TO AMEND THE VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION ACT

MONDAY, MARCH 29, 1965

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH OF THE

COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE,

Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room 4232, New Senate Office Building, Senator Lister Hill, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding.

Present: Senators Hill (presiding), Yarborough, and Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Committee staff members present: Stewart E. McClure, chief clerk; Robert W. Barclay, professional staff member; and Roy H. Millenson, minority_clerk.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order.

The Subcommittee on Health is meeting this morning to consider S. 1525, the Vocational Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1965. This bill is a part of the President's health program and it would significantly expand the opportunities available to those individuals who are afflicted with physical or mental disabilities.

Under existing law, vocational rehabilitation services may not be provided to a person with a disability unless it is determined that such services may reasonably be expected to render the individual fit to engage in remunerative employment. In some cases, particularly in the case of the mentally retarded, this requirement works to the disadvantage of handicapped individuals. This bill, therefore, would authorize vocational rehabilitation evaulation services for a maximum of 18 months during which period the potential for employment could be ascertained.

This liberalization will permit many more individuals to lead productive lives.

The bill would also authorize grants to pay part of the costs of constructing rehabilitation facilities and sheltered workshops and grants to share in the initial operating costs of rehabilitation facilities and workshops.

Training grants, including stipends for trainees, for workshops, project grants for the improvement of sheltered workshops, and technical assistance to workshops would also be authorized. To assist in the administration of the new program of assistance to workshops, a National Policy and Performance Council would be established.

S. 1525 would also provide new authority to assist States in expending and extending their programs of vocational rehabilitation and new authority to permit further research and development work with respect to the abilities and capacities of handicapped individuals.

In addition, the bill would provide for greater flexibility to the States in administering the vocational rehabilitation program and authorize the establishment of a National Commission on Architectural Barriers to Rehabilitation of the Handicapped.

The provisions of S. 1525 to provide assistance in constructing rehabilitation facilities and sheltered workshops and other sections of the bill would assist in carrying out the recommendations of the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke.

Furthermore, the provisions of the bill would also carry out the recommendations of the President's Panel on Mental Retardation that was established by our late President John F. Kennedy in 1961. (S. 1525 follows:)

89TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION

S. 1525

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 15, 1965

Mr. HILL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare

A BILL

To amend the Vocational Rehabilitation Act to assist in providing more flexibility in the financing and administration of State rehabilitation programs, and to assist in the expansion and improvement of services and facilities provided under such programs, particularly for the mentally retarded and other groups presenting special vocational rehabilitation problems, 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 That this Act may be cited as the "Vocational Rehabilitation 4 Act Amendments of 1965".

II

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1

DETERMINATION OF VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION

2

POTENTIAL

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SEC. 2. (a) Section 12 of the Vocational Rehabilita

4 tion Act (29 U.S.C. 42) is amended to read as follows:

5 "GRANTS TO STATES FOR VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION

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SERVICES TO DETERMINE REHABILITATION POTENTIAL

7

8

"SEC. 12. (a) (1) (A) From the sums available for any fiscal year for grants to States to assist them in meeting 9 the costs of providing vocational rehabilitation evaluation 10 services, each State shall be entitled to an allotment of an 11 amount which bears the same ratio to such sums as the prod12 uct of (i) the population of the State and (ii) its allotment 13 percentage (as defined in section 11 (h)) bears to the sum of 14 the corresponding products for all the States.

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"(B) The allotment to any State under paragraph (1) 16 of this subsection for any fiscal year which is less than $5,000

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(or such other amount as may be specified as a minimum 18 allotment in the Act appropriating such sums for such year) 19 shall be increased to that amount, the total of the increases 20 thereby required being derived by proportionately reducing

the allotments to each of the remaining States under that 22 paragraph, but with such adjustments as may be necessary 23 to prevent the allotment of any of such remaining States from 24 being thereby reduced to less than that amount.

"(2) Any amount allotted under this subsection to any