolution does not have the force of law, it is a central part of the budget and appropriations process in Congress. The Budget Resolution represents an agreement between the House and Senate that establishes budget priorities and defines the parameters for all subsequent budgetary actions. The spending, revenue, and public debt laws necessary to implement decisions agreed to in the budget resolutions are subsequently enacted separately.
The FY 2008 budget resolution has slight increases in domestic spending. This means that the House and Senate have agreed to increase funds above the FY 2007 level, and above the amount President Bush requested for FY 2008 earlier this year. An increase in domestic spending offers an opportunity to garner funds for programs that enable people with disabilities to obtain independent living services, affordable and accessible housing, transportation, and health and long-term services.
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Funding Issue: Funding for the Independent Living Program
Description: Congressional appropriators will use the above-mentioned Budget Resolution as a road map when considering funding for federal agencies. Appropriations bills are usually divided up by type of program and agency into thirteen separate bills. Funding for the “Labor-Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations” bill (also known as “Labor-H”), one of the largest funding bills, contains many of the programs that enable people with disabilities to live independently.
Legislation Issue: Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act/Rehabilitation Act
Description: Granite State Independent Living supports many of the provisions, including the change in the formula for distribution of Title VII Part C, that were included in the Senate-passed Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Amendments of 2005, S. 1021, from the 109th Congress.
Action Needed: Tell your Members of Congress how important independent living is to people with disabilities. Ask them to reintroduce and pass last year’s bill, S. 1021, Workforce Investment Act Amendments of 2005.
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Legislative Issue: Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA)
Description: Staff of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee have drafted legislation to reform the Section 8 Housing Voucher Program, which enables very low-income families, people with disabilities, and older adults to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. Now is the time to tell your legislator about your concerns, while they draft the bill.
Action Needed: Tell your Members of Congress how important these vouchers are for people with disabilities seeking affordable, accessible housing. Ask them to support SEVRA legislation that:
1. establishes a new funding formula to recapture and reallocate funds not used for one year;
2. changes the current annual process to determine Rent supports, the recertification of income and the contribution amounts of persons with disabilities and seniors on fixed incomes to one that occurs every three years;
3. raises the standard deduction for persons with disabilities and seniors from the current $400 to $750, with a provision that allows for inflation adjustments in future years, and;
4. changes the inspection requirement from inspecting a unit before assistance payments can begin and then annually thereafter to giving PHA’s the option to rely on inspections performed during the prior 12 months for a previous voucher tenant or for a comparable rental program and requiring re-inspections every two years.
Ask them to oppose SEVRA legislation that:
1. replaces the current Earned Income Disregard for persons who have received public benefits (including SSI or SSDI) and then return to work with a single annual adjustment of 10 percent of earned income. Under the current regulations the rent stays at the prior year's level for the first 12 months after a person returns to work and only increases by 50 percent of the higher income for the second 12 months;
2. expands the Moving to Work Demonstration Project - SEVRA increases the number of PHA’s able to participate in the Moving to Work (MTW) Demonstration Project by 15. MTW was authorized as a demonstration project of up to 30 PHA’s under the Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act of 1996. Encouraging work and resident self-sufficiency was not what the deregulation advocates were focused on when authorizing this program. Their focus was on housing management, operations, and control issues. MTW allows housing authority’s flexibility in managing all public housing programs and can include rents that are not based on income. For seniors and persons with disabilities rent increases based on a stepped rent system or rent based on unit size could result in their rent becoming unaffordable, and;
3. eliminates the deduction for reasonable child care expenses needed for either employment or education. Child care expenses vary widely and the impact of the elimination of this important deduction would result in a monthly rent increase of at least $100.
Status: Passed House. 7/16/2007 - Received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
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Legislation: Community Choice Act of 2007 - S 799 (Senate)
Description: The Community Choice Act of 2007, amends title XIX of the Social Security Act to make community- based attendant care services an alternative for Medicaid recipients who are “institutionally eligible.”
Under Community Choice, states would receive up to five years enhanced match rate (FMAP) for attendant care services and some administrative activities to enable states to develop their long-term care infrastructure. The bill also provides funds to support system change grants to help states increase their ability to provide home- and community-based services and creates a demonstration project to evaluate service coordination and cost sharing for dually eligible persons with disabilities.
Specific provisions include:
• To be eligible for Community Choice, individuals must be Medicaid eligible AND determined to be “institutionally eligible”; that is, they have received a medical determination that they require the level of care provided in a nursing home or similar institution.
• Community Choice would offer eligible individuals attendant care services to assist with, or enhance the skills necessary to accomplish, activities of daily living and health-related functions. It also offers assistance with backup systems to ensure continuity of services (beepers, etc.) and training in how to select and supervise attendants.
• Eligible individuals can receive attendant care services according to an approved plan of services based on an assessment of functional need. Consumers can choose attendant services provided under an agency/provider or other consumer-controlled model. The consumer would choose and manage the attendant care services.
• Consumer Choice DOES NOT provide for such things as a) room and board, b) special education or vocational rehabilitation services, c) assistive technologies, d) durable medical equipment, or e) home modifications.
Community Choice requires States to work in collaboration with consumers, family members, and providers to develop and implement the program. States must maintain existing state funding levels for existing community-based care, in addition to the Community Choice funds that they receive. States are also required to put quality assurance systems into place to monitor and evaluate their community-based consumer choice services.
The Community Choice Act is about individual CHOICE. It allows an individual to choose to receive their care in the community, rather than in an institutional setting. There is nothing in the Act which takes away the right of an individual to receive their services in an institutional setting, if they so choose.
Status: 9/25/2007 Senate Finance Hearing
Action needed: Tell your Senators how important community-based services are and ask them to cosponsor and support the Community Choice Act.
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Legislation: Community Choice Act of 2007 (H.R. 1621, introduced 3/21/2007, House)
Sponsor: Rep. Danny Davis (D, AL-7)
Co-sponsors: 62
Status: 1/16/2008 House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health Hearing
Action needed: Tell your members of Congress how important community-based services are and ask them to cosponsor and support the Community Choice Act.
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Legislation: Promoting Wellness for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2007 (S 1050, Senate)
Description: This Act has four major provisions.
Establish Standards for Accessible Medical Diagnostic Equipment
Not later than 9 months after the date of enactment of the Promoting Wellness for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2007, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board shall issue (including publishing) standards setting forth the minimum technical criteria for medical diagnostic equipment used in (or in conjunction with) physician's offices, clinics, emergency rooms, hospitals, and other medical settings. The standards shall ensure that such equipment is accessible to, and usable by, individuals with disabilities, and shall allow independent entry to, use of, and exit from the equipment by such individuals to the maximum extent possible. Medical Diagnostic Equipment covered: includes examination tables, examination chairs (including chairs used for eye examinations or procedures, and dental examinations or procedures), weight scales, mammography equipment, x-ray machines, and other radiological equipment commonly used for diagnostic purposes by health professionals.
Wellness Grant Program for Individuals with Disabilities
The Secretary, in collaboration with the National Advisory Committee on Wellness for Individuals With Disabilities, may make grants on a competitive basis to public and nonprofit private entities for the purpose of carrying out programs for promoting good health, disease prevention, and wellness for individuals with disabilities, and preventing secondary conditions in such individuals.
Programs or activities: smoking cessation, weight control, nutrition, or fitness that focus on the unique challenges faced by individuals with disabilities regarding these issues; preventive health screening programs for individuals with disabilities to reduce the incidence of secondary conditions; and athletic, exercise, or sports programs that provide individuals with disabilities (including children with disabilities) an opportunity to increase their physical activity in a dedicated or adaptive recreational environment.
Advisory Committee
The Secretary shall establish a National Advisory Committee on Wellness for Individuals with disabilities that shall set priorities to carry out this section, review grant proposals, and make recommendations for funding, and annually evaluate the progress of the program under this section in implementing the priorities.
Improving Education and Training to Provide Medical Services to Individuals with Disabilities
Requirement to provide training: coordinated Program to improve Pediatric Oral Health through training for Children’s Hospitals that offer Graduate Medical Education Programs for Family Medicine, General Internal Medicine, General Pediatrics, General Dentistry, Pediatric Dentistry, and Physician Assistants. Also to plan, develop, and operate a program for the training of physicians or dentists, or medical or dental residents, to improve competency and clinical skills of physicians and dentists in providing services to, and communicating with, patients with disabilities, including those with intellectual disabilities.''; and Such training shall include treating patients with disabilities in community-based settings, as part of the usual training or residency placement.
Status: referred to Health Education Labor & Pension Committee on 3/29/2007
Action needed: Tell your legislators about your healthcare experiences and ask them to cosponsor and support the Promoting Wellness for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2007.
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Legislation: Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007 (H.R. 4, House, introduced 1/15/2007)
Sponsor: Rep. John D. Dingell (D, MI-15) introduced H.R 4 on 01/5/2007
Cosponsors: 198
Description: The bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers and Medicare Advantage organizations for drugs covered under the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program.
Status: The House of Representatives passed this bill on 1/12/2007 as part of the “First 100 Hours” of the newly elected Democratic-controlled 110th Congress, after which it was sent to the Senate. The bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee is expected to consider the bill after the April recess.
Action needed: Ask your Senator to support and pass the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act
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Legislation: Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of 2007 (H.R. 154, House, introduced 1/4/2007)
Sponsor: Rep. Gene Green (D, TX-29)
Cosponsors: 2
Description: Would phase out the 24-month waiting period for individuals with disabilities within five years to become eligible for Medicare benefits; and completely eliminate the waiting period for individuals with life-threatening conditions upon enactment.
Status: Referred to two House Energy and Commerce Subcommittees: Health and Social Security. The bill was also referred to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials on 3/5/07 for consideration.
Action needed: Ask your legislator to cosponsor and support the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of 2007.
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Legislation: Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 (S. 558, Senate, introduced 2/12/2007)
Sponsor: Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI-1)
Cosponsors: 260
Description: This bill would provide parity between health insurance coverage of mental health benefits and benefits for medical and surgical services. The House bill would also require that any plan that provided mental health coverage, at a minimum, cover the same wide range of mental and addiction disorders that are currently covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (which is among the largest health insurance programs). This is a stronger bill with greater protections than the bill introduced by the Congressman’s father in the Senate.
Status: The bill was referred to three House Committees: Committee on Energy and Commerce, Committee on Education and Labor, and the Ways and Means Committee for consideration.
Action needed: ask your legislators to cosponsor and support the Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007.
Legislaton: Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 (S. 358, Senate, introduced 1/22/07)
Sponsor: Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) introduced S. 358 on 01/22/2007
Cosponsors: 28
Description: The bill would prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance and employment.
Status: The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions approved the bill with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. 4/10/2007: Senator Kennedy filed written report. Report No. 110-48.
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Legislation: Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 (H.R. 493, House, introduced 1/16/2007)
Sponsor: Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY-28)
Cosponsors: 223
Description: This bill is similar to the Senate bill.
Status: Passed House. 4/30/2007 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 125.
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Legislation: Preserving Patient Access to Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospitals Act of 2007 (S. 534, Senate, introduced 2/12/2007)
Sponsor: Sen. Benjamin Nelson (D-NE)
Cosponsors: 19
Description: The bill would maintain Medicare beneficiary access to rehabilitation hospitals under the Medicare program.
Status: Referred to Senate Finance Committee for consideration on 2/12/2007.
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Legislation: Preserving Patient Access to Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospitals Act of 2007 (H.R. 1459, House, introduced 3/9/2007)
Sponsor: Rep. John Tanner (D, TN-8)
Cosponsors: 89
Description: This bill is similar to the Senate bill.
Status: 03/09/2007 Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means for consideration.
Action: Ask your legislators to cosponsor and support the Preserving Patient Access to Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospitals Act of 2007.
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Legislation: Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act of 2007 (Senate, referred to as CLASS Act)
Sponsor: Sen. Kennedy (D-MA)
Description: Kennedy will soon introduce this bill that would provide (insurance-type) payments to working individuals who either become disabled, or who have existing disabilities. This national program would be entirely funded through the collection of voluntary employee payroll deductions. CLASS Act:
1. creates a national voluntary long-term care insurance program;
2. is a positive step in addressing the nations aging populations long-term care needs;
3. promotes personal responsibility by individuals in planning for and contributing to their long-term care needs;
4. assists people with functional impairments and their families to pay for services and supports that they require; and
5. would be financed through a payroll deduction by individuals who choose to enroll.
How it works:
1. To be eligible for benefits, individuals would pay premiums for at least five years. Benefits would be paid in two tiers.
2. Tier 1 benefits ($50 a day) would be payable to eligible individuals who have two or more impairments in Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) or the equivalent cognitive impairments.
3. Tier 2 benefits ($100 a day) would be payable to individuals who have four or more ADLs or the equivalent cognitive impairment. ADLs defined by the IRS include, eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing, continence.
4. Benefits paid to a beneficiary can be used to purchase non-medical services and supports that the individual needs to maintain independence at home or in another residential setting in the community.
5. Non-medical services and supports include things such as: home modifications, adaptive technology, accessible transportation, homemaker services, respite care, personal assistance services, and home care aides.
Status: Introduced 7/10/2007, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held.
Action needed: Contact your senator and ask them to co sponsor the CLASS Act.
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Legislation: Durable Medical Equipment (H.R. 1845, House)
Description: This bill:
1. Provides for freedom of choice for consumers; the consumer is not forced to work with a medical equipment provider that they do not want to use.
2. Exempts rural NH from being underserved with regard to access to medical equipment.
3. Requires that Quality Standards be established before competitive acquisition is implemented.
4. A competitive medical equipment industry is maintained which allows consumers to base their health care choice on service rather than price.
5. Still allows Medicare to save money necessary to maintain the Medicare program for future generations.
Status: 4/10/2007 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Action needed: ask your legislators to cosponsor and support H.R. 1845.
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Legislation: Stem Cell Research (S. 5, Senate)
Description: Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct and support research that utilizes human embryonic stem cells, regardless of the date on which the stem cells were derived from a human embryo. Limits such research to stem cells that meet the following ethical requirements: (1) the stem cells were derived from human embryos donated from in vitro fertilization clinics for the purpose of fertility treatment and were in excess of the needs of the individuals seeking such treatment; (2) the embryos would never be implanted in a woman and would otherwise be discarded; and (3) such individuals donate the embryos with written informed consent and receive no financial or other inducements.
Directs the Secretary to: (1) issue final guidelines to carry out this Act within 60 days; and (2) submit annual reports on activities and research conducted under this Act.
(Sec. 3) Requires the Secretary to develop techniques for the isolation, derivation, production, or testing of stem cells that are capable of producing all or almost all of the cell types of the developing body and may result in improved understanding of treatments for diseases and other adverse health conditions, but that are not derived from a human embryo. Requires the Secretary to: (1) provide guidance concerning the next steps required for additional research; (2) prioritize research with the greatest potential for near-term clinical benefit; and (3) take into account techniques outlined by the President's Council on Bioethics and any other appropriate techniques and research.
Sets forth reporting requirements.
Authorizes appropriations.
Status: 6/20/2007 Vetoed by President.
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Legislation: Accessible Voting (H.R. 811, House, Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, introduced on 2/7/2007)
Sponsor: Rep. Rush Holt (D, NJ-12)
Cosponsors: 200
Description: The bill would amend the Help America Vote Act to protect the verifiability and accessibility of elections. Disability Vote and other organizations are concerned that the technology required to make a voting machine both accessible and verifiable would not be available in time for the 2008 elections, the deadline required in H.R. 811. Granite State Independent Living does not have a blanket policy either for or against Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) or other means of independent vote verification. GSIL seeks to ensure that any and all measures instituted to provide enhanced security; accuracy and/or voter confidence must be developed and implemented in a manner that ensures immediate accessibility for people with disabilities. Such measures must not interfere with the current ability of voters with disabilities to cast private and independent ballots, as mandated by HAVA.
Status: 5/16/2007 Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 91.
Action needed: Tell your legislators:
1. the disability community shares the interest of all Americans in ensuring that elections are fair, secure, and accurate. If a paper audit trail or other means of independent vote verification is used in any jurisdiction, then the means of vote verification must be accessible to all individuals with disabilities at the same time as the requirement goes into effect for all voters; and
2. to oppose any paper audit trail or other means of independent vote verification requirement that does not meet this standard.
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Legislation: ADA Restoration Act H.R. 3195 & S. 1881
Description: In recent years, a number of Supreme Court decisions have significantly reduced the protections available to people with disabilities within employment settings.
Courts are quick to side with businesses and employers, deciding against people with disabilities who challenge employment discrimination 97% of the time, often before the person has even had a chance to show that the employer treated him or her unfairly.
Courts have created an absurd Catch-22 by allowing employers to say a person is too disabled to do a job but not disabled enough to be protected by the ADA.
People with conditions like epilepsy, diabetes, HIV, cancer, hearing loss, and mental illness who manage their disabilities with medication, prosthetics, hearing aids, etc. or mitigating measures are viewed as too functional to have a disability and are denied the ADA’s protection from employment discrimination.
People denied a job or fired because an employer mistakenly believes they cannot perform the job or because the employer does not want people like that in the workplace are also denied the ADA's protection from employment discrimination.
The Senate will be acting upon a proposal in the near future to restore some of the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that have been weakened by court decisions over the past seventeen years. Some of the provisions of the proposed legislation will restore the ability of persons with disabilities to hold state and local governments liable for employment discrimination, clarifies the definition of “qualifying individuals with a disability who use aids and assistive devices” to be protected by the law as well as other changes in the remedies and enforcement provisions.
Status: 10/4/2007 House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Hearing Held.
11/15/2007 Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Penions.
ADA Restoration Hearing in the Senate - What Went Down
11/15/2007
The Senate hearing on ADA Restoration yesterday was the first of what could be many over the next year. The following summary is from our friends at Justice for All.
The ADA Restoration Act hearing in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions(HELP) Committee, while poorly attended by Members [only Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) attended], nonetheless delivered a strong message to the Congressional record of its need.
Senator Harkin (D-IA), the lead sponsor of the Senate bill, S.1881, began the hearing by addressing his involvement with the original ADA, what Congress intended, and some of the Supreme Court decisions that have brought us way off course with this great law.
Long time disability rights leader John Kemp, an attorney in Washington, D.C., was first to speak from the panel. Mr. Kemp spoke of his personal experience having grown up without arms or legs and stated that disability discrimination is "un-American."
Dick Thornburgh, Attorney General under Former President George H.W. Bush, like Senator Harkin, spoke of his role in the passage of the original ADA and what he understood Congress's intent to be.
Steven Orr, a pharmacist with Type 1 diabetes from South Dakota, spoke next. Mr. Orr, who wears an insulin pump, detailed his experience of discrimination by his employer who flat out told him he was firing him because of his diabetes but who nonetheless lost his case when the Courts determined that he was not "disabled" for purposes of the ADA's protections.
Camille Olson, an attorney and professor from Chicago, offered an oppositional viewpoint. While noting all the progress in the workplace to date on account of the ADA, Ms. Olson argued that the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 is not a suitable solution to address concerns with the ADA, arguing that the legislation included too many people with all varieties and severities of impairments in its protections.
After Ms. Olson spoke, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), who joined the hearing after Mr. Kemp's testimony but who left after Ms. Olson's, asked for a few minutes to make remarks before having to excuse herself to another Senate obligation. Senator Murray first thanked Senator Harkin for drawing attention to the problems the courts have created for people with disabilities under the ADA. She shared that her father had spent much of his life in a wheelchair on account of muscular sclerosis and that she remembered vividly life before the ADA - having to make numerous calls and other inquiries regarding parking and accessibility just to have a family outing. She said if her father was still alive, he would most assuredly not want to think progress was retreating. The Senator also made mention of the large numbers of returning vets with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and noted the importance of this topic on their interests.
Chai Feldblum, a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, spoke last on the panel, and provided a detailed legal perspective from the beginnings of the ADA, of which she played an integral role, to the present erosion of its intended protections on account of Supreme Court rulings. Ms. Feldblum took several of Ms. Olson's points head on, addressing both points she made in her oral as well as written testimony with powerful counterarguments and passionately dismantling many of her claims.
After noting that this hearing was only the first of several hearings to come on this bill, Senator Harkin asked a number of questions of the witnesses before adjourning the hearing approximately two hours after it began.
An archived webcast of the hearing is available (uncaptioned), and transcripts are expected in coming weeks.