TERMINOLOGY RELATED TO THE LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY PROCESS LAW--A requirement passed or enacted by a government body which must be obeyed by everyone over whom that governmental body has authority. An example of a law is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which, as a federal law, applies to individuals and organizations across the country. State, county, and local governments may also pass laws related to disability that apply to both persons living in and organizations operating in areas covered by those governments. Generally, in cases where federal laws differ from state, county, and local laws relating to disability or other issues, the more strict version of the law--or the version requiring the most from individuals and organizations covered--must be observed. STATUTE--The text of a law that has been passed by a legislative body. Statutes provide details about what is meant by a law that has been passed. Statutes passed by the United States Congress are put together or codified in a set of books known as the United States Code. This is usually abbreviated as USC. REAUTHORIZATION--The process of extending a law that covers a specified time period. Most laws that create programs and services--such as the Rehabilitation Act that established medical, vocational, and independent living services for people with disabilities--must be reviewed and reauthorized by legislative bodies periodically. This process is designed to provide some assurance that programs and services continue to address needs of individuals or groups for whom they were initially created through the legislative process. The reauthorization process provides opportunities to correct problems with legislatively mandated services and programs that may not have been anticipated when the legislation was passed initially. The positive changes in the federal independent living program--strengthening the commitment to consumer control and adherence to the independent living philosophy--were facilitated by the fact that the Rehabilitation Act needed to be reauthorized in 1992. This provided a window of opportunity to inform legislators and their staffs about changes in the Act that would strengthen the independent living program and improve community-based services for people with disabilities. It is important that independent living and disability rights advocates become familiar with the reauthorization schedules for all disability-related legislation. Advocates can then be actively involved in informing legislative personnel and policy makers about problems with the legislation that should be addressed in the reauthorization process. For example, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) legislation is up for reauthorization in 1994. AMENDMENTS--Changes in laws that had been passed previously. When existing legislative programs are modified through reauthorization or through other legislative processes, the modified act is said to be amended. Thereafter, the legislation is often referred to with its original name followed by the term amendments and the year in which the latest amendments were passed by the legislature. It is important to remember that amendments to legislative programs may involve relatively modest changes to the original legislation or may involve rewriting legislation in whole or in part so that the amendments result in significantly different legislation than was passed initially. The Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992 resulted in major modifications of several titles of the Act, including Title VII dealing with independent living. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS--Even after legislation has been passed by a legislative body, new information may come to light or new interpretations of previously existing information may emerge that result in changing the wording of the legislation through a process called technical amendments. Technical amendments are done through an expedited legislative process requiring significantly less time than is usually necessary for passage of a law. It is important to determine what, if any, technical amendments may have been made to legislation previously passed. Technical amendments may involve minor changes in spelling or grammar, or may include significant alterations, such as the technical amendments to the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992 adding training for the statewide independent living councils (SILCs) to the list of purposes for which Title VII funding might be used. CITATION--Once laws are passed and statutes are written, they can be cited by individuals and organizations responsible for implementing the law. Citations are used to refer to specific sections of the law that might apply in various situations. When citing a section of the law, the abbreviation is usually used to mean section. If two are used, then more than one section of a law is being cited. Also, in cases where sections of a law that follow one another are cited, the abbreviation et seq. may be used. Et seq. stands for et sequentia, meaning and the following ones. Whenever a citation lists a section () number followed by et seq., it refers to the section cited and the sections that follow it. Citations may also refer to titles, chapters, and parts of an act, as in the case of the Rehabilitation Act, which has nine titles divided into chapters and parts and referred to as sections throughout the Act. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--The reports generated by various legislative committees in the process of creating a law. During the process of creating legislation, several Congressional committees are usually involved in gathering information that is used in drafting the law and in creating regulations to implement the law. These committee reports and supporting documentation are assembled and retained for use later in implementing the law and interpreting questions about compliance with the law. The documents in which committee reports are contained represent the legislative history of a Congressional act. These documents are referred to often by regulatory bodies charged with implementing legislation and may be used by members of the judicial branch if legal action is taken by someone claiming non- compliance with the law by a public or private entity. The legislative history can be very important to advocates and consumers who are working to assure that laws are implemented in accordance with their original intent. REGULATIONS--The guiding rules prepared by governmental agencies with statutory authority for implementing laws that are passed by legislative bodies. The regulations developed for a law tell individuals and organizations what they are expected to do in order to be in compliance with the law. As was the case with the ADA, there may be several government agencies responsible for developing and implementing regulations involving education, legal processes, transportation, and other areas covered by the law. NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING--An announcement that a governmental agency is engaged in developing regulations to implement new or amended legislation. Whenever governmental agencies are charged with developing regulations to guide implementation of legislation, they are required to solicit input from persons affected by the legislation. For most disability-related laws, this is done through publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register. These notices provide information about the legislation and draft regulatory statements, as well as about the date by which comments on the proposed regulations must be received and the address to which comments should be sent. It is of vital importance that individuals with disabilities and organizations representing individuals with disabilities respond to these notices in a timely fashion when the proposed regulations have to do with disability-related legislation. Monitoring the Federal Register for such notices is a very important activity. CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS--The complete description of all regulations pertaining to specific legislation. As is the case with statutes, regulations for various laws are put together in books known as the Code of Federal Regulations or CFR. As with the United States Code referring to statutes, the CFR is divided into sections that may be referred to using the symbol, and may also be divided into titles, chapters, and parts. A good example of this is the Rehabilitation Act, which has Title VII, dealing with independent living, and Chapter 1, Parts A, B, and C, dealing with individuals with severe disabilities, and Chapter 2, dealing with independent living services for older individuals who are blind. CASE LAW--Judicial decisions reached in court cases involving legislation passed by governmental bodies. In many cases, interpretations of federal, state, or local statutes are not clearly stated in the original legislation or in regulations developed to implement the legislation. In such cases, definitive interpretation does not occur until an individual or a group files a lawsuit claiming non-compliance with the legislation by a covered entity. The results of such lawsuits, in which judges rather than legislative personnel make authoritative interpretations of the law in question, then become part of the law itself and may be cited in future interpretations of the law. A measure of the authority of case law rulings in interpreting legislative meaning has to do with the judicial level at which the ruling was made. For federal laws, there are three levels: federal district courts, which are trial courts; federal circuit courts, which are courts in which rulings of federal district courts can be reconsidered; and the United States Supreme Court, which hears appeals from federal circuit courts. Supreme Court rulings are the highest in the federal system and are binding over all other federal court rulings. POLICY DIRECTIVES--Printed materials produced to explain regulations for specified legislative programs. Directives are distributed to representatives of other federal, state, and private agencies with responsibility for implementing programs covered by federal legislation. These directives usually identify procedures to be followed by organizations required to comply with regulations. The directives also indicate the proper office or person to which questions about regulations should be addressed. In cases where forms or other paperwork are required for compliance, copies of forms may be attached to the circular. It is very important to review policy directives carefully in order to understand how federal agencies are interpreting laws and regulations and what these federal agencies are expecting of organizations covered by federal regulations. NOTE: Government agencies also produce and distribute technical assistance circulars. These circulars provide information on best practices and recommendations; they are not mandatory. In contrast, policy directives are based on regulations and are mandatory. Revised 5/95 _________________________ Developed by the IL NETWORK: NCIL/ILRU National Training and Technical Assistance Project. Requests for technical assistance on this and other independent living subjects may be directed to the IL NETWORK Project, c/o ILRU at (713) 520-0232 (voice), 520-5136 (TTY), 520-5785 (FAX), or NCIL at (703) 525-3406 (voice), 525-3407 (TTY), 525-3409 (FAX)