The U. S. Attorney General has signed a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) requesting public comments regarding its proposal to revise regulation implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (section 504) for programs or activities receiving financial assistance from the Department of Justice.
Since the Department first released section 504 Federally-assisted regulation in 1980, there have been major changes to the country’s disability laws. As a result, the existing regulation does not reflect several statutory changes to the Rehabilitation Act, the enactment of the ADA (the principles and policies of which are shared by section 504), and some key Supreme Court decisions interpreting section 504 requirements. The Department is proposing to incorporate into its proposed section 504 Federally-assisted regulation definitions and requirements arising from these statutory amendments to the Rehabilitation Act, title II of the ADA, and longstanding Supreme Court decisions.
The NPRM will soon be published in the Federal Register, and the comment period for the proposed rule closes 60 days after the date of the NPRM’s publication. The Department has posted an advanced copy of the NPRM and a Q&A regarding the NPRM.