House Passes ADA Amendments Act

The US House of Representatives has approved legislation on June 25 that would amend the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The amendments would change the ADA's definition of "disability" and add rules of construction rejecting past Supreme Court interpretations of the Act and make changes to the ADA's codified findings and regulatory authority.

The ADA is actually the nation's first comprehensive civil rights law addressing the needs of people with disabilities and prohibiting discrimination in employment, public services and telecommunications.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md), the lead sponsor of the original ADA and one of the original sponsors of the ADA Amendments Act, said: "Eighteen years ago next month, the first President Bush signed into law one of the most consequential pieces of civil rights legislation in recent memory.