A Timeline of the Passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act

A Timeline of the Passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act

1984: The National Council on Disability (NCD) is ordered by Congress to review all federal programs relating to disability and submit a report with recommendations on how Congress can encourage and bolster the independence of persons with disabilities while minimizing dependence on governmental programs.

1986: NCD’s report “Toward Independence” is released in February. Primary among more than 40 different recommendations to Congress is passing a comprehensive, equal opportunity law for people with disabilities. Following months of subsequent inaction by Congress, NCD begins to draft its own legislation for congressional consideration. This draft becomes known as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

1987: NCD successfully solicits Sen. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., R-Conn., and Rep. Tony Coelho, D-Calif., to sponsor the ADA legislation and to introduce the bill to Congress.

1988: After incorporating input from the disability community, Weicker and Coelho introduce the ADA draft to the Senate and House on April 28 and April 29, 1988. Supporters do not expect the bill to pass, but view its introduction as an opportunity to put the issue into the spotlight. Disability rights advocates work to publicize the bill and build a nationwide coalition of support in advance of reintroduction of the ADA the next year.

1989: • Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, stepping in as the ADA’s Senate sponsor after Weicker loses reelection, works with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and various constituencies to recast the ADA bill in order to improve the chance of passage. On May 9, Harkin and Coelho introduce the rewritten ADA to both houses of Congress. The Senate begins deliberations, and, after some changes to the bill, passes the ADA 76-8 on Sept. 7.

• The House begins deliberations on the version of the ADA passed by the Senate. Over the next nine months, four House committees and six House subcommittees review and negotiate the bill. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., in the wake of Coelho’s resignation from office, steps in to usher the bill through the various committees. Changes are made to the bill to strike a balance between addressing the mainly financial concerns of the business community and ensuring the civil rights protections desired by the disability community.

1990: • May 22: The House of Representatives passes its amended version of the ADA, 403-20. The version of the bill that passes contains, to the dismay of the disability community, the Chapman amendment, which seeks to prohibit people with communicable diseases such as AIDS from foodhandling jobs.

• May 24: The House calls for a conference with the Senate to work out the differences between the two approved versions of the ADA. The Chapman amendment puts passage of the ADA into jeopardy: A majority in Congress supports the amendment, but the disability community, united in its stand for protection for all people with disabilities regardless of the type, will not support the legislation if the amendment remains. Without its support, the bill stands no chance of being signed into law.

• June 25: By this date, the vast majority of differences between the two versions of the ADA have been resolved. On June 25, conferees meet to resolve remaining differences, including the Chapman amendment. Both House and Senate conferees reject the Chapman amendment, agreeing the discriminatory nature of the amendment would undermine the purpose of a bill seeking to prohibit discrimination, and agree upon a single version of the ADA. The next day, the conference delegates prepare a report with the results of their deliberations.

• July 11: Senate floor deliberations begin on the conference report. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., a Chapman amendment supporter, attempts to send the legislation back to conference and insist that Senate conferees add the Chapman language back in. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, circumvents Helms’ move by introducing an amendment that states people with communicable diseases may be dismissed or excluded from foodhandling jobs only if scientific evidence shows that the disease in question can be transmitted that way. The Senate approves the Hatch amendment.

• July 12: Senate conferees prepare a report of the previous day’s actions. The House of Representatives convenes to deliberate over this second conference report. The House joins the Senate in its rejection of adding the Chapman amendment back into the bill, then votes on the entire ADA, passing it nearly unanimously.

• July 13: The Senate votes on the ADA, passing it by a wide margin.

• July 26: In front of more than 3,000 guests – people with disabilities and without – President George H.W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act into law.

Source: Equality of Opportunity: The Making of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Copyright © 1997, 2010 by the National Council on Disability.