House Democratic leaders will bring the House back into session next week to take up legislation the Senate passed yesterday, that would provide states with $16.1 billion for six more months of increased Medicaid funding and $10 billion to prevent teacher layoffs.
They will meet in pro forma session Monday and Tuesday to vote on the bill which according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will "keep teachers on the job and provide assistance to states to ensure health services continue for those in need."
Just as Washington was settling into cruise control mode congressional aides, lobbyists, and industry groups will be forced to stay on their toes a little longer. When Congress comes back to town unexpectedly you never know what you might see, except of course the last minute fundraisers that will pop up next week.
NACS Staff Contact: Julie Fields, jfields@nacsonline.com
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) establishes design requirements for the construction or alteration of facilities in order to ensure that places of public accommodation and commercial facilities, as well as state and local government facilities, are accessible to persons with disabilities.
In the coming weeks, the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is tasked with enforcing the ADA??s mandates, will be publishing new regulations that public accommodations?"including convenience stores?"will have to follow in order to be compliant with the ADA. Some of these regulations will significantly impact the convenience store industry, generally increasing the burden on store owners to maintain premises accessible to individuals with disabilities.
The new rules will become effective six months after publication in the Federal Register. Eighteen months after publication, compliance with the standards imposed by the new rules will be required for new construction and alterations.
The forthcoming ADA regulations will, among other things, adopt new standards for "accessible design." These changes will generally require entities holding themselves out to the public to go to greater length to ensure that their facilities are accessible to disabled patrons than is required under current law. Of particular concern to convenience stores are new so-called "reach range" requirements, new access and accessible route requirements, and new standards pertaining to public restrooms.
NACS is currently working with its counsel, Steptoe and Johnson, to fully analyze the new changes. A quick summary review of the 2010 ADA Standards can be found here.
NACS Staff Contact: Corey Fitze, cfitze@nacsonline.com
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced this week that he is abandoning efforts to bring up spill legislation before the August recess. Not only could the Senate not agree on legislation to more strictly monitor oil companies they could not piece together any sort of climate change bill or energy package.
According to Congress Daily, Reid said he plans to continue working to pass his bill, which includes controversial language removing the liability cap on oil companies in the wake of a spill, before next year.
American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard said his organization was open to working with Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Mark Begich (D-AR) who are proposing an alternative to Reid??s bill.
"It's clear that their proposal comes much closer to a balanced approach to make sure we don't rush small or mid-sized or even large companies out of the Gulf," said Gerard. Reid flatly denied the notion that some Democrats, including Landrieu and Begich, were going to vote against his bill despite both senators having expressed serious reservations about voting for it.
NACS Staff Contact: John Eichberger, jeichberger@nacsonline.com