First Regular Session

Sixty-second General Assembly

LLS NO. R99­0956.01 Becky Lennahan

STATE OF COLORADO

BY REPRESENTATIVES Gordon, Bacon, Chavez, Clarke, Coleman, Gagliardi, Grossman, Hagedorn, Mace, Plant, Ragsdale, Takis, Tapia, Tate, Tochtrop, Tupa, Veiga, Vigil, S. Williams, Windels, Zimmerman;

also SENATOR Feeley.

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 99-1049

CONCERNING SUPPORT FOR THE "AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990" REGULATION THAT REQUIRES PUBLIC SERVICES IN THE MOST INTEGRATED SETTING.

WHEREAS, On April 21, 1999, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Olmstead v. L.C. and E.W., Case No. 98­536;

and

WHEREAS, The Olmstead case will challenge the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that the federal "Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990" (the "ADA") prohibits unnecessary institutional segregation of the disabled; and

WHEREAS, The United States Attorney General's regulations implementing Title II of the ADA provide that "[a] public entity shall administer services, programs, and activities in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities"; and

WHEREAS, Nine governors who signed the Amicus Curiae brief supporting the position of the State of Georgia contend that the ADA does not require community placement if appropriate care can also be had in an institutional setting; and

WHEREAS, According to the most recent United States decennial census, there were 54 million disabled Americans, over 2,200,000 of whom reside in nursing homes and other institutions; and

WHEREAS, The average yearly cost of residing in a nursing home is higher than the average yearly cost of providing community home­based attendant services; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Sixty­second General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate concurring herein:

That the General Assembly supports the most integrated setting mandate in regulations adopted by the United States Attorney General pursuant to the federal "Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990".

Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Resolution be sent to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives J. Dennis Hastert, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Senate Minority Leader Thomas Daschle, and to each member of Congress from the State of Colorado.