(1) The Commonwealth currently supports the provision of independent living services to people with disabilities through centers for independent living, but lacks a statutory basis to assure that people with disabilities are fully involved in the planning and provision of these services.

(2) People with disabilities have the best capacity to design, develop, manage and implement those programs and services that are intended to assist them.

(3) The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Public Law 93-112, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq.), as amended, provides for the establishment and operation of a Statewide Independent Living Council to oversee the provision of independent living services funded by the Federal Government.

(4) There are an estimated 830,000 residents of this Commonwealth with disabilities who will benefit directly or indirectly from the services provided by State-supported centers for independent living.

(5) People with disabilities who could live and work in the community have been denied access to the full range of social opportunities and in many cases have been forced to live in institutions at State expense due to architectural, communication and attitudinal barriers, as well as a lack of appropriate independent living options.

(6) There is a need to establish independent living services and centers through a coordinated network of consumer-controlled centers for independent living effectively reaching all 67 counties in this Commonwealth.

(7) Notwithstanding the services provided by the Commonwealth to specific disability groups, the General Assembly, having heretofore appropriated State funds to support consumer-controlled centers for independent living, finds an immediate need to assure that all citizens of this Commonwealth who have a disability are afforded access to and control of the services provided by centers for independent living.