S. 4597

Removing Access Barriers to Running for Elected Office for People with Disabilities Act

Latest

II

117th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 4597

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

July 21, 2022

Mr. Casey (for himself, Ms. Duckworth, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Booker, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Wyden, and Ms. Hirono) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To allow individuals with disabilities to campaign for elected office without losing access to federally supported benefits.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Removing Access Barriers to Running for Elected Office for People with Disabilities Act.

2.

Disregarding campaign work performed by individuals with disabilities for purposes of Federally supported benefits

(a)

In general

Any campaign work performed by a qualified individual, and any compensation received by such individual for such work, shall be disregarded for the purpose of determining such individual's eligibility for, and amount of, benefits or assistance under any Federal program or under any State or local program financed in whole or in part with Federal funds.

(b)

Definitions

In this section:

(1)

Campaign work

The term campaign work means work performed by an individual as a candidate for an elected Federal, State, or local office.

(2)

Qualified individual

The term qualified individual means an individual who is entitled to a benefit under title II or XVI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq., 1381 et seq.) by reason of a disability.