ANCHOR America document

ANCHOR America Act

Model federal authorization language for the national backbone.

Section 1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the “ANCHOR America Act.”

Section 2. Findings.

Congress finds that autistic and neurodivergent people encounter fragmented systems, inconsistent communication access, preventable escalation, rural service gaps, and avoidable burden when navigating healthcare, education, crisis, employment, public benefits, housing, transportation, and public agencies.

Section 3. Purpose.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a national access backbone for communication supports, plain-language navigation, voluntary personal tools, public education, role-specific training, ethical research, state implementation, and service-gap reporting.

Section 4. National ANCHOR Office.

The Secretary shall establish a National ANCHOR Office to administer standards, grants, technical assistance, public tools, accessibility requirements, language access, evaluation, and reports under this Act.

Section 5. Interagency coordination.

The Office shall coordinate with federal agencies responsible for health, disability, education, civil rights, crisis response, employment, housing, transportation, broadband, veterans, tribal affairs, and public benefits.

Section 6. State, territory, tribal, and local grants.

The Office may award planning and implementation grants for state hubs, regional access points, resource mapping, public tools, navigator training, language access, crisis coordination, and service-gap reporting.

Section 7. Access Passport.

The Office shall publish standards for a voluntary Access Passport. The Passport shall not be treated as a diagnosis, registry, law-enforcement database, benefits determination, medical order, IEP, 504 plan, or substitute for legal rights.

Section 8. ANCHOR CARD.

The Office shall publish a Communication Access Response Deck standard for written-first communication, processing time, sensory access, non-speaking support, safe handoff, and crisis prevention.

Section 9. MICA communication tools.

The Office may support public-interest communication and preparation tools that assist with written scripts, appointment preparation, plain-language summaries, CARD exports, and emergency communication.

Section 10. Privacy and civil rights.

Participation shall be voluntary. Personal data shall be minimized, consent-based, protected, and unavailable for sale. No person may be denied service for declining to create an Access Passport.

Section 11. Reports.

The Office shall submit annual public reports on implementation, service gaps, accessibility, training, language access, grant activity, and recommendations for improvement.