The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) gives civil rights protection to individuals with disabilities. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. Explains Titles I, II, and III of ADA regulations. (13…

Argues that barrier-free designs should be incorporated in the first steps of school facility planning to avoid the difficulties in meeting Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines during renovations. Explains why not all barriers need be removed to make a facility accessible to everyone. Discusses issues involving ADA guidelines and child…

Presents the text of the American Psychological Association's Statement on the Disclosure of Test Data. Areas addressed by the statement include access to data; informing the test's taker of the purpose, use, and results; data dissemination; copyright interests; conforming to regulatory statutes and mandates; and the role of psychologists in…

This article reviews past litigation concerning the education of children with hearing impairments and explores new provisions under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as they affect communication issues. It is argued that new regulations may improve the position of parents who have adapted a bilingual-bicultural approach for their…

The following articles appear in this document devoted to debating whether credit privacy laws should be revised: "Who's Looking at Your Credit Report?" (Holstein); "Credit Reporting System Doesn't Need Fixing" (Ulrich); "The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA); A Remarkable Success" (Kurth); and "Revisit Law To…

The first half of the proceedings consists of three papers presented during the program session of a Library of Congress Network Advisory Committee (NAC) meeting. The first, a background paper by Robert L. Oakley, identifies some of the problems that modern information technology has created for the intellectual property system in the United…

An analysis of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), which requires basic English language proficiency and knowledge of United States history and civics of illegal aliens seeking permanent residency status, suggests that the Act is an example of poor language planning. The analysis has three components. First, the legalization…

This subcommittee hearing addresses the issues and problems currently facing libraries, including the absence of responsibility for library programs resulting from the reorganization of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) and the implications of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130. Statements, letters, and…

Federal tax policy could affect employment policy through the following four provisions: the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit (TJTC), employment incentives in enterprise zone legislation, individual training accounts (ITAs), and employer reimbursement of employee educational expenses. The TJTC and enterprise zone proposals are both attempts to cause…

There are 16.4 million women over age 65 in this country, compared to 11 million men. The 41 percent of this population who live alone are the poorest of the poor in this country, with an annual median income of just over $3,000 for white women and little more than $2,000 for black women. This abject poverty affects the ability of these women to…

Noting that there are more than 900 advisory committees providing private-sector advice to federal decision makers, this report investigates how well these committees have complied with the 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which was intended to make them more accessible to the public and reporters. Following an overview of the subject,…

This paper, maintaining that few areas of federal oversight have been as inconsistently addressed as that involving the regulation of broadcast and wire communication, presents and evaluates a proposal to abolish the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration in favor of a cabinet-level…

Presented in this document are transcripts of hearings on the subject of national materials policy. The hearings focused on implementation of P.L. 96-479, the National Materials and Minerals Policy, Research and Development Act of 1980 (including the recent Presidential program plan and report made to Congress) and on H.R. 4281, the Critical…

The approach of adopting depreciation rather than use allowance in order to recover more accurately the cost of college buildings and equipment used on federal projects is considered. It is suggested that depreciation will offer most colleges and universities a higher annual recovery rate, and an opportunity for better facilities planning. For…

People working in the area of early childhood, either as practitioners or as advocates, are often faced with the task of trying to make sense of federal and state policies. Adopting the approach that an historical perspective is necessary in order to understand the social context in which change or attempted change occurs, this paper presents a…