On November 16, 2015, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) published a proposed rule for Independent Living Programs in the Federal Register. An announcement from ACL in regard to the published rule stated, “This proposed rule consolidates and streamlines prior regulations and provides details regarding new requirements included in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Signed into law in July 2014, WIOA moved IL programs from the Department of Education to the Department of Health and Human Services, creating the Independent Living Administration within ACL. WIOA also made changes to IL programs in areas including core services and development of state plans for independent living.” NCIL had been anticipating this announcement for some time, so the NCIL Rehabilitation Act & IL Funding Subcommittee was ready to take action when released. The Subcommittee decided to begin development of our comments with the three working groups that had previously worked together on WIOA and Reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act, which included the ILA Workgroup, SILC Workgroup, and CIL Workgroup. The workgroups members are as follows:
- ILA Workgroup: Maureen Ryan, Kelly Buckland, Lou Ann Kibbee, Mark Derry
- SILC Workgroup: Pat Puckett, Dawn Francis, Ann McDaniel, Shannon Jones
- CIL Workgroup: Diana Garrett, Doug Toelle, Roger Howard
Some the Rehab Act & IL Funding Subcommittee members also spent extra time helping with NCIL’s comments to the proposed rules. These Subcommittee members are: Dan Kessler, Paul Spooner, Lee Schultz, and Billy Altom.
I want to thank the members of the three workgroups and the Subcommittee for their tireless work in a short period of time in assisting NCIL with our comments on the Rules. I also want to thank the Shannon Jones and Dianna Garrett, Co-Chairs of the Rehab Act & IL Funding Subcommittee. Last but not least, thank you to NCIL staff Lindsay Baran and Kelly Buckland for combining the comments into a single document.
Thank you all! Fabulous work!
Lou Ann Kibbee
NCIL President
