[HIABS] Primary Elections Aug. 11 - Equality for the Blind

[Justin Salisbury]

Aloha Fellow Federationists,

As we near tomorrow's primaries, I am sharing with you some notes on which candidates have supported our initiatives and which ones have not. If you live in a state house or senate district not named in this brief list, I am more than happy to answer questions about candidates in those districts as related to their support or opposition to our fight for equality. This is not, by any means, to tell anyone how to vote; I am simply sharing information about how candidates have responded to our needs as a movement.

Governor
Ernest Caravalho has testified in support of both our subminimum wage and parental rights bills at the Hawaii State Capitol.
Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa cosponsored our AIM HIGH, TIME Act, and ATAA bills in DC.

Lieutenant Governor
Senator Josh Green wrote and introduced our parental rights bill and follow-up resolution. He also recruited us a House side introducer for that bill. In the Labor Caucus Candidate Forum, he pledged his support for ending the payment of subminimum wages to workers with disabilities.
Senator Jill Tokuda, when asked in the Labor Caucus Candidate forum about subminimum wages, took no stance. She later served as the Senate Chair for the conference committee that killed our subminimum wage bill.
Senator Will Espero generally voted in favor of our bills. In the Labor Caucus Candidate Forum, he pledged his support for ending the payment of subminimum wages to workers with disabilities.
Kim Coco Iwamoto has also committed to supporting our right to parent and ending subminimum wages.

Congressional District 1
Representative Kaniela Saito Ing wrote and introduced a subminimum wage bill for us in 2018 and voted in favor of our right to parent.
Doug Chin's Department of the Attorney General opposed our right to parent bill.
Congressman Ed Case authored an amendment to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 2003 to make it more difficult for families of children with disabilities to hold schools accountable when they fail to provide special education services.

Congressional District 2
Tulsi Gabbard has cosponsored AIM HIGH, the TIME Act, and the ATAA.
Sherry Alu Campagna has committed to supporting our bills.
Anthony "Tony" Austin has committed to supporting our bills.

State House District 46 - Wahiawa, Whitmore Village and Launani Valley
Lei Learmont has publicly stated that people with disabilities should not be raising children and that we should not end the practice of paying subminimum wages to workers with disabilities.
Amy Perruso has publicly affirmed her support for both of these initiatives.

Many other state-level districts include candidates who have either supported or opposed our bills, but I cannot think of any who are running against each other.

Please let me know if I can do anything more to help!

Justin

Justin M. Salisbury, MA, NOMC, NCRTB, NCUEB
Legislative Committee Chair
Honolulu Chapter
National Federation of the Blind of Hawaii
Phone: 808.797.8606
Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu<mailto:President at Alumni.ECU.edu>
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-salisbury
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Justin_Salisbury


"Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore."

Cesar Chavez


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