[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 138 (Tuesday, October 6, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11634-S11635]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY ACT OF 1998

 Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I am very pleased that last night 
we passed S. 2432, the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, the ATA. In 
the spring of 1988, I made a commitment to individuals with 
disabilities. I said that I would, with their help, and that of my 
colleagues, develop and pass legislation that would provide greater 
access to assistive technology for people with disabilities. Between 
April and August of that year, we did just that. The Technology-Related 
Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities, commonly referred to as 
the Tech Act, became P. L. 100-407 and received its first 
appropriation. That legislation has had a successful 10 year run. It 
sunsets on September 30, 1998.
  This spring I made another commitment. I said I would, with the help 
of my friends in the disability community, my partners Senators Harkin 
and Bond, develop new technology legislation that would promote greater 
access to technology for people with disabilities, promote greater 
interest in and investment by the Federal Government and public and 
private entities in addressing the unmet technology needs of 
individuals with disabilities, and create expanded means by which 
individuals with disabilities could purchase assistive technology. We 
were joined in our efforts by Senators Kerry, McConnell, Collins, 
Kennedy, Reed, Frist, DeWine, Bingaman, Wellstone, Warner, Dodd, 
Faircloth, Ford, Mikulski, Sarbanes, D'Amato, Reid, Cochran, and 
Johnson. This legislation will equip individuals with disabilities 
through technology, to sustain their functioning, to expand their range 
of abilities, to be more independent, and to contribute at home, in 
school, at work, and in the community.
  S. 2432 builds on the success of the Tech Act. In recognition of the 
accomplishments of State Tech Projects, State protection and advocacy 
systems, and technical assistance provided by the Rehabilitation 
Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) 
and United Cerebral Palsy Associations, Inc., the bill continues 
federal support for activities proven to be effective in promoting 
access to assistive technology. It also sets policies and authorizes 
federal support for new challenges related to technology and its impact 
on individuals with disabilities. It encourages states, the Federal 
Government, public and private entities, individuals with disabilities 
and their families and advocates, to form new partnerships, to stretch 
expectations and to build consensus through common goals, to promote 
and to endorse meaningful accountability by measuring progress on 
common goals, and generally work together to make the environments and 
the technology of tomorrow accessible to and usable by individuals with 
disabilities.
  The specific purposes of the bill are to: support states in 
sustaining and strengthening their capacity to address the assistive 
technology needs of individuals with disabilities; focus the federal 
investment in technology that could benefit individuals with 
disabilities; and support micro-loan programs to provide assistance to 
individuals who desire to purchase assistive technology devices or 
services.
  S. 2432 reaffirms the federal role of promoting access to assistive 
technology devices and services for individuals with disabilities. The 
bill allows states flexibility in responding to the assistive 
technology needs of their citizens with disabilities, and does not 
disrupt the accomplishments of states over the last decade through the 
state assistive technology programs funded under the Tech Act.
  Title I of the ATA authorizes funding for multiple grant programs 
from fiscal years 1999 through 2004: continuity grants, challenge 
grants, millennium

[[Page S11635]]

grants, and grants to protection and advocacy systems, as well as 
funding for a technical assistance program. The bill streamlines and 
clarifies expectations, including expectations related to 
accountability, associated with continuing federal support for state 
assistive technology programs. The bill targets specific, proven 
activities, as priorities, referred to as ``mandatory activities''. All 
State grantees must set measurable goals in connection to their use of 
ATA funds, and both the goals and the approach to measuring the goals 
must be based on input from individuals with disabilities in the State.
  If a State has received less than 10 years of Federal funding under 
the Tech Act for its assistive technology program, title I of S. 2432 
allows a State, which submits a supplement (a continuity grant) to its 
current grant for Federal funds, to use ATA funds for mandatory 
activities related to a public awareness program, policy development 
and interagency coordination, technical assistance and training, and 
outreach, especially to elderly and rural populations with 
disabilities. Such a State also may use ATA funds for optional grant 
activities: alternative State-financed systems for assistance 
technology devices and services, technology demonstrations, 
distribution of information about how to finance assistive technology 
devices and services, and operation of a technology-related information 
system, or participation in interstate activities or public-private 
partnerships pertaining to assistive technology.
  If a state has had 10 years of funding for its assistive technology 
program, the State may submit an application for a noncompetitive 
challenge grant. Grant funds must be spent on specific activities--
interagency coordination, an assistive technology information system, a 
public awareness program, technical assistance and training, and 
outreach activities.
  In fiscal year 2000 through 2004, if funding for title I exceeds $40 
million, States operating under challenge grants may apply for 
additional ATA funding, provided through competitive millennium grants. 
These grants are to focus on specific statewide or local level capacity 
building activities in an area or areas related to access to technology 
for individuals with disabilities.
  Title I of the bill also authorizes funding for protection and 
advocacy systems in each State to assist individuals with disabilities 
to access assistive technology devices and services, and funding for a 
technical assistance program, and specifies administrative procedures 
with regard to monitoring of entities funded under title I of the bill. 
The bill contains an authorization for a National Public Internet Site 
on assistive technology as part of the technical assistance program. 
This site will have two distinct functions. First, once developed and 
operating, the site will have the capacity, through interaction with an 
individual, both to identify a profile of the individual's specific 
assistive technology needs and to recommend alternatives for addressing 
those needs. Second, once information is identified and links 
established, the site will be a location on the Internet through which 
individuals may access information about assistive technology devices 
and services and be linked to state Tech Projects and other sites to 
access additional information.

  S. 2432 treats year 1999 as a transition year for current grantees of 
federal funds for assistive technology. The bill provides the Secretary 
of Education with discretion to treat grantees who have completed 10 
years of Federal funding in that year as if those states were in their 
tenth year of federal funding. In addition, grantees who have received 
less than 10 years of funding for assistive technology programs may 
elect in fiscal year 2000 only to transition from continuity grant 
status to challenge grant status by submitting a grant application for 
a challenge grant.
  The authorization level for title I of the bill is $36 million for 
fiscal year 1999, and such sums for fiscal years 2000 through 2004.
  Title II of S. 2432 provides for increased coordination of Federal 
efforts related to assistive technology and universal design, and 
authorizes funding for multiple grant programs from fiscal years 1999 
through 2004. Title II strengthens the mandate of the Interagency 
Committee on Disability Research (ICDR) to include assistive technology 
and universal design research, and authorizes funding the joint 
research projects by ICDR members. Title II also provides for increased 
cooperation between the National Institute on Disability and 
Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), which oversees the State Tech 
Projects, and the Federal Laboratories Consortium.
  Title II of the bill also authorizes increased funding for Small 
Business Innovative Research grants (an existing program under the 
Small Business Act) related to assistive technology and funding to 
commercial or other organizations for research and development related 
to how to incorporate the principles of universal design into the 
design of products and buildings so they can be used without alteration 
by all people. This title also authorizes funding for grants or other 
mechanisms to address the unique assistive technology needs of urban 
and rural areas, of children and the elderly, and to improve training 
of rehabilitation engineers and technicians.
  Finally, title II of S. 2432 authorizes funding for the President's 
Commission on the Employment of People with Disabilities to work with 
the private sector to promote the development of accessible information 
technologies.
  The authorization of appropriations for title II is $15 million for 
fiscal year 1999, and such sums for fiscal years 2000 through 2004.
  Title II of the bill provides for alternative financing mechanisms 
for people with disabilities to purchase assistive technology devices 
and services from fiscal years 1999 through 2004. These funds are to be 
used to establish specified types of loan programs for individuals with 
disabilities, and not to be used simply to purchase assistive 
technology for individuals with disabilities. The authorization of 
appropriations for title III of S. 2432 is $25 million for fiscal year 
1999, and such sums for fiscal years 2000 through 2004.
  We would not have been successful in passing S. 2432 without the 
technical assistance and cooperation from the U.S. Department of 
Education, the state Tech Projects, particularly, Lynne Cleveland, 
Director of the Vermont state Tech Project, the National Association of 
Protection and Advocacy Systems, and the Technology Task Force of the 
Consortium for Individuals with Disabilities, especially Jennifer 
Dexter, Jim Gelecka, Glen Sutcliffe, Sally Rhodes, and Ellin Nolan. I 
would also like to recognize the efforts of Senate staff, Lloyd Horwich 
with Senator Harkin, Dreama Towe with Senator Bond, and Pat Morrissey, 
Heidi Mohlman, and Carolyn Dupree of my staff.
  In addition to being supported by the disability community, S. 2432 
has been endorsed by the Administration and the Chamber of Commerce and 
supported by the Administration. Moreover, the National Governors 
Association, and individual governors have urged the passage of 
assistive technology legislation this year.
  Everyone has worked especially hard to help us meet our ambitious, 
compressed time table. Along the way, every Senate office now has a 
better understanding and appreciation of assistive technology--what it 
means to an individual with a disability who has it and what it means 
to an individual with a disability who needs it, but can't get it.
  Technology has become commonplace and thus, is often taken for 
granted. Yet, the power of technology is, in many ways, our last 
frontier. As we push technology to do more for us, S. 2432 offers us 
the tools to ensure that individuals with disabilities also benefit.
  I appreciate the support of my colleagues in passing S. 2432.

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