Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 15, 1990                   TAG: 9005150180
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

MAJOR HANDICAPPED-RIGHTS BILL EXPECTED TO BECOME LAW

It would be the most sweeping civil rights measure enacted since the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The rights of 43 million Americans with physical and mental disabilities would be protected by the legislation.

The Senate-passed bill is scheduled to come before the House on Wednesday. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., is the chief sponsor of the bill, which may be signed by Bush before the end of May.

The business community, while supporting the bill's goal, is raising concerns that the broad terms of the legislation could lead to lengthy litigation. But overwhelming approval is expected by the House, where the measure has 246 co-sponsors. The Senate passed it 76-8 in September.

The measure, The Americans with Disabilities Act, requires that all new buildings used by the public, including restaurants, lodgings, places of entertainment, doctors' offices and other establishments, provide the disabled with the means to enter and exit.

Existing businesses would be required to make appropriate modifications if that could be done without creating an undue financial burden. These changes could involve widening doors, lowering retail shelves and altering bathrooms.

The bill also would require that new buses as well as railroad and subway cars purchased by public and private transportation companies be accessible to people with disabilities and that telephone companies provide public telephones that can be used by people with speech and hearing impairments.

It would be illegal to deny a job to a qualified person because the applicant was disabled.

Companies would be given 18 months after the president signs the bill to meet the new requirements.

Bush earlier this month told the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities that the measure was "one of the most important pieces of legislation ever to reach Capitol Hill."

Even though the legislation enjoys broad bipartisan support, it is not without controversy.

"We have never wanted to defeat the bill," said Nancy Fulco, an attorney with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Businesses are going to need all the qualified people they can get" as the labor force's growth slows. "But we are concerned about the vague wording and the potential lawsuits."

Angela Jones, a spokeswoman for the National Federation of Independent Business, warned there was the "strong possibility that the people the bill was supposed to help would be the ones hurt" because of lengthy delays in waiting for the courts to define clearly the bill's requirements.

But supporters say that the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 imposed similar requirements on federal contractors and grant recipients and that companies have complied.