[Ncabs] S. 1356 Important leglislative work needed

Mon Aug 5 19:04:09 UTC 2013

Hello everyone!

Below you will find Anil Lewis's letter (salutation is "Federation") detailing where we stand regarding S.1356.  Please note the conference call this Wednesday night at 9:00 p.m.  Anil also includes an attachment template to use, if desired, in contacting the scheduler to make appointments in NC with our senators (hopefully) or their aides.  Going through the website addresses listed below is the only way to get  appointments (unless you have "the right connections").  Also listed below are the office sites with addresses and phone numbers, so you will know which location is best for you.  Please state which office location you desire and when. For Senator Hagan'c contact page please click on NC and then begin filling out the info.  Anil's template is nice, but I suspect brevity will be greatly appreciated.  It might take a few days for the scheduler to reply, but if you have not heard back in a couple of days, please call the Washington office, tell them you have put in a scheduling request, and they will connect you to the scheduler.  The senators will have many requests for their time while on recess so apply for appointments as soon as possible.

Per Gary Ray please let me know when you have appointments scheduled so we will have state coverage.  If two chapters are close to an office perhaps you all can join forces.

Senator Hagan's office told us she voted "yes" to the bill "because it had a lot of good things in it",  Senator Burr's office told me that he voted "no" to the bill "because he had not had time to investigate whether or not these issues pertaining to rehab and people with disabilities would help or hurt his NC constituents with disabilities."  So please thank Senator Burr for his vote and his attention to details in this instance.  It is up to us to educate our senators on our issues.  

Thank you!

Sharon Newton 
704-334-8758

Senator Burr lives in Winston-Salem.

Senator Hagan lives in Greensboro.  

Senator Burr's scheduling contract info:

http://www.burr.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.SchedulingRequests

Senator Burr's NC office locations:

Asheville
Federal Building
151 Patton Avenue, Suite 204
Asheville, NC 28801
Phone: (828) 350-2437
Fax: (828) 350-2439

Rocky Mount
100 Coast Line Street, Room 210
Rocky Mount, NC 27804
Phone: (252) 977-9522
Fax: (252) 977-7902

Washington, DC
217 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3154
Fax: (202) 228-2981

Winston-Salem
2000 West First Street
Suite 508
Winston-Salem, NC 27104
Phone: (800) 685-8916
Phone: (336) 631-5125
Fax: (336) 725-4493

Gastonia
City Hall
181 South Street, Room 222
Gastonia, NC 28052
Phone: (704) 833-0854
Fax: (704) 833-1467

Wilmington
201 North Front Street
Suite 809
Wilmington, NC 28401
Phone: (888) 848-1833
Phone: (910) 251-1058
Fax: (910) 251-7975 

Senator Hagan's scheduling info and office locations:

Meeting requests can be made at:http://www.hagan.senate.gov/meetingrequests/

The addresses and phone numbers for our NC offices are:

Asheville:
82 Patton Avenue, Suite 635, Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 257-6510

Charlotte:
1520 South Boulevard, Suite 205, Charlotte, NC 28203
(704) 334-2448

Greensboro:
701 Green Valley Road, Suite 201, Greensboro, NC 27408
(336) 333-5311

Raleigh:
310 New Bern Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 856-4630

Greenville:
301 South Evans Street, Suite 102, Greenville, NC
(252) 754-0707

Anil's letter:

Federation:

We are asking that each affiliate request a meeting with their senators during the upcoming Senate recess.  Please note the corrected dates of the recess, which are August 3 - September 6.  A meeting request template is attached to this email.  Please make the necessary changes to reflect the information from your state.  We will be providing talking points that can be used to prepare for your meetings.  

We will be hosting a Legislative Call for all Affiliate Presidents and their Legislative Directors on Wednesday, August 7, at 9:00PM eastern.  The call in information is: 

Conference Number: (877) 394-5901

Access Code: 4781852

To recap the issue:  The Senate HELP Committee Passed the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Reauthorization bill S. 1356 out of committee.  Unfortunately, the subminimum wage language of Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act and the transfer of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to the U.S. Department of Labor were not removed from the bill.  Now the bill will go to the Senate floor for debate and a final vote.  

AS mentioned in the Legislative Update, the inclusion of Section 511 in the WIA reauthorization affords us an opportunity to broaden our subminimum wage advocacy.  While we work to ensure that Section 511 is removed from the WIA and to prevent RSA from being transferred to the U.S. department of Labor, we will expand our efforts to get a Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities bill introduced in the U.S. Senate. 

Let's get into some Good Trouble.  We will fight the good fight, and we will win in the end.  We will succeed in our efforts to have Section 511 removed from the WIA, to prevent the Rehabilitation Act from being sabotaged, and to eliminate the unfair, discriminatory, immoral subminimum wage provision of Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  

"Come join with me on the barricades, and we will make it all come true."(Dr. Kenneth Jernigan) 

Sincerely,

Anil

Mr. Anil Lewis, M.P.A.

Director of Advocacy and Policy

"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities" 

http://www.nfb.org/fairwages

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place

Baltimore, Maryland   21230

(410) 659-9314 ext. 2374 (Voice)

(410) 685-5653 (FAX)

Email: alewis at nfb.org

Web: www.nfb.org

twitter: @anillife 

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Senator Meeting Request Letter Template.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 14702 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/ncabs_nfbnet.org/attachments/20130805/18be8b91/attachment.docx>