[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4017 Introduced in House (IH)]







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 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.

    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 ``Drug-Free Workplace and Public 
Safety Assurance Act of 1996''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS REGARDING PERFORMANCE OF SAFETY-SENSITIVE FUNCTIONS 
              BY EMPLOYEES 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 following:
    ``(a) Qualified Individual With a Disability.--
            ``(1) Exclusion regarding current illegal use of drugs.--
        For purposes of this title,''; and
            (2) by inserting at the end the following paragraph:
            ``(2)  Exclusion regarding safety-sensitive 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 subparagraph (B), the status of the employee 
                or applicant as an individual with a disability is 
                based in whole or in part on the fact that the employee 
                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 paragraph applies 
                notwithstanding any other provision of law.
                    ``(B) Long-term exclusion.--An employee 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 verifiable 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 
                substantial 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 Disabilities 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 following 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 functions 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.
                                 <all>