Disabled Access Credit Expansion Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2290 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the credit for expenditures to provide access to disabled individuals, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 25, 2019 Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mr. CASEY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BROWN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MARKEY, and Mr. BOOKER) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the credit for expenditures to provide access to disabled individuals, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disabled Access Credit 4 Expansion Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF CREDIT FOR EXPENDITURES TO 6 PROVIDE ACCESS TO DISABLED INDIVID- 7 UALS. 8 (a) INCREASE IN DOLLAR LIMITATION.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:37 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2290.IS S2290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2290 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 44 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 2 striking ‘‘$10,250’’ and inserting ‘‘$20,500’’. 3 (2) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—Section 44 of 4 such Code is amended by redesignating subsection 5 (e) as subsection (f) and by inserting after sub- 6 section (d) the following new subsection: 7 ‘‘(e) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any taxable 9 year beginning after 2020, the $20,500 amount in 10 subsection (a) shall be increased by an amount equal 11 to— 12 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 13 ‘‘(B) the cost of living adjustment deter- 14 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 15 year in which the taxable year begins, deter- 16 mined by substituting ‘calendar year 2019’ for 17 ‘calendar year 2016’ in subparagraph (A)(ii) 18 thereof. 19 ‘‘(2) ROUNDING.—Any amount determined 20 under paragraph (1) which is not a multiple of $50 21 shall be rounded to the next lowest multiple of 22 $50.’’. 23 (b) INCREASE IN GROSS RECEIPTS LIMITATION.— 24 Subparagraph (A) of section 44(b)(1) of the Internal Rev- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:37 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2290.IS S2290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2290 IS enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘$1,000,000’’ 1 and inserting ‘‘$2,500,000’’. 2 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 3 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 4 December 31, 2019. 5 SEC. 3. ALTERNATIVE MEANS OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN- 6 VOLVING DISABILITY RIGHTS. 7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 8 (1) Congress does not directly appropriate 9 funds for the ADA Mediation Program of the Dis- 10 ability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division of 11 the Department of Justice. 12 (2) The Civil Rights Division receives funds for 13 the ADA Mediation Program from the Office of Al- 14 ternative Dispute Resolution of the Office of Legal 15 Policy of the Department of Justice. The Office of 16 Alternative Dispute Resolution receives appropria- 17 tions through the appropriations account of the De- 18 partment of Justice appropriated under the heading 19 ‘‘FEES AND EXPENSES OF WITNESSES’’ under the 20 heading ‘‘LEGAL ACTIVITIES’’ (referred to in this 21 subsection as the ‘‘FEW appropriations account’’). 22 (3) The total amount appropriated to the Office 23 of Alternative Dispute Resolution through the FEW 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:37 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2290.IS S2290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2290 IS appropriations account for fiscal year 2019 is 1 $4,500,000. 2 (4) Out of this amount, the Office of Alter- 3 native Dispute Resolution funds mediation for all of 4 the litigating units within the Department of Jus- 5 tice. 6 (5) The Civil Rights Division requests funding 7 for the ADA Mediation Program on a quarterly 8 basis and is limited in its ability to use funds to in- 9 crease personnel and provide training concerning the 10 program. 11 (6) Voluntary mediation, under section 514 of 12 the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 13 U.S.C. 12212), of disputes between individuals and 14 entities covered by the Americans with Disabilities 15 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.) requires spe- 16 cific expertise. 17 (7) To best serve the disability community, and 18 entities covered by that Act, the ADA Mediation 19 Program should be able to use funds to increase per- 20 sonnel and provide training concerning the program. 21 (b) ADA MEDIATION PROGRAM.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 23 carry out an ADA Mediation Program (referred to 24 in this section as the ‘‘Program’’). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:37 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2290.IS S2290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2290 IS (2) DUTIES AND AUTHORITIES.—In carrying 1 out the Program, the Attorney General— 2 (A) shall facilitate voluntary mediation to 3 resolve disputes arising under the Americans 4 with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 5 et seq.); 6 (B) may hire or enter into contracts with 7 personnel for the Program, including increasing 8 the number of such personnel beyond the num- 9 ber of individuals who provided services through 10 the Program on the date of enactment of this 11 section; and 12 (C) provide training for mediators who 13 provide services through the Program. 14 (3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 15 (A) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to 16 be appropriated to the appropriations account 17 of the Department of Justice appropriated 18 under the heading ‘‘FEES AND EXPENSES OF 19 WITNESSES’’ under the heading ‘‘LEGAL AC- 20 TIVITIES’’, to carry out this section, $1,000,000 21 (in addition to any other amounts appropriated 22 to that account) for fiscal year 2021. 23 (B) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Funds ap- 24 propriated under subparagraph (A) may be 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:37 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2290.IS S2290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2290 IS used to pay for obligations incurred through the 1 Program prior to the date of enactment of this 2 section. 3 SEC. 4. ADA INFORMATION LINE DATA COLLECTION RE- 4 PORT. 5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 6 (1) As of June 28, 2019, during fiscal year 7 2019, accessibility specialists have answered approxi- 8 mately 23,855 calls to the ADA Information Line. 9 (2) The ADA Information Line receives on av- 10 erage approximately 600 calls per week, and does 11 not typically collect data about the kinds of calls it 12 receives. 13 (3) The ADA Information Line takes calls from 14 a variety of individuals and entities interested in the 15 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, including— 16 (A) employers covered by such Act; 17 (B) architects and others who work with 18 such employers; 19 (C) public entities, such as schools and 20 public service providers; 21 (D) individuals with disabilities; and 22 (E) entities that provide public accom- 23 modations. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:37 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2290.IS S2290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2290 IS (4) ADA.gov provides many resources to indi- 1 viduals and entities, public or private, looking for in- 2 formation on such Act. 3 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 4 (1) the term ‘‘ADA Information Line’’ means 5 the toll-free line operated by the Attorney General to 6 provide information and materials to the public 7 about the requirements of the Americans with Dis- 8 abilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), in- 9 cluding regulations issued under the Act and tech- 10 nical assistance in accordance with section 507 of 11 the Act (42 U.S.C. 12206); and 12 (2) the term ‘‘disability’’, with respect to an in- 13 dividual, has the meaning given such term in section 14 3 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 12102). 15 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 16 of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall sub- 17 mit a report to each committee of Congress— 18 (1) outlining the kinds of calls the ADA Infor- 19 mation Line receives; 20 (2) detailing the efforts of the Department of 21 Justice to educate individuals and entities about the 22 existence of the ADA Information Line; and 23 (3) providing recommendations on improve- 24 ments that can be made to provide additional sup- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:37 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2290.IS S2290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2290 IS port to individuals with disabilities, and entities cov- 1 ered by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 2 seeking information on such Act. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:37 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2290.IS S2290 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS