[HIABS] TESTIMONY NEEDED - SB 3023 SD 1 is now in Ways and Means

Sun Feb 25 01:28:40 UTC 2018

Aloha Fellow Federationists:

Our Senate subminimum wage bill, the one that's our dream come true that doesn't need to be amended or anything, is now scheduled for a decision making in the Senate Committee on Ways and Means!

DATE:

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

TIME:

10:45 a.m.

PLACE:

Conference Room 211
State Capitol
415 South Beretania Street

We need to submit written testimony again!

This time, the written testimony is even more crucial because this is NOT A PUBLIC HEARING. It is only a decision making, which is a matter of them showing up and announcing their decision based on our written testimony. It will still be a great thing to get lots of warm bodies with white canes and guide dogs in the room. If you're interested in getting your feed wet at the State Capitol but terrified of being called on to speak, this is the perfect one to attend!

I have attached a super basic testimony that sets the stage for someone to give THEIR REASONS why they want to end subminimum wages. If you want to use this, great. If you want to break it apart and change it up, that's totally fine, too. Whatever you do, please submit written testimony in SUPPORT to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means at:

WAMtestimony at capitol.hawaii.gov<mailto:WAMtestimony at capitol.hawaii.gov>

I want to thank all who have submitted testimony so far. I want to give a shout out to Gloria Tuuao for getting testimonies from her whole family in some of our recent hearings. When we get our whole families to testify, that turns our one testimony into many testimonies. In her case, that's been about 10 testimonies.

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: HIABS [mailto:hiabs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Justin Salisbury via HIABS
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2018 7:09 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
Cc: Justin Salisbury <PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu>
Subject: [HIABS] HB 1627 HD1 Passed by FIN, Unamended

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