[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1237 Introduced in Senate (IS)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1237

 To amend the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to provide for more equitable 
    allotment of funds to States for centers for independent living.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 11, 2003

  Mr. Bennett (for himself, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Craig, and Mr. 
    Dorgan) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to provide for more equitable 
    allotment of funds to States for centers for independent living.

    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 ``Independent Living Improvement Act 
of 2003''.

SEC. 2. STATE ALLOTMENTS FOR CENTERS FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING.

    Section 721 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 796f) is 
amended by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following:
    ``(c) Allotments to States.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Additional appropriation.--The term 
                `additional appropriation' means the amount (if any) by 
                which the appropriation for a fiscal year exceeds the 
                total of--
                            ``(i) the amount reserved under subsection 
                        (b) for that fiscal year; and
                            ``(ii) the appropriation for fiscal year 
                        2003.
                    ``(B) Appropriation.--The term `appropriation' 
                means the amount appropriated to carry out this part.
                    ``(C) Base appropriation.--The term `base 
                appropriation' means the portion of the appropriation 
                for a fiscal year that is equal to the lesser of--
                            ``(i) an amount equal to 100 percent of the 
                        appropriation, minus the amount reserved under 
                        subsection (b) for that fiscal year; or
                            ``(ii) the appropriation for fiscal year 
                        2003.
            ``(2) Allotments to states from base appropriation.--After 
        the reservation required by subsection (b) has been made, the 
        Commissioner shall allot to each State whose State plan has 
        been approved under section 706 an amount that bears the same 
        ratio to the base appropriation as the amount the State 
        received under this subsection for fiscal year 2003 bears to 
        the total amount that all States received under this subsection 
        for fiscal year 2003.
            ``(3) Allotments to states additional appropriation.--From 
        any additional appropriation for each fiscal year, the 
        Commissioner shall allot to each State whose State plan has 
        been approved under section 706 an amount equal to the sum of--
                    ``(A) an amount that bears the same ratio to 50 
                percent of the additional appropriation as the 
                population of the State bears to the population of all 
                States; and
                    ``(B) \1/56\ of 50 percent of the additional 
                appropriation.
            ``(4) Maintenance of effort.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Commissioner shall not make 
                a payment for the allotments described in this 
                subsection to any State for a fiscal year unless the 
                Commissioner--
                            ``(i) determines that the State independent 
                        living expenditure for the first preceding 
                        fiscal year is not less than the State 
                        independent living expenditure for the second 
                        preceding fiscal year; or
                            ``(ii) reduces the amount of the payment by 
                        the amount by which the State independent 
                        living expenditure for the second preceding 
                        fiscal year exceeds the State independent 
                        living expenditure for the first preceding 
                        fiscal year.
                    ``(B) Definition.--In this subsection, the term 
                `State independent living expenditure', used with 
                respect to a fiscal year, means the total expenditure 
                in the State of other Federal funds (other than funds 
                made available to carry out this part), State funds, 
                and local funds for that fiscal year to provide 
                assistance for centers for independent living.''.

SEC. 3. REPORT.

    Section 704(m)(4)(D) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 
795c(m)(4)(D)) is amended by inserting ``, including reports indicating 
the manner in which and extent to which the State complied with the 
maintenance of effort requirement specified in section 
721(c)(4)(A)(i)'' before the semicolon.
                                 <all>