[Colorado-talk] Fwd: [Nfb-legislative-directors] Legislative Action Needed: WIA

[Dan Burke]

Greetings,

I'm forwarding Rose Sloan's e-mail of last week, but before you get to
that I've boiled down the info related to Colorado.

WIA is in conference between the Senate and House, and Jared Polis is
on the appropriate committee.  We need to contact him by Friday to
urge him to remove Section 511 from the Senate version, and to keep
RSA in the Dept. of Education, and not move it to Labor.

Listed below are his Capitol Hill office number, address for his Face
Book page, address for the e-mail web form and Twitter name.  Below
that is the suggested script that can be used in most of these media.
Please contact him ASAP!

Colorado, Jared Polis,
(202) 225-2161

Face Book:  http://www.facebook.com/jaredpolis

e-mail web form: https://polis.house.gov/forms/writeyourrep/default.aspx

Twitter: @RepJaredPolis


Here is a call script that you can use when contacting your
Representatives.Please call as soon as possible, but no later than by
next Friday:

Hi! My name is *** and I am a member of the NFB of Colorado. It is my
understanding that discussions are being held to resolve differences
between the House and Senate versions of the Workforce Investment Act.
Since Representative Polis is on the Education and Workforce
committee, I am calling to voice my objection to Section 511 of S.
1356, which endorses segregated subminimum wage training and
employment. I am also concerned with the language that diminishes the
quality of rehabilitation services by transferring the Rehabilitation
Services Administration from the Department of Education to the
Department of Labor. I urge Representative Polis to ensure that these
sections are removed before the WIA language is finalized. Thank you!

If you are asked for the House companion bill number, it is H.R. 803.



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Sloan, Rose" <rsloan at nfb.org>
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 17:55:26 +0000
Subject: [Nfb-legislative-directors] Legislative Action Needed: WIA
To: "Nfb-legislative-directors at nfbnet.org"
<Nfb-legislative-directors at nfbnet.org>

Fellow Federationists:

I write to ask you to immediately contact your Representatives who are
on the House Education and Workforce Committee regarding the Workforce
Investment Act (WIA). This bill is currently being pre-conferenced
which means the House and Senate are working to resolve the
differences between the two versions of the bills.

As you know, we are adamantly opposed to Section 511 of Title V and
the transfer of the Rehabilitation Services Administration to the
Department of Labor, which are in the Senate version of WIA. Now is
the time to urge House members of the Education and Workforce
committee to voice their objections to these two provisions.

Here is a call script that you can use when contacting your
Representatives.Please call as soon as possible, but no later than by
next Friday:

Hi! My name is ________. It is my understanding that discussions are
being held to resolve differences between the House and Senate
versions of the Workforce Investment Act. Since Representative
________ is on the Education and Workforce committee, I am calling to
voice my objection to Section 511 of S. 1356, which endorses
segregated subminimum wage training and employment. I am also
concerned with the language that diminishes the quality of
rehabilitation services by transferring the Rehabilitation Services
Administration from the Department of Education to the Department of
Labor. I urge Representative _________ to ensure that these sections
are removed before the WIA language is finalized. Thank you!

If you are asked for the House companion bill number, it is H.R. 803.

Below is a list of Representatives who are on the Education and
Workforce Committee. If your state does not have a member on the
committee, please contact Chairman Kline (R, MN). We need him to know
how important this issue is to us. His office phone number is: (202)
225-2271<tel:(202)%20225-2271>.

Arizona, Matt Salmon, (202) 225-2635<tel:(202)%20225-2635>
Arizona, Raúl Grijalva, (202) 225-2435<tel:(202)%20225-2435>

California, Duncan D. Hunter, (202) 225-5672<tel:(202)%20225-5672>
California, Howard "Buck" McKeon,(202) 225-1956<tel:(202)%20225-1956>
California, George Miller, (202) 225-2095<tel:(202)%20225-2095>
California, Susan Davis, (202) 225-2040<tel:(202)%20225-2040>

Colorado, Jared Polis, (202) 225-2161<tel:(202)%20225-2161>

Connecticut, Joe Courtney, (202) 225-2076<tel:(202)%20225-2076>

Florida, Frederica Wilson, (202) 225-4506<tel:(202)%20225-4506>

Georgia, Tom Price,(202) 225-4501<tel:(202)%20225-4501>

Indiana, Larry Bucshon, (202) 225-4636<tel:(202)%20225-4636>
Indiana, Luke Messer, (202) 225-3021<tel:(202)%20225-3021>
Indiana, Susan Brooks, (202) 225-2276<tel:(202)%20225-2276>
Indiana, Todd Rokita, (202) 225-5037<tel:(202)%20225-5037>

Iowa, David Loebsack (202) 225-6576<tel:(202)%20225-6576>

Kentucky, Brett Guthrie, (202) 225-3501<tel:(202)%20225-3501>

Massachusetts, John Tierney, (202) 225-8020<tel:(202)%20225-8020>

Michigan, Tim Walberg, (202) 225-6276<tel:(202)%20225-6276>

Minnesota, John Kline, (202) 225-2271<tel:(202)%20225-2271>

Nevada Joe Heck,(202) 225-3252<tel:(202)%20225-3252>

New Jersey, Rush D. Holt, Jr., (202) 225-5801<tel:(202)%20225-5801>

New York, Carolyn McCarthy, (202) 225-5516<tel:(202)%20225-5516>
New York, Timothy Bishop, (202) 225-3826<tel:(202)%20225-3826>

North Carolina, Richard Hudson,(202) 225-3715<tel:(202)%20225-3715>
North Carolina, Virginia Foxx, (202) 225-2071<tel:(202)%20225-2071>

Northern Mariana Islands, Gregorio "Kilili" Sablan,(202)
225-2646<tel:(202)%20225-2646>

Ohio, Marcia Fudge, (202) 225-7032<tel:(202)%20225-7032>

Oregon, Suzanne Bonamici, (202) 225-0855<tel:(202)%20225-0855>

Pennsylvania, Glenn "G.T." Thompson, (202) 225-5121<tel:(202)%20225-5121>
Pennsylvania, Lou Barletta, (202) 225-6511<tel:(202)%20225-6511>

South Carolina, Joe Wilson, (202) 225-2452<tel:(202)%20225-2452>
South Carolina, Trey Gowdy, (202) 225-6030<tel:(202)%20225-6030>

Tennessee, Phil Roe, (202) 225-6356<tel:(202)%20225-6356>
Tennessee, Scott DesJarlais, (202) 225-6831<tel:(202)%20225-6831>

Texas, Kenny Marchant, (202) 225-6605<tel:(202)%20225-6605>
Texas, Rubén Hinojosa, (202) 225-2531<tel:(202)%20225-2531>

Virginia, Bobby Scott, (202) 225-8351<tel:(202)%20225-8351>

Wisconsin, Tom Petri, (202) 225-2476<tel:(202)%20225-2476>
Wisconsin, Mark Pocan, (202) 225-2906<tel:(202)%20225-2906>

Feel free to e-mail, fax, and tweet your Representatives as well, but
this is a supplement to the calls, not a substitute. See below for a
sample letter.

Thank you for taking just a few minutes to make these calls. Together,
we can ensure that WIA will continue to help people with disabilities
achieve the competitive integrated employment we strive for.

Best,

Rose

March XX, 2014

Dear Representative__________:

I am writing to express serious concerns with two specific provisions
under debate as part of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization
legislation. I am opposed to the following two provisions, which will
be extremely detrimental to individuals with disabilities who are
eligible for the individualized services and supports provided by
highly skilled rehabilitation counselors in the Vocational
Rehabilitation program.

§  Section 511, related to employment of individuals with disabilities
at a subminimum wage and
§  The proposed move of the Rehabilitation Services Administration
(RSA) from the Department of Education (DOE) to the Department of
Labor (DOL).

These proposals are steps in the wrong direction at a time when it is
critical to support career development and self-sufficiency for
individuals with disabilities. While these provisions originated in
the Senate bill (S.1356), pre-conferencing is underway between the
House and Senate Committee staff, and it is critical that the House
stand firm in opposition to both of these provisions.

Section 511 will strengthen and give legitimacy to the flawed
subminimum wage system and is based on the false premise that people
with disabilities cannot be competitively employed. This policy
proposal faces strong opposition from the community it is meant to
serve. The language endorses the practice of using subminimum wage
environments for training or employment, and does not meet the
intended goal of reducing the number of young people tracked into
subminimum wage work environments.

Individuals who are tracked into these environments remain there
ninety-five percent of the time and are dependent on government
subsidies and other state income supports for the rest of their lives.

The proposed move of RSA to DOL is entirely inconsistent with efforts
to improve and increase services to young people transitioning from
school to post-secondary education or careers. Efforts should be
focused on increasing collaboration and partnerships in the DOE
between RSA and the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), in
order to improve transition services, as opposed to moving RSA to DOL
where this focus would be lost. There is no data to indicate that
moving the RSA from the DOE to the DOL would improve employment
outcomes for individuals with disabilities, particularly those
individuals with the most significant disabilities, including
transition youth.

Since the 1992 Amendments to the Rehabilitation Act, State VR Agencies
have focused on providing community based services and assuring that
all individuals with disabilities determined eligible for VR Services
have the opportunity to pursue competitive employment in an integrated
setting. Opening the door to sheltered employment takes the VR Program
and the people they serve backwards. It would undermine the forward
progress and success that the program has achieved over the years in
pursuing competitive, integrated employment for VR consumers.

There are far better ways to help ensure that individuals with
disabilities can be productive without Section 511, and I believe
strengthening VR within the DOE is the best approach to securing
access to competitive employment opportunities for individuals with
disabilities.

I urge you strike these two controversial provisions from the final
WIA reauthorization package.

Sincerely,

Your contact information.


Rose Sloan
Government Affairs Specialist
National Federation of the Blind

Rsloan at nfb.org<mailto:Rsloan at nfb.org>

Sent from my iPhone



-- 
Dan Burke
My Cell:  406.546.8546
Twitter:  @DallDonal