Sec. 4. Community grant program
943 words·~4 min read·
/bill/118/s/3749/is/section-4A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
From the amounts appropriated to carry out this Act, the Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities in any State or associated with any Indian tribe in order to provide, to local elected or appointed officials who have disabilities, reasonable accommodations needed to enable the officials to carry out their official work duties, which accommodations may include— physical adaptations of office space and other spaces used for public events; specialized software; communication supports, including sign language interpreters; provision of transportation services for an official work event (excluding transportation for commuting); and other assistive technology devices and assistive technology services needed to carry out official work duties.
During a fiscal year, the Secretary shall award the grants on a first-come, first-served basis until the funds appropriated under this section for that year are exhausted. If funds appropriated under this section are not exhausted for a fiscal year, the Secretary may use the funds to award such grants during a subsequent fiscal year. The Secretary shall award such a grant in an amount of not less than $3,000 and not more than $50,000, per year of the grant period. The Secretary shall award such a grant for a period equal to— the number of years the local elected or appointed official involved will be in office during the official’s first term; and 2 years.
To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, an entity shall be a local government— that has a local elected or appointed official who has a disability and needs a reasonable accommodation to carry out the official’s official work duties; and for a jurisdiction that— is in a rural area; has a population of less than 10,000; or has a population of 10,000 to less than 200,000, and a poverty rate of 18 percent or greater, according to the most recent data available from the Bureau of the Census.
To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, an entity shall submit an application to the Secretary, in accordance with a process prescribed by the Secretary, that shall include, at a minimum— a description of— the position, including the official work duties of the position, held by the local elected or appointed official involved; the needed reasonable accommodations for the local elected or appointed official; and a budget to cover those accommodations; and assurances that the eligible entity will— use the grant funds only for reasonable accommodations needed for the local elected or appointed official involved to carry out their official work duties; provide, for each fiscal year, non-Federal matching funds equal to not less than 25 percent of the amount provided through the grant for that fiscal year; use the non-Federal matching funds to fund a reasonable accommodations funding account; continue the funding of that account for at least 4 years after the end of the grant period, maintaining a balance in the account equal to the total amount of non-Federal matching funds provided by the entity during the grant period; use the account solely for the purposes of assisting local elected and appointed officials who have disabilities, by providing reasonable accommodations needed to carry out their official work duties; and submit annual reports on the grant activities as required by the Secretary.
The Secretary shall award grants in accordance with a process prescribed by the Secretary. An eligible entity that receives a grant under this Act may use the grant funds for reasonable accommodations needed to enable a local elected or appointed official who has a disability to carry out the official work duties of the local elected or appointed official. The reasonable accommodations may include the physical adaptations, specialized software, communication supports, and devices and services, described in subsection (a).
The Secretary shall annually prepare a report regarding the impact of the grant program carried out under this section, which report shall include— the number of applications received under the program; the number of eligible entities that received a grant; a description of the communities receiving the grant funding, such as— information on whether the communities are— rural areas or jurisdictions described in subsection (d)(2); or other types of communities; race and ethnicity data for the communities; information on the percentage of the population of the communities that is living in poverty; and related community demographics; a description of the types of positions held by the local elected or appointed officials supported; and a description of the types of adaptations, services, assistive technology, technology, communication services, and other reasonable accommodations funded through the grants in order for the local elected or appointed officials to carry out their official responsibilities.
Beginning with the third year of the program and for each subsequent year, in addition to the information specified in paragraph (1), the report shall include— the total amount of funds eligible entities receiving the grants invested in reasonable accommodations funding accounts; and aggregate data on the age, sex, gender identity, race and ethnicity, and disability of the local elected or appointed officials the grant program is supporting. The Secretary shall annually submit the report prepared under this subsection to— the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives; and the Special Committee on Aging of the Senate.
From the amounts made available under subsection
(i)for a fiscal year, the Secretary may reserve and use not more than 1 percent for administration of the grant program carried out under this section. There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act, $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2031. Funds appropriated under paragraph
(1)shall remain available until expended.