ADA AND THE MANDATE

[wupost!spool.mu.edu!umn.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!netcomsv!nitelog!michael. hagerty@uunet.uu.net (Michael Hagerty)]

I spoke with Dave Kilian, the legislative assistant at the Defense
Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee who claims to have
actually drafted the text of PL 101-511 (Congressional Ada Mandate)
long ago...

During the conversation, he said that the Defense Department claims
that there have been very few waiver requests, leading one to conclude
that there is universal compliance with the mandate within DoD.  When
I pointed out that ludicrous and suggested that subordinate commands
might be merely failing to submit waiver requests, continuing on using
their language of choice in direct violation of the law.  He agreed
that this is indeed possible.

I suggested that a possible reason for this was that the law included
absolutely no penalties for commands which ignore or evade the law.
Once again, he concurred, although he said that such text could not be
included in the law unless there was sufficient documentation showing
wide-spread non-compliance.   Individual commands can't be challenged
unless Congress had specific information.  Dave claims that he needs
documentation of specific instances of non-compliance.

In discussions I have had with individuals who have drafted policies
within DoD, and then seen these policies gutted in the "chop chain",
I have not heard of a consistent pattern of willing compliance.  To
the contrary, the opposite appears to be true.

For what it is worth, Dave can be reached at (202) 225-2847.  His
address is:  Dave Kilian, House Appropriations Cmte, H144, Capitol,
Washington, DC 20515.  He does not have an email address...

Regards, Mikey (michael.hagerty@nitelog.com

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