[Colorado-Talk] Call for cosponsors of ATAA today!

[Dan Burke]

Good Friday morning!

Time to make some calls on behalf of the Access Technology
Affordability Act (ATAA) We need to get both of our Senators to
cosponsor this bill, as well as 4 of our House members. Neguse,
DeGette and Crow are already cosponsors. Please call this morning if
you can.

We could never have anticipated how the mandatory, rapid move to
remote working and online learning in our schools, from Kindergarten
through higher education, would so forcefully demonstrate the
practicality and necessity of the ATAA as did the COVID-19 crisis
across the nation this spring. Parents found themselves at home
without the technology they would need to help their blind child.
Blind workers faced barriers in work because they were unable to use
their work technology from home. Blind parents struggled to help their
kids do their digital schoolwork.

The ATAA proposes a $2000 tax credit for purchase of assistive
technology, available over a rolling three-year period, and it puts
individuals and families in the driver’s seat in terms of finding and
procuring their assistive technology. The cost of the credit would be
minimal, but this spring it would have made a huge difference had it
been available. With further social distancing requirements with us
for a while yet, more working from home and more online learning as
part of the permanent landscape, we should all feel the urgency more
than ever to see this bill succeed.

Below is the contact info with the respective bill numbers. If this
gets enough cosponsors, we hope to get it into the next COVID relief
bill, the Heroes Act.

Senate
S. 815 - The Access Technology Affordability Act (ATAA)

Gardner, Corey	202-224-5941
Bennet, Michael 	202-224-5852

House
H.R. 2086, The Access Technology Affordability Act (ATAA)
Perlmutter, Ed 	202-225-2645
Lamborn, Doug 	202-225-4422
Tipton, Scott 	202-225-4761
Buck, Ken	202-225-4676


-- 
Dan Burke

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado Legislative Coordinator

President, NFB of Denver

"Blindness is not what holds you back.  You can live the life you want!"

My Cell:  406.546.8546
Twitter:  @DallDonal