[News Clippings: House Approves Bill Establishing Broad Rights for Disabled People] Part: 3 of 6
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THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 1
House Overwhelmingly Approves
Bill Setting Rights for the DisabledContinued From Page Al
and the Capitol Rotunda. For the first
time, the televised Houseadebate was
translated in sign language for the
hearing-impaired.
'First Declaration of Equality'
"This is the first declaration of
equality for people with disabilities
around the world," said Justin Dart Jr.,
chairman of the President's Commit-
tee on Employment of People with Dis-
abilities, and a longtime advocate of
disability rights.
The bill is expected to have a signifi-
cant economic impact on both the pri-
vate sector and government at all
levels, although it is unclear what the
ultimate costs will be.
Beginning two years after it is signed
into law, the measure would require
employers to make reasonable accom-
modations for qualified workers and
job applicants with disabilities unless
doing so presents an undue hardship.
The measure defines undue hardship
for businesses as something that would
"be too costly or be too disruptive or
substantially alter the way they do
business."
The bill defines a person with a dis-
ability as someone with a physical or
mental impairment that "substantially
limits a major life activity" like walk-
ing, talking or working. It covers peo-
ple with AIDS and drug abusers or al-
How They Voted
On Bill for Disabled
WASHINGTON, May 22 (AP) -
The House of Representatives ap-
proved the AmericanstWith Disabili-
ties Act today by a vote of 403 to 20;
following are listings of the Repre-
sentatives who voted against the
measure and the Representatives
who did not vote.
Voting for the bill were 248 Demo-
crats and 155 Republicans; opposed
were 3 Democrats and 17 Republi-
cans. FivenDemocrats and 4 Republi-
cans did not vote, and 2 seats are va-
cant.
AGAINST THE BILL
Democrats - Jim Cooper, Tennessee; Jim Olin, Vir-
ginia, and Charles W. Stensolm, Texas.
Republicans - Bill Archer, Texas; Dick Armey,
Texas; Joe L. Barton, Texas; Herbert H. Bateman, Vir-
ginia; Dan Burton, Indiana; Philip M. Crane, Illinois;
William E. Dannemeyer, California; Tom DeLay,
Texas; Mel Hancock, Missouri; Wally Herger, Califor-
nia; Jim Ross Lighttoot, Iowa; Ron Marlenee, Mon-
tana; Howard C. Nielson, Utah; Ron Packard, Califor-
nia; Norman D. Shunway, Calitornia; Bud Shuster,
Pennsylvania, and Bob Stump, Arizona.
NOT VOTING
Democrats - Bill Alexander, Arkansas; Ronnie G.
Flippo, Alabama; Thomas S. Foley, Washington (by
tradition the Speaker does not vote; Harold E. Ford,
Tennessee; Bill Nelson, Florida, and Wes Watkins,
Oklahoma.
Republicans - Larry E. Craig, Idaho; John Paul
Hammerschmidt, Arkansas; Donald E .Buz) Lukens,
Ohio, and Bill Thomas, California.coholics who have undergone treat-
ment. It excludes people with emo-
tional disorders like kleptomania, gam-
bling compulsions or pedophilia.
Public and private transportation
systems must make new buses and rail
cars accessible to handicapped people,
installing lifts for people in wheel-
chairs, if necessary. Elevators or
ramps must be installed at important
rail stations. New or renovated build-
ings must be free from barriers pre-
venting the disabled from entering, and
restaurants and retail outlets must
make their premises and services
available to disabled persons.
Three years after passage of the bill,
telephone companies would be re-
quired to establish relay services be-
tween special telephones for people
with speech or hearing disabilities and
people using ordinary telephones. The
handicapped people would use the spe-
cial phones to type out their messages,
and an operator would act as an inter-
mediary between them and the users of
ordinary phones. The American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company calcu-
lated last year that service to people
with hearing problems would cost the
telecommunications industry $250 mil-
lion to $330 million.
Although the final costs are hard to
estimate, the Government estimated
last year that as the result of the Reha-
bilitation Act of 1973 and the legislation
passed today, state and local govern-
ments would have to spend $20 million
to $30 million a year over the next sev-
eral years to purchase buses equipped
with hydraulic lifts.
After the Senate passed its bill last
summer, Greyhound Lines Inc. as-
serted that the company would have to
spend $40 million to $80 million a year
to comply. Officials of the the Metro-
politan Transit Authority which runs
New York City's transit system, the na-
tion's largest, said the bill would not
have a signficant impact on its operat-
ing or capital expenses. More than 80
percent of the city's buses are now
equipped with lifts, and officials say
the rest will be so equipped by the end
of 1992. As a result of a settlement in
1984 of a lawsuit brought by disability
rights advocates, the city is already
spending $40 million to install elevators
in 54 of the subway system's 469 sta-
tions by the end of 1992.
The issue of how to punish violations
of the proposed law had been a conten-
tious one. Supporters of the measure
were able to beat back an amendment
by Representative F. James Sensen-
brenner Jr., Republican of Wisconsin,
that would have limited the remedies
available to handicapped people who
are the victims of discrimination to
those embodied in the 1964 civil rights
law: injunctions to halt biased actions
by employers and back pay for victims
of discrimination who were dismissed
or passed over for promotion. Another
pending measure, the Civil Rights Act,
of 1990, would expand the 1964 civilLEGISLATIVE STATUS
Rights of the DisabledALE
Should discrimination against the disabled by private businesses be
barred by Federal law?
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars discrimination on the basis of
race, sex and national origin.
A 1973 law bars discrimination against the disabled by the
Federal Government, Federal contractors or entities that receive
Federal funds.
A 1988 housing law prohibits discrimination in the sale or rental of
housing; after March 1991, some new buildings would have to be
made accessible to the disabled.
Employment In two years, businesses with more than 25 workers
would be required to change their physical plants to accommodate
disabled employees. In four years, businesses with more 15 workers
would have to.
Transportation. New buses, trains and subway cars, would have to
be accessible to people in wheelchairs.
Public accommodations. Renovated or new hotels, retail stores,
and restaurants would have to be accessible to people in
wheelchairs. Barriers now existing would be removed, if "readily
achievable."
Telecommunications. Telephone companies would have to provide
relay services allowing hearing- or voice-impaired people with
special telepones to place and receive calls from ordinary
telephones, within three years.
Businesses that could demonstrate that the required changes would
be too costly, too disruptive or substantially alter the way they do
business, would be exempt.
Injunctions for employers to halt their biased actions and back pay
for victims of discrimination who were fired or failed to be promoted,
as provided in the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The Americans With Disabilties Act passed the Senate in
September. President Bush said he would sign it.rights law to allow for punitive dam-
ages and jury trials in the case of inten-
tional discrimination, and such
changes would apply to the disability
law as well.
The Bush Administration, which op-
poses allowing increased damage
awards, had supported the Sensenbren-
ner amendment, which was defeated
227 to 192. Administration officials said
President Bush, who promised in the
1988 Presidential campaign to help the
estimated 43 million Americans whohave physical or mental disabilities,
would not veto the disability bill over
the issue.
The House narrowly passed last
week by a vote of 199 to 187 an amend-
ment on food handlers, offered by Rep-
resentative Jim Chapman, Democrat
of Texas. Supporters contended that
without the amendment the bill would
have put businesses at undue economic
risk by making it impossible for them
to move workers who carry communi-
cable diseases like AIDS from jobs
where they handle food.A10
Y
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[News Clippings: House Approves Bill Establishing Broad Rights for Disabled People], clipping, 19XX-05-22; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc824960/m1/3/?q=%22Religion%22: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.