CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE
104th Congress (1996)


"SAVING OUR CHILDREN: THE AMERICAN RENEWAL ACT OF 1996" (5/29/96)
"Saving Our Children: The American Renewal Act of 1996," HR 3467, 
includes a provision that limits the educational requirements of 
alcoholism and other drug addiction counselors who work for 
religious organizations that provide services that are funded with 
federal money.
BACKGROUND: 
HR 3467 is designed to alleviate high levels of substance abuse and 
poverty, high rates of welfare dependency, high crime rates, poor 
schools and joblessness by promoting federal tax incentives and 
regulatory reforms.  

Title III of HR 3467 would allow religious organizations to use 
federal money to provide substance abuse prevention and treatment 
services (currently, religious organizations must establish separate 
"religiously-affiliated organizations," such as Catholic Charities, 
that can use federal money to provide programs).  Section 585 of 
Title III, which addresses educational requirements for personnel in 
drug treatment programs, states:

1)  establishing formal educational qualification for counselors 
    and other personnel in drug treatment programs may undermine 
    the effectiveness of such programs; and

2)  such formal educational requirements for counselors and other 
    personnel may hinder or prevent the provision of needed drug 
    treatment services.

It requires religious education and training be given credit equal to 
that given for secular course work in drug treatment or any other 
secular subject that is of similar grade level and duration (in 
other words, if an individual has a master's degree in theology, he 
or she would qualify to be a treatment counselor in a religious 
organization's service program that participates in this program).  

Section 585 also allows the Secretary of the Department of Housing 
are Urban Development to waive state and local educational 
requirements for an individual religious organization if:

1)  the religious organization has a record of prior successful drug 
    treatment for at least three years;

2)  the educational qualifications have effectively barred such 
    religious organizations from becoming program members;

3)  the organization has applied to the Secretary to waive the 
    qualifications; and

4)  the state or local government has failed to demonstrate empirically 
    that the educational qualifications in question are necessary to 
    the successful operation of a drug treatment program.


Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) has promised that a vote will be 
taken on the floor of the House by the end of June or early July.

If you have further questions about this legislation, please contact our 
Public Policy Office via e-mail:   publicpolicy@ncadd.org.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: 
Write or call your Representative and tell him or her you oppose 
section 585 of Title III in HR 3467 because:

*	Educational and training requirements for alcoholism and 
	other drug 	abuse treatment counselors do not hinder or 
	undermine the effectiveness of treatment--they enhance it.

*	Educational requirements of treatment personnel must not be 
	compromised.  Trained counselors specialize in the diagnosis, 
	assessment and treatment of psychoactive disorders and other 
	substance use, abuse and dependency problems that cost our 
	country over $160 billion each year.

*	Spirituality is one of four vital components of effective 
	treatment programs for alcoholics and drug addicts.  The others 
	are physical/medical, emotional, psychological.  Anyone providing 
	those services must be trained and prepared to deal with all 
	of them.  

You can contact your Representative by calling the Capitol Hill 
switchboard at 202/224-3121 or writing to The Honorable --, United 
States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515.