[Colorado-Talk] Need Legislative Action Today on HB21-110

[Dan Burke]

od morning – can you make a call or two today? Do you want state and
local government web sites and online forms  to be accessible to you
with your assistive technology? Read on!

HB21-1110 – Colorado Laws For Persons With Disabilities
Concerning adding language to relevant Colorado statutes related to
persons with disabilities to strengthen protections against
discrimination on the basis of disability.

This is the bill that will bring Colorado state law into better
agreement with the ADA’s Title II. That is the part of the ADA that
requires state and local government entities of all kinds to be
accessible to and usable by people with disabilities. That’s important
all by itself. But this bill also addresses accessibility  of
information conveyed by web sites or online services at the state and
local level, and that is especially important to blind folks.  It is
also exactly what we’re trying to do on a national level with the 21st
Century App and Web accessibility Act that we’ve proposed in Congress.
HB21-1110 could accomplish essentially the same thing right here in
Colorado.

So, HB21-1110 passed the House Judiciary Committee over a month ago,
and it has been waiting to be considered by the Appropriations
committee because there is a Fiscal Note, that is funding, that will
greatly smooth the way for state and local governments to learn to
make new sites and online forms accessible and to identify and fix
those that are not fully compliant now. It will be heard tomorrow
morning in the House Appropriations Committee at 7:30. You can watch,
but this committee doesn’t take testimony. We need to advocate
strongly with all the members of this committee to approve the funding
for HB21-1110, most of which will go to the state’s Office of
Information Technology (OIT) to address both reviewing for and
correcting inaccessibility in government web sites, but also in
getting ahead of inaccessibility with training on how to ensure
accessibility in all future web development.

Please call or email one or more of the members of this committee
today. It has to be today! Ask them to approve the funding in the
Fiscal Note for HB20 to ensure that we have equal access to state and
local government information and services.  I’ve listed the members
and their office phone numbers and email addresses below. Even a
single call or email matters.

If you wish to watch the hearing tomorrow, you can find an audio link
on the committee web page:
https://leg.colorado.gov/committees/appropriations/2021-regular-session


Chair Leslie Herod
leslie.herod.house at state.co.us	303-866-2959

Vice Chair Julie McCluskie
Julie.mccluskie.house at state.co.us	303-866-2952

Representative Mark Baisley
mark.baisley.house at state.co.us	303-866-2935

Representative Mary Bradfield
Mary .Bradfield.house at state.co.us	303-866-2946

Representative Lindsey Daugherty
Lindsey.Daugherty.house at state.co.us	303-866-2950

Representative Monica Duran
monica.duran.house at state.co.us	303-866-5522

Representative Iman Jodeh
Iman.Jodeh.house at state.co.us	303-866-2919

Representative Cathy Kipp
cathy.kipp.house at state.co.us	303-866-4569

Representative Kim Ransom
kim.ransom.house at state.co.us	303-866-2933

Representative Janice Rich
janice.rich.house at state.co.us	303-866-3068


Representative Kerry Tipper
kerry.tipper.house at state.co.us	303-866-2939




-- 
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