I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 5705
To support national training, technical assistance, and resource centers, to
ensure that all individuals with significant expressive communication dis-
abilities have access to the augmentative and alternative communication
the individuals need to interact with others, in order to learn, work,
socialize, and take advantage of all aspects of life in the United States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER26, 2023
Mrs. D
INGELL(for herself and Mr. DESAULNIER) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Work-
force, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infra-
structure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To support national training, technical assistance, and re-
source centers, to ensure that all individuals with signifi-
cant expressive communication disabilities have access
to the augmentative and alternative communication the
individuals need to interact with others, in order to learn,
work, socialize, and take advantage of all aspects of
life in the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Augmentative and Al-2
ternative Communication Centers of Excellence and Na-3
tional Technical Assistance Act’’ or the ‘‘AACCENT Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5
Congress makes the following findings: 6
(1) Communication is a basic human need and 7
fundamental right, and is essential to self-deter-8
mination, social inclusion, and emotional and phys-9
ical well-being. In enacting a provision of the Ameri-10
cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (referred to in 11
this section as the ‘‘ADA’’), Congress recognized 12
that ‘‘physical or mental disabilities in no way di-13
minish a person’s right to fully participate in all as-14
pects of society,’’ and that ‘‘the discriminatory ef-15
fects of communication barriers’’ are a form of dis-16
crimination. 17
(2) Three decades after the passage of the 18
ADA, Americans with significant expressive commu-19
nication disabilities still experience discrimination in 20
the form of communication barriers, institutionaliza-21
tion, segregation, and relegation to lesser services, 22
programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportu-23
nities compared to Americans without significant ex-24
pressive communication disabilities. 25
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(3) Data about augmentative and alternative 1
communication is lacking, but it is estimated there 2
are at least 4,000,000 people in the United States 3
who cannot reliably meet their daily communication 4
needs using natural speech. 5
(4) The population of individuals with signifi-6
cant expressive communication difficulties is at sub-7
stantial risk for limited education, unemployment, 8
poor health outcomes, poverty, and low quality of 9
life. 10
(5) People can acquire a significant expressive 11
communication disability and need augmentative and 12
alternative communication as a result of many 13
health and developmental conditions at all stages of 14
life. 15
(6) Research indicates that individuals who be-16
long to racial or ethnic minority communities face a 17
greater likelihood of being born with or acquiring ex-18
pressive communication disabilities, as well as added 19
difficulties in obtaining intervention services, includ-20
ing augmentative and alternative communication. 21
(7) Individuals with significant expressive com-22
munication disabilities, schools, families, employers, 23
direct support providers, health care providers, the 24
justice system, and the general public need more in-25
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formation about how to effectively deploy, imple-1
ment, and ensure continued access to robust commu-2
nication tools, services, and other supports for indi-3
viduals with significant expressive communication 4
disabilities. 5
(8) The lived experiences and writings of indi-6
viduals with significant expressive communication 7
disabilities demonstrate the positive impact aug-8
mentative and alternative communication has on 9
their lives. These lived experiences and writings also 10
illustrate the harm that results from denying aug-11
mentative and alternative communication to those 12
who need it. 13
(9) The leadership of individuals with signifi-14
cant expressive communication disabilities is critical 15
in crafting and implementing effective policies and 16
programs affecting their lives, including policies and 17
programs regarding augmentative and alternative 18
communication. 19
(10) The freedoms of expression, and to be un-20
derstood, are essential to both democracy and to in-21
dividual well-being. Individuals with significant ex-22
pressive communication disabilities must be afforded 23
equal rights, opportunities, strategies, technologies, 24
services, and other supports to effectively express 25
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themselves and participate in their communities and 1
in democracy. 2
SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 3
The purpose of this Act is to work toward eliminating 4
the continued discrimination, isolation, marginalization, 5
and denial of equal opportunity of individuals with signifi-6
cant expressive communication disabilities by providing for 7
comprehensive national training, technical assistance, and 8
resource centers to improve— 9
(1) access to a full range of augmentative and 10
alternative communication; 11
(2) access to equal opportunity; 12
(3) awareness and implementation of relevant 13
laws, policies, and practices; 14
(4) leadership and self-advocacy skills; 15
(5) capacity, in the case of individuals with sig-16
nificant expressive communication disabilities, edu-17
cators, professionals, and families; 18
(6) national statistical data; and 19
(7) societal awareness. 20
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 21
In this Act: 22
(1) A
DVISORY COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘advisory 23
council’’ means an 11-person advisory council that— 24
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(A) provides guidance, recommendations, 1
and oversight to an eligible entity; 2
(B) is comprised exclusively of individuals 3
with significant expressive communication dis-4
abilities who collectively have diverse— 5
(i) educational and professional back-6
grounds; 7
(ii) racial, ethnic, gender, and lin-8
guistic identities; 9
(iii) disabilities, including intellectual 10
disabilities, ages, and geographic locations; 11
(iv) levels of income; and 12
(v) forms of augmentative and alter-13
native communication relied upon; and 14
(C) is subject to each of the following con-15
ditions: 16
(i) The initial council members shall 17
be identified in the grant application by 18
the partners of the eligible entity. 19
(ii) Each member of the advisory 20
council shall be appointed for a period of 21
5 years. 22
(iii) The Chair and Vice Chair of the 23
council shall be selected by the council 24
members at the first meeting and there-25
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after as the council determines to be ap-1
propriate. 2
(iv) The council shall fill any vacancy 3
in accordance with section 7(b)(8)(C). 4
(2) A
UGMENTATIVE AND ALTERNATIVE COMMU -5
NICATION.—The term ‘‘augmentative and alternative 6
communication’’ means any tool, method, tech-7
nology, strategy, service, training, coaching, and 8
other support used to supplement or replace speech. 9
(3) C
OMPETITIVE INTEGRATED EMPLOY -10
MENT.—The term ‘‘competitive integrated employ-11
ment’’ has the meaning given the term in section 7 12
of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 705). 13
(4) D
ISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ has the 14
meaning given the term in section 3 of the Ameri-15
cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 16
12102). 17
(5) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-18
ty’’ means a partnership of at least 2 organiza-19
tions— 20
(A) for which the controlling partner of the 21
partnership is a nonprofit organization 22
headquartered in the United States that vests 23
power and authority in individuals with signifi-24
cant expressive communication disabilities in 25
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terms of management, staffing, decision mak-1
ing, operation, and provision of services; 2
(B) that includes at least one other organi-3
zation headquartered in the United States that 4
is either an institution of higher education or 5
an association of professional service providers 6
or educators in the field of significant expres-7
sive communication disabilities; 8
(C) that has a cross-disability and cross- 9
generational focus; 10
(D) that is advised by an advisory council; 11
(E) that has adopted a mission that values 12
equal opportunity and the fundamental right of 13
communication access, and operating principles 14
that respect the rights of individuals with sig-15
nificant expressive communication disabilities to 16
express themselves in the manner of their 17
choosing; and 18
(F) of which the organizational members, 19
collectively— 20
(i) have knowledge, experience, and 21
capacity in conducting training, technical 22
assistance, or knowledge dissemination re-23
lated to the priority activities described in 24
section 6; 25
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(ii) have experience working directly 1
with individuals with significant expressive 2
communication disabilities in association 3
with— 4
(I) early intervention programs, 5
early childhood programs, elementary 6
or secondary schools, or postsecondary 7
education programs; or 8
(II) 2 or more types of entities 9
from among— 10
(aa) centers for independent 11
living authorized under part C of 12
title VII of the Rehabilitation Act 13
of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 796f et seq.); 14
(bb) home and community- 15
based service providers; 16
(cc) employers; 17
(dd) health care providers; 18
(ee) protection and advocacy 19
organizations; 20
(ff) aging networks; 21
(gg) caregiver organizations; 22
or 23
(hh) State, Tribal, or local 24
government agencies; and 25
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(iii) have experience developing and 1
maintaining collaborative working relation-2
ships among disability-led advocacy organi-3
zations, institutions of higher education, 4
professional associations, or caregiver orga-5
nizations. 6
(6) E
VIDENCE-BASED.—The term ‘‘evidence- 7
based’’, used with respect to assistance that is 8
knowledge, a resource, training, or technical assist-9
ance, means assistance— 10
(A) that demonstrates a rationale based on 11
a high-quality research finding or positive eval-12
uation that such assistance is likely to improve 13
a communication outcome or other relevant out-14
come; and 15
(B) for which ongoing efforts are made to 16
examine the effects of the assistance. 17
(7) I
NDIVIDUAL WITH SIGNIFICANT EXPRES -18
SIVE COMMUNICATION DISABILITIES .—The term ‘‘in-19
dividual with significant expressive communication 20
disabilities’’ means an individual of any age— 21
(A) who has 1 or more real or perceived 22
significant expressive communication disabilities 23
and may have other disabilities; and 24
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(B) whose disabilities result in the individ-1
ual’s need for, or benefit from, augmentative 2
and alternative communication and other sup-3
ports to enable the individual to communicate 4
and to aid the individual in participating in 1 5
or more aspects of life. 6
(8) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 7
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 8
meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 9
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 10
(9) N
ATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER .—The term 11
‘‘national resource center’’ means a National Re-12
source Center on Augmentative and Alternative 13
Communication referred to in section 5(a). 14
(10) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 15
means the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 16
(11) S
IGNIFICANT EXPRESSIVE COMMUNICA -17
TION DISABILITY.— 18
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘significant 19
expressive communication disability’’ means any 20
disability, whether congenital, developmental, or 21
acquired at any point in life, that prevents or 22
significantly limits an individual from under-23
standing or being understood using spoken 24
words, resulting in the individual’s need for or 25
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benefit from augmentative and alternative com-1
munication. 2
(B) A
PPLICATION.—The term does not 3
apply to an individual whose primary commu-4
nication disability is visual or auditory in na-5
ture, but does apply to an individual with a dis-6
ability described in subparagraph (A) who also 7
has a visual or auditory communication dis-8
ability and who may communicate using sign 9
language. 10
(12) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the 50 11
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 12
of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 13
Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of 14
the Northern Mariana Islands. 15
SEC. 5. GRANTS. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 3 17
grants through an open competition to eligible entities, 18
with applications approved under section 7, to create, 19
maintain, and administer a network of National Resource 20
Centers on Augmentative and Alternative Communication. 21
Each national resource center shall be a comprehensive 22
training, technical assistance, and resource center created 23
to work toward eliminating the continued discrimination 24
against, isolation of, marginalization of, and denial of ef-25
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fective communication for and equal opportunity of, indi-1
viduals with significant expressive communication disabil-2
ities, through activities including the priority activities de-3
scribed in section 6. 4
(b) A
WARDS FOR MULTIPLECENTERS.—The Sec-5
retary shall award the grants for national resource centers 6
in 3 geographically diverse locations, and shall designate 7
one of the centers as the lead administrative center. 8
(c) L
EADADMINISTRATIVECENTER.—The lead ad-9
ministrative center shall coordinate— 10
(1) all activities of the centers; 11
(2) specialization of priorities among the cen-12
ters; 13
(3) dissemination of information among the 14
centers; 15
(4) responses of the centers to the Secretary; 16
and 17
(5) ensuring that the full range of individuals 18
with significant expressive communication disabil-19
ities is served by the centers. 20
(d) A
MOUNT.—The Secretary shall, to the extent 21
practicable, award the 3 grants in amounts that total not 22
more than $9,000,000 per year of a period described in 23
subsection (e). 24
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(e) PERIODS.—The Secretary shall award each grant 1
for a period of 5 years, through an open competition held 2
initially and at the end of each 5-year period. An eligible 3
entity that receives a grant under this section may reapply 4
for such a grant at the end of the grant period. 5
SEC. 6. NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER PRIORITY ACTIVI-6
TIES. 7
The priority activities of a national resource center 8
shall be to— 9
(1) increase access to and effective implementa-10
tion of the full range of augmentative and alter-11
native communication for all individuals with signifi-12
cant expressive communication disabilities in the 13
United States, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, 14
gender, gender identity, LGBTQ+ status, immigra-15
tion status, educational achievement, socioeconomic 16
condition, primary language, nature or severity of 17
disability, location of residence, and age of onset of 18
the significant expressive communication disability; 19
(2) increase the capacity of individuals with sig-20
nificant expressive communication disabilities, edu-21
cators, professional service providers, families, and 22
direct support professionals to support individuals 23
with significant expressive communication disabil-24
ities by creating and disseminating evidence-based 25
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knowledge, resources, training and technical assist-1
ance, and recommended practices in ensuring indi-2
viduals with significant expressive communication 3
disabilities have the tools and other supports nec-4
essary to exercise self-determination and effectively 5
access and participate in all aspects of life, including 6
education, employment, health care, and community 7
living; 8
(3) promote awareness and implementation of 9
the laws, regulations, policies, practices, procedures, 10
and systems that facilitate access to the full range 11
of augmentative and alternative communication and 12
promote equal access and opportunity for individuals 13
with significant expressive communication disabil-14
ities; 15
(4) support and enhance the skills and leader-16
ship of individuals with significant expressive com-17
munication disabilities and their families to advocate 18
for the rights of the individuals to effective commu-19
nication, education, self-determination, access to jus-20
tice, and equal opportunity and participation in all 21
aspects of life; 22
(5) support the improved collection, availability, 23
and dissemination of demographic and characteristic 24
data, with a cross-disability and cross-generational 25
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focus, regarding individuals with significant expres-1
sive communication disabilities in the United States, 2
the barriers the individuals experience to meaningful 3
access to augmentative and alternative communica-4
tion, and the unmet communication support and 5
other needs of this population; and 6
(6) increase societal awareness and knowledge 7
about individuals with significant expressive commu-8
nication disabilities and the importance of, need for, 9
benefits of, and rights to meaningful access to effec-10
tive communication tools and other supports in all 11
aspects of community and life. 12
SEC. 7. APPLICATIONS. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—To be qualified to receive a grant 14
under section 5, an eligible entity shall submit an applica-15
tion to the Secretary at such time and in such manner 16
as the Secretary may require. 17
(b) C
ONTENTS.—Each such application from an eligi-18
ble entity shall include, at a minimum, each of the fol-19
lowing: 20
(1) A description of the experience of each part-21
ner organization in the entity in providing training, 22
information, advocacy, and support related to aug-23
mentative and alternative communication and indi-24
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viduals with significant expressive communication 1
disabilities. 2
(2) A description of each partner organization’s 3
experience in providing training, information, advo-4
cacy, and support related to augmentative and alter-5
native communication and to individuals with signifi-6
cant expressive communication disabilities, to— 7
(A) early intervention specialists; 8
(B) elementary education, secondary edu-9
cation, postsecondary education, and specialized 10
instructional support personnel as defined in 11
section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary 12
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801); 13
(C) caregiver groups; 14
(D) providers of home and community- 15
based services for adults; 16
(E) health care providers and educators; 17
(F) employers; 18
(G) providers of services to older adults; 19
(H) law enforcement agencies, courts, of-20
fices of district attorneys, and other public and 21
private security agencies and businesses; 22
(I) institutional long-term care services 23
and support providers; 24
(J) nursing home providers; and 25
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(K) other stakeholders. 1
(3) A description of each partner organization’s 2
experience working with State, local, or Tribal gov-3
ernment agencies in providing training, information, 4
and support related to augmentative and alternative 5
communication for full expression and individuals 6
with significant expressive communication disabil-7
ities. 8
(4) A description of each partner organization’s 9
prior partnerships with disability-led organizations 10
focused on augmentative and alternative communica-11
tion and individuals with significant expressive com-12
munication disabilities. 13
(5) Evidence of how the applicant satisfies the 14
requirements of section 4(5). 15
(6) A description of the applicant’s plan to en-16
sure that the applicant will provide training, tech-17
nical assistance, and information to target audi-18
ences, especially those audiences in need of knowl-19
edge and access to augmentative and alternative 20
communication. 21
(7) A description of the applicant’s plan to im-22
plement the priority activities in section 6, including 23
how the organizational members of the eligible entity 24
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will partner, collaborate, and operationalize the ac-1
tivities. 2
(8) Advisory council information, including— 3
(A) a description of the advisory council, 4
including a list of the inaugural members of the 5
advisory council; 6
(B) an assurance that the Chair and Vice 7
Chair of the advisory council will be selected by 8
the advisory council members at the first meet-9
ing of the advisory council and thereafter as the 10
council determines to be appropriate; and 11
(C) an assurance that, in filling a vacancy 12
on the advisory council, the advisory council 13
will— 14
(i) solicit nominations from the popu-15
lation of augmentative and alternative 16
communication users; 17
(ii) if there is not more than 1 nomi-18
nee for the vacancy, confirm the nominee 19
as a new member; and 20
(iii) if there is more than 1 nominee 21
for the vacancy, vote to determine the 22
nominee to fill the vacancy and subse-23
quently confirm the nominee. 24
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(9) A description of how other individuals with 1
significant expressive communication disabilities will 2
be involved in the governance and operations of the 3
national resource center involved, especially through 4
employment of individuals with significant expressive 5
communication disabilities. 6
(10) A description of how the applicant will de-7
sign and make training, technical assistance, and in-8
formation available in accessible formats, including 9
plain language. 10
(11) Assurances that the applicant, acting 11
through the national resource center, will work with 12
the stakeholders identified in section 9(d). 13
(12) Assurances that the applicant, acting 14
through the national resource center, will provide the 15
Secretary with requested data and information for 16
purposes of evaluating the grant activities. 17
SEC. 8. AWARD PRIORITY. 18
In awarding grants for activities described in this 19
Act, the Secretary shall give priority to an eligible entity 20
with at least 1 partner organization that— 21
(1) demonstrates a minimum of 3 years of ex-22
perience providing training and technical assistance 23
and disseminating information related to augment-24
ative and alternative communication and individuals 25
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with significant expressive communication disabil-1
ities, and being otherwise engaged in the priority ac-2
tivities described in section 6; 3
(2) demonstrates that individuals with signifi-4
cant expressive communication disabilities and those 5
who use augmentative and alternative communica-6
tion are purposefully involved in the governance and 7
operation of the organization, especially through 8
their employment in service, delivery, and leadership 9
positions; 10
(3) demonstrates the ability to collaborate with 11
disability self-advocacy, education, direct service, 12
health care, employment, aging, caregiver, and hous-13
ing organizations, whether the organizations are 14
public agencies or private entities; and 15
(4) demonstrates expertise in promoting acces-16
sibility and the use of universal design (the latter as 17
defined in section 103 of the Higher Education Act 18
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1003)) in providing training and 19
technical assistance, and information dissemination. 20
SEC. 9. USE OF FUNDS. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—An eligible entity that receives a 22
grant under section 5 shall use the grant funds to manage 23
and carry out each of the priority activities described in 24
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section 6, activities described in this section, and any addi-1
tional activities approved by the Secretary. 2
(b) C
OORDINATIONWITHFEDERALPROGRAMS.— 3
The work of a national resource center shall link to cur-4
rent and future policy and activities undertaken through-5
out the Federal Government in relation to self-advocacy, 6
supported decision making, person-centered planning, 7
community living, and competitive integrated employment 8
for individuals with disabilities and particularly for indi-9
viduals with the most significant expressive communica-10
tion disabilities, for the purpose of increasing— 11
(1) success and self-determination in life; 12
(2) the provision of inclusive early intervention 13
services, elementary education, secondary education, 14
and postsecondary education programs; 15
(3) competitive integrated employment; 16
(4) health, wellness, and personal safety; 17
(5) economic security; 18
(6) civic engagement; 19
(7) community integration; and 20
(8) improvement in other aspects of life. 21
(c) I
NFORMATION DISSEMINATION.—Notwith-22
standing the priority activities described in section 6, a 23
national resource center shall ensure information and 24
other resources about augmentative and alternative com-25
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munication and individuals with significant expressive 1
communication disabilities are made available as appro-2
priate to— 3
(1) individuals with significant expressive com-4
munication disabilities and their families; 5
(2) institutions of higher education; 6
(3) State, Tribal, and local educational agen-7
cies; 8
(4) law enforcement agencies, courts, offices of 9
district attorneys, and other public and private secu-10
rity agencies and businesses; 11
(5) national, State, regional, Tribal, and local 12
employers, to enable businesses to hire into competi-13
tive integrated employment more individuals who use 14
augmentative and alternative communication; 15
(6) national, State, Tribal, and local govern-16
ment agencies that provide services and other sup-17
ports to individuals with significant expressive com-18
munication disabilities, including agencies respon-19
sible for emergency preparedness, employment sup-20
port, and vocational rehabilitation, agencies respon-21
sible for State programs under the Assistive Tech-22
nology Act of 1988 (29 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.), agen-23
cies responsible for State alternative financing pro-24
grams, State agencies responsible for the Medicaid 25
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program under title XIX of the Social Security Act 1
(42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.), and the agencies over-2
seeing the provision of home and community-based 3
services; 4
(7) national and local disability and aging advo-5
cacy organizations, including disability self-advocacy 6
organizations; 7
(8) family support organizations, including the 8
parent training and information centers supported 9
under section 671 of the Individuals with Disabilities 10
Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1471); 11
(9) centers for independent living and Statewide 12
Independent Living Councils authorized by title VII 13
of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 796 et 14
seq.); 15
(10) network partners, including the State 16
Councils on Developmental Disabilities described in 17
section 125 of the Developmental Disabilities Assist-18
ance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 19
15025), the protection and advocacy systems de-20
scribed in section 143 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 21
15043), and University Centers for Excellence in 22
Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and 23
Services supported under subtitle D of title I of that 24
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Act (42 U.S.C. 15061 et seq.), participating in ac-1
tivities under that Act (42 U.S.C. 15001 et seq.); 2
(11) State agencies and area agencies on aging, 3
entities carrying out long-term care ombudsman pro-4
grams, and other entities funded under the Older 5
Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.); 6
(12) health care providers and educators, health 7
care advocacy organizations, nursing home pro-8
viders, and institutional long-term care facilities; 9
(13) professional organizations and organiza-10
tions that certify preservice training programs; and 11
(14) other groups and entities as identified by 12
the eligible entity and the advisory council of the eli-13
gible entity. 14
(d) S
TAKEHOLDERCOLLABORATION.—A national re-15
source center shall collaborate with— 16
(1) organizations of individuals with significant 17
expressive communication disabilities; 18
(2) disability organizations; 19
(3) entities carrying out State assistive tech-20
nology programs and State alternative financing pro-21
grams; 22
(4) State, Tribal, and local educational agen-23
cies; 24
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(5) the councils, systems, and university centers 1
described in subsection (c)(10); 2
(6) entities carrying out national, State, Tribal 3
and Native Hawaiian, and local programs authorized 4
by the Older Americans Act of 1965; 5
(7) the federally funded Rehabilitation Engi-6
neering Research Center on Augmentative and Al-7
ternative Communication; 8
(8) State agencies responsible for vocational re-9
habilitation programs, as defined in section 3 of the 10
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 11
U.S.C. 3102); 12
(9) professional associations whose members 13
come in contact with and support individuals who 14
may use augmentative and alternative communica-15
tion; 16
(10) local boards, as defined in section 3 of the 17
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 18
U.S.C. 3102); and 19
(11) other State, regional, Tribal, and local en-20
tities with the ability to provide support for individ-21
uals who need and use augmentative and alternative 22
communication. 23
(e) L
IMITATION.—A national resource center that re-24
ceives grant funds under section 5 for a fiscal year shall 25
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use not more than 15 percent of the funds for the adminis-1
trative costs of carrying out activities under this Act. 2
SEC. 10. ANNUAL REPORT. 3
(a) P
REPARATION.—The lead administrative center 4
referred to in section 5(b), in coordination with the other 5
national resource centers that receive grant funds under 6
section 5, shall annually prepare a report containing, con-7
sistent with criteria established by the Secretary, informa-8
tion on— 9
(1) activities conducted by each national re-10
source center funded under section 5 to achieve the 11
purpose of this Act; 12
(2) collaboration by each such national resource 13
center with other entities to achieve the purposes of 14
this Act; 15
(3) barriers to and strategies for equitable ac-16
cess to augmentative and alternative communication 17
and other supports for individuals who belong to ra-18
cial, ethnic, and linguistic minority communities and 19
face a greater likelihood of being born with or ac-20
quiring significant expressive communication disabil-21
ities as well as added difficulties in obtaining effec-22
tive augmentative and alternative communication; 23
(4) identified gaps in available demographic and 24
characteristic data on individuals with significant ex-25
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pressive communication disabilities in the United 1
States; and 2
(5) the unmet needs of individuals with signifi-3
cant expressive communication disabilities, from di-4
verse backgrounds, in the United States and policy 5
recommendations to address such unmet needs. 6
(b) S
UBMISSION.—The lead administrative center 7
shall submit the report to— 8
(1) the Secretary; 9
(2) the Secretary of Education; 10
(3) the relevant subcommittees of the Com-11
mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 12
of the Senate, the Special Committee on Aging of 13
the Senate, and the Committee on Education and 14
the Workforce of the House of Representatives; and 15
(4) the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and 16
Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies 17
of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, 18
and the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and 19
Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies 20
of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 21
Representatives. 22
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SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 1
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 2
this Act $9,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 3
2028. 4
SEC. 12. SHORT TITLE. 5
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nogales Wastewater 6
Improvement Act of 2023’’. 7
SEC. 13. NOGALES WASTEWATER IMPROVEMENT. 8
(a) A
MENDMENT TO THE ACT OFJULY27, 1953.— 9
The first section of the Act of July 27, 1953 (67 Stat. 10
195, chapter 242; 22 U.S.C. 277d–10), is amended by 11
striking the period at the end and inserting ‘‘: Provided 12
further, That the equitable portion of the Nogales sanita-13
tion project for the city of Nogales, Arizona, shall be lim-14
ited to the costs directly associated with the treatment and 15
conveyance of the wastewater of the city and, to the extent 16
practicable, shall not include any costs directly associated 17
with the quality or quantity of wastewater originating in 18
Mexico.’’. 19
(b) N
OGALESSANITATIONPROJECT.— 20
(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 21
(A) C
ITY.—The term ‘‘City’’ means the 22
City of Nogales, Arizona. 23
(B) C
OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commis-24
sion’’ means the United States Section of the 25
International Boundary and Water Commission. 26
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(C) INTERNATIONAL OUTFALL INTER -1
CEPTOR.—The term ‘‘International Outfall In-2
terceptor’’ means the pipeline that conveys 3
wastewater from the United States-Mexico bor-4
der to the Nogales International Wastewater 5
Treatment Plant. 6
(D) N
OGALES INTERNATIONAL WASTE -7
WATER TREATMENT PLANT .—The term 8
‘‘Nogales International Wastewater Treatment 9
Plant’’ means the wastewater treatment plant 10
that— 11
(i) is operated by the Commission; 12
(ii) is located in Rio Rico, Santa Cruz 13
County, Arizona, after manhole 99; and 14
(iii) treats sewage and wastewater 15
originating from— 16
(I) Nogales, Sonora, Mexico; and 17
(II) Nogales, Arizona. 18
(2) O
WNERSHIP AND CONTROL .— 19
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-20
graph (B) and in accordance with authority 21
under the Act of July 27, 1953 (67 Stat. 195, 22
chapter 242; 22 U.S.C. 277d–10 et seq.), on 23
transfer by donation from the City of the cur-24
rent stake of the City in the International Out-25
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fall Interceptor to the Commission, the Com-1
mission shall enter into such agreements as are 2
necessary to assume full ownership and control 3
over the International Outfall Interceptor. 4
(B) A
GREEMENTS REQUIRED .—The Com-5
mission shall assume full ownership and control 6
over the International Outfall Interceptor under 7
subparagraph (A) after all applicable governing 8
bodies in the State of Arizona, including the 9
City, have— 10
(i) signed memoranda of under-11
standing granting to the Commission ac-12
cess to existing easements for a right of 13
entry to the International Outfall Inter-14
ceptor for the life of the International Out-15
fall Interceptor; 16
(ii) entered into an agreement with re-17
spect to the flows entering the Inter-18
national Outfall Interceptor that are con-19
trolled by the City; and 20
(iii) agreed to work in good faith to 21
expeditiously enter into such other agree-22
ments as are necessary for the Commission 23
to operate and maintain the International 24
Outfall Interceptor. 25
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(3) OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE .— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Beginning on the date 2
on which the Commission assumes full owner-3
ship and control of the International Outfall In-4
terceptor under paragraph (2)(A), but subject 5
to paragraph (5), the Commission shall be re-6
sponsible for the operations and maintenance of 7
the International Outfall Interceptor. 8
(B) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA -9
TIONS.—There are authorized to be appro-10
priated to the Commission to carry out this 11
paragraph, to remain available until ex-12
pended— 13
(i) $6,500,000 for fiscal year 2025; 14
and 15
(ii) not less than $2,500,000 for fiscal 16
year 2026 and each fiscal year thereafter. 17
(4) D
EBRIS SCREEN.— 18
(A) D
EBRIS SCREEN REQUIRED .— 19
(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Commission 20
shall construct, operate, and maintain a 21
debris screen at Manhole One of the Inter-22
national Outfall Interceptor for inter-23
cepting debris and drug bundles coming to 24
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the United States from Nogales, Sonora, 1
Mexico. 2
(ii) R
EQUIREMENT.—In constructing 3
and operating the debris screen under 4
clause (i), the Commission and the Com-5
missioner of U.S. Customs and Border 6
Protection shall coordinate— 7
(I) the removal of drug bundles 8
and other illicit goods caught in the 9
debris screen; and 10
(II) other operations at the Inter-11
national Outfall Interceptor that re-12
quire coordination. 13
(B) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA -14
TIONS.—There are authorized to be appro-15
priated to the Commission, to remain available 16
until expended— 17
(i) for fiscal year 2025— 18
(I) $8,000,000 for construction 19
of the debris screen described in sub-20
paragraph (A)(i); and 21
(II) not less than $1,000,000 for 22
the operations and maintenance of the 23
debris screen described in subpara-24
graph (A)(i); and 25
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(ii) not less than $1,000,000 for fiscal 1
year 2026 and each fiscal year thereafter 2
for the operations and maintenance of the 3
debris screen described in subparagraph 4
(A)(i). 5
(5) L
IMITATION OF CLAIMS.—Chapter 171 and 6
section 1346(b) of title 28, United States Code 7
(commonly known as the ‘‘Federal Tort Claims 8
Act’’), shall not apply to any claim arising from the 9
activities of the Commission in carrying out this 10
subsection, including any claim arising from dam-11
ages that result from overflow of the International 12
Outfall Interceptor due to excess inflow to the Inter-13
national Outfall Interceptor originating from 14
Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. 15
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section (including the 16
amendments made by this section) takes effect on October 17
1, 2024. 18
Æ
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