[HIABS] HB 1627 HD1 Passed by FIN, Unamended

Justin Salisbury PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu
Fri Feb 23 05:08:35 UTC 2018


Aloha, my Federation Ohana,

Today, the House Committee on Finance recommended that HB 1627 HD 1 be passed, unamended, with a unanimous vote.

This means that the bill is now headed for third reading. It has no more committees that need to hear it in the House of Representatives.

This bill is still allowing the payment of subminimum wages to workers with intellectual disabilities. We will have to keep stating our case that civil rights matter for ALL PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, not just some of us. Anyone can be diagnosed with a minor intellectual disability in order to qualify for subminimum wages. As our NFB Executive Director, Anil Lewis, has shared publicly, he was diagnosed mentally retarded at nine years old. If he can be diagnosed mentally retarded, anybody can.

Today, we had a dangerously low turnout at the hearing, but our written testimonies were strong enough to overpower the opposition we got from Lanakila Pacific, Goodwill, the Hawaii Disability Rights Center, and the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. We also got some opposition from some businesses who just complained about the concept of minimum wage and didn't address disability. If more of us had attended the hearing, it is entirely possible that we could have gotten the bill amended the way we wanted.

I am going to convert the published testimony document to something searchable and readable for all of us, and I will send it out to this list.

The next chance we get to attend a hearing, we will have short notice because that's just how it works in our state legislature. I really appreciate the support from those who submitted written testimony and hope we can get a strong showing to the next hearing!

Mahalo nui loa,

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

"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



From: Justin Salisbury
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 9:53 PM
To: Hawaii Association of Blind Students list <hiabs at nfbnet.org>; Katie Keim <808keim at gmail.com>; 'Virgil Stinnett' <808virgil at gmail.com>; 'NFB of Hawaii Mailing List' <nfb-hi at nfbnet.org>; 'Anastacia Fong' <Anastacia808 at yahoo.com>; mserika_2006 at yahoo.com; 'Dyllon Asami' <dakasami at gmail.com>; 'Ann Lemke' <lemke at hawaii.edu>; 'Doug and Charmaine Moises' <moifeva at aol.com>; 'Jove Abuhle' <jabuhle at gmail.com>; 'Brandon Young' <young.brandon4 at gmail.com>; rachel.s.brandt at gmail.com; 'Cassandra Certeza' <cmcerteza at gmail.com>; 'Shellford Cantan' <jrcantan at yahoo.com>; 'Brenda Lucas' <bluca72 at gmail.com>; 'Tammy Rober' <snoopytdr at aol.com>; 'Stan Young' <SKYCOMHAWAII at msn.com>; shannoncantan.nfb at gmail.com; shannon.cantan at gmail.com; 'Sally Hammond' <hammond.kona at yahoo.com>; 'Jonah Sniffen' <jksniffen at gmail.com>; 'Nani Fife' <nanifife at aol.com>; 'Michael Norton' <michael at tkprivee.com>; 247mjgerber at gmail.com; 'David Maurer' <dmaurer68 at gmail.com>; 'Dean Georgeves' <dean.patriot at gmail.com>; makapaa1961 at gmail.com; diannagjones at gmail.com; 'Gloria Tuuao' <gtuuao at hawaii.edu>; 'Scott-Michael Tokunaga' <skippyt at hawaii.rr.com>; 'Khamtoun jounramany' <khamtoun at gmail.com>; 'kyle laconsay' <KLaconsay at dhs.hawaii.gov>; 'Dane Alani' <danealani at gmail.com>; 'Debbie Gabe' <dgabe808 at gmail.com>; 'Michael Laconsay' <dabeachbumz at hotmail.com>; 'Joelcho' <joelcho at hawaii.rr.com>; 'Jim Gashel' <jgashel0923 at gmail.com>; 'Susan Gashel' <sgashel at comcast.net>; 'Beryl Carroll' <ulalamama18 at gmail.com>; 'Cha Smith' <cha.m.smith at icloud.com>; 'Curtis Chong' <chong.curtis at gmail.com>; 'Shontel Jones' <shonteljones1 at gmail.com>; kyle laconsay <hearkylaugh at gmail.com>; 'yvettecr at yahoo.com' <yvettecr at yahoo.com>
Subject: ALERT - Testimony Needed by 1:30 PM on Wed 2/21

Aloha Federation Ohana:

It is time, once again, for us to submit testimony for a public hearing. We also need as many people and their Friends and families to show up as possible.

The attached empty testimony gives a basic overview of what amendments we need and then gives you the room to write why you want to end the payment of subminimum wages.

The office staff at the capitol taught me something at the last set of hearings. If it looks like a bunch of people used a similar testimony template, they assume that they're all the same and don't read them. They said they'd rather have folks just say what they want and give a few sentences explaining why. They know there Will be one or two big meaty testimonies that get into the nitty gritty details, and they don't need to see that over and over. If you want to adjust the fonts or anything, go for it.

So, what this means for you is that you are under no pressure to put together some really complex explanation or anything else, but please just write a few thoughts about why we should end the payment of subminimum wages to workers with all types of disabilities. Please just talk to the legislators like a person and submit it.

If you have friends testifying who are non-members of NFBH, then they can cut that part out of their signature.

Send testimonies to FINtestimony at capitol.hawaii.gov<mailto:FINtestimony at capitol.hawaii.gov> with a subject line that says "Testimony Supporting HB 1627 HD 1" so that the Committee Clerk knows what the email is before opening it.

Copying me will help me keep count.

As our Brand promise says, together, with love, hope, and determination, we transform dreams into reality.

Contact me with any questions.

Mahalo!

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

"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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