Disabled Access Credit Expansion Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4045 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 25, 2019 Mr. MCEACHIN (for himself, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PETERS, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. AGUILAR, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. LUJA´N, Mrs. LURIA, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. SPEIER, and Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Education and Labor, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4045.IH H4045 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4045 IH SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF CREDIT FOR EXPENDITURES TO 1 PROVIDE ACCESS TO DISABLED INDIVID- 2 UALS. 3 (a) INCREASE IN DOLLAR LIMITATION.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 44 5 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 6 striking ‘‘$10,250’’ and inserting ‘‘$20,500’’. 7 (2) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—Section 44 of 8 such Code is amended by redesignating subsection 9 (e) as subsection (f) and by inserting after sub- 10 section (d) the following new subsection: 11 ‘‘(e) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.— 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any taxable 13 year beginning after 2020, the $20,500 amount in 14 subsection (a) shall be increased by an amount equal 15 to— 16 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 17 ‘‘(B) the cost of living adjustment deter- 18 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 19 year in which the taxable year begins, deter- 20 mined by substituting ‘calendar year 2019’ for 21 ‘calendar year 2016’ in subparagraph (A)(ii) 22 thereof. 23 ‘‘(2) ROUNDING.—Any amount determined 24 under paragraph (1) which is not a multiple of $50 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4045.IH H4045 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4045 IH shall be rounded to the next lowest multiple of 1 $50.’’. 2 (b) INCREASE IN GROSS RECEIPTS LIMITATION.— 3 Subparagraph (A) of section 44(b)(1) of the Internal Rev- 4 enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘$1,000,000’’ 5 and inserting ‘‘$2,500,000’’. 6 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 7 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 8 December 31, 2019. 9 SEC. 3. ALTERNATIVE MEANS OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN- 10 VOLVING DISABILITY RIGHTS. 11 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 12 (1) Congress does not directly appropriate 13 funds for the ADA Mediation Program of the Dis- 14 ability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division of 15 the Department of Justice. 16 (2) The Civil Rights Division receives funds for 17 the ADA Mediation Program from the Office of Al- 18 ternative Dispute Resolution of the Office of Legal 19 Policy of the Department of Justice. The Office of 20 Alternative Dispute Resolution receives appropria- 21 tions through the appropriations account of the De- 22 partment of Justice appropriated under the heading 23 ‘‘FEES AND EXPENSES OF WITNESSES’’ under the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4045.IH H4045 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4045 IH heading ‘‘LEGAL ACTIVITIES’’ (referred to in this 1 subsection as the ‘‘FEW appropriations account’’). 2 (3) The total amount appropriated to the Office 3 of Alternative Dispute Resolution through the FEW 4 appropriations account for fiscal year 2018 is 5 $3,659,544. 6 (4) Out of this amount, the Office of Alter- 7 native Dispute Resolution funds mediation for all of 8 the litigating units within the Department of Jus- 9 tice. 10 (5) The Civil Rights Division requests funding 11 for the ADA Mediation Program on a quarterly 12 basis and is limited in its ability to use funds to in- 13 crease personnel and provide training concerning the 14 program. 15 (6) Voluntary mediation, under section 514 of 16 the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 17 U.S.C. 12212), of disputes between individuals and 18 entities covered by the Americans with Disabilities 19 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.) requires spe- 20 cific expertise. 21 (7) To best serve the disability community, and 22 entities covered by that Act, the ADA Mediation 23 Program should be able to use funds to increase per- 24 sonnel and provide training concerning the program. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4045.IH H4045 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4045 IH (b) ADA MEDIATION PROGRAM.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 2 carry out an ADA Mediation Program (referred to 3 in this section as the ‘‘Program’’). 4 (2) DUTIES AND AUTHORITIES.—In carrying 5 out the Program, the Attorney General— 6 (A) shall facilitate voluntary mediation to 7 resolve disputes arising under the Americans 8 with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 9 et seq.); 10 (B) may hire or enter into contracts with 11 personnel for the Program, including increasing 12 the number of such personnel beyond the num- 13 ber of individuals who provided services through 14 the Program on the date of enactment of this 15 section; and 16 (C) provide training for mediators who 17 provide services through the Program. 18 (3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 19 (A) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to 20 be appropriated to the appropriations account 21 of the Department of Justice appropriated 22 under the heading ‘‘FEES AND EXPENSES OF 23 WITNESSES’’ under the heading ‘‘LEGAL AC- 24 TIVITIES’’, to carry out this section, $1,000,000 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4045.IH H4045 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4045 IH (in addition to any other amounts appropriated 1 to that account) for fiscal year 2021. 2 (B) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Funds ap- 3 propriated under subparagraph (A) may be 4 used to pay for obligations incurred through the 5 Program prior to the date of enactment of this 6 section. 7 SEC. 4. ADA INFORMATION LINE DATA COLLECTION RE- 8 PORT. 9 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 10 (1) As of August 10, 2018, during fiscal year 11 2018, accessibility specialists have answered approxi- 12 mately 38,135 calls to the ADA Information Line. 13 (2) The ADA Information Line receives on av- 14 erage approximately 1,000 calls per week, and does 15 not typically collect data about the kinds of calls it 16 receives. 17 (3) The ADA Information Line takes calls from 18 a variety of individuals and entities interested in the 19 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, including— 20 (A) employers covered by such Act; 21 (B) architects and others who work with 22 such employers; 23 (C) public entities, such as schools and 24 public service providers; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4045.IH H4045 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 4045 IH (D) individuals with disabilities; and 1 (E) entities that provide public accom- 2 modations. 3 (4) ADA.gov provides many resources to indi- 4 viduals and entities, public or private, looking for in- 5 formation on such Act. 6 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 7 (1) the term ‘‘ADA Information Line’’ means 8 the toll-free line operated by the Attorney General to 9 provide information and materials to the public 10 about the requirements of the Americans with Dis- 11 abilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), in- 12 cluding regulations issued under the Act and tech- 13 nical assistance in accordance with section 507 of 14 the Act (42 U.S.C. 12206); and 15 (2) the term ‘‘disability’’, with respect to an in- 16 dividual, has the meaning given such term in section 17 3 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 12102). 18 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 19 of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall sub- 20 mit a report to each committee of Congress— 21 (1) outlining the kinds of calls the ADA Infor- 22 mation Line receives; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4045.IH H4045 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 4045 IH (2) detailing the efforts of the Department of 1 Justice to educate individuals and entities about the 2 existence of the ADA Information Line; and 3 (3) providing recommendations on improve- 4 ments that can be made to provide additional sup- 5 port to individuals with disabilities, and entities cov- 6 ered by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 7 seeking information on such Act. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:00 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4045.IH H4045 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS