[Jayhawk-Chapter] Jayhawk chapter minutes

[Tamara Kearney]

Jayhawk chapter minutes
January 13, 2020

We were unable to access the Presidential release. 

State Report: Net revenue of about $1000 per month from the thrift store is no longer available to the state affiliate. The owner passed away, and his wife did not want to run the store anymore. Arrangements have been made for the state affiliate to receive quarterly distributions from the NFB Service Foundation for a while. This will buy us some time while we figure out what we’re going to do as a revenue replacement. We will continue receiving money from our portfolio which is doing well for the time being. As another possible source of funding, the state board will be in contact with the Bar Association that handles estates and bequests. 

Newsline will be funded by Envision for the coming year. 

The NFBK has been offered a position on the State Use Law Committee. The State Use Law Committee has to do with procuring contracts, and setting up rules and specifications for private entities to do business with the state of Kansas. The benefits to our involvement include influencing issues like web accessibility and getting rid of sub-minimum wage. There were lots of questions about the duties and responsibilities of the State Use Law Committee, and who and how many serve on the committee. Rob will gather more details about this, and share them with the group at our next chapter meeting. 

Report on Stake Holders Meeting: The meeting was held on Jan. 6. It included the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Workforce Innovation Group from the Department of Commerce, the State Department of Education Adult Division, and consumers. Presentations were given from each of the represented entities. Mike Donnelly will soon be resigning from the Department of Rehabilitation. A suggestion that came out of the meeting was to give hiring preference to people with disabilities other than the one given to veterans. Gov. Brownback, when in office, issued an executive order, 15-02, establishing a hiring preference program for people with disabilities in addition to the veterans hiring preference. Our organization will need to advocate for this. 

Washington Seminar: We will have seven delegates. Issues to be discussed include: the Aim high Act, which has to do with access to online higher education; the GAIN Act, which has to do with gaining access to appliances, gym equipment, medical devices like glucometers and other types of devices; the Access Technology Affordability Act, which grants a tax credit to purchase assistive technology. 

On the state level, we will be pursuing the Model Blind Parent Act, which forbids discrimination against blind parents so they don’t have their children taken away by the state, or by hospitals or other entities just because the parent happens to be blind.

Minutes: Approved as submitted.

Fund Raising: We discussed doing some restaurant give-backs. Jim will approach El Mezcal. 

Meeting adjourned at 5:05 pm. 

Respectfully submitted,

Tamara Kearney, Secretary