[NFBMO] FW: [NFB-Legislative-Directors] Legislative Alert from May 17, 2021

[Dennis Miller]

From: NFB-Legislative-Directors [mailto:nfb-legislative-directors-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Pare, John via NFB-Legislative-Directors
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2021 9:26 AM
To: NFB Legislative Directors List
Cc: Pare, John
Subject: [NFB-Legislative-Directors] Legislative Alert from May 17, 2021

 

Dear Legislative Directors:

 

Senators Schumer and Peters have not yet agreed to support the Thune amendment to the Endless Frontier Act. We must act quickly to convince them and others to include this important amendment for the blind in the bill. Pasted below is our Legislative Alert from last week. We must now contact Senators Schumer and Peters directly. 

 

The contact in Senator Schumer’s office is Meghan Taira, meghan_taira at schumer.senate.gov. 

 

The contact in Senator Peters’s office is Catherine Barrett, catherine_barrett at peters.senate.gov. 

 

Legislative Alert - May 17, 2021

Dear Federation Family:

The National Federation of the Blind has been working with Senator John Thune on an amendment to the Endless Frontier Act. This amendment relates to fully automated vehicles and contains two provisions that would benefit blind people.

The first provision would create an exemption classification for manufacturers who “provide transportation access for individuals with disabilities (as defined in section 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12102)), including non-visual access for individuals who are blind or visually impaired,” as long as the vehicle was equivalently safe to a non-exempt vehicle. The second would prohibit a state from issuing a “motor vehicle operator’s license for the operation or use of a highly automated vehicle in a manner that discriminates on the basis of disability.” 

 

Despite support from both automobile manufacturers and disability advocates, Senator Thune reluctantly withdrew his amendment on May 12 due to a lack of support from other senators on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee over safety and liability concerns. President Riccobono wrote a letter to Chair Cantwell and Ranking Member Wicker regarding this topic expressing our support and endorsement of the Thune amendment on May 11. 

 

The Endless Frontier Act has been moved to the Senate floor for debate this week and Senator Thune plans to bring his amendment forward for a full Senate vote.

Please contact your senators and ask them to support this important amendment. When you call or email your senators, you might say something like:

"Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME], and I am a constituent of [SENATOR NAME]. I live in [CITY, STATE]. I would like to urge [SENATOR NAME] to support Senator Thune’s automated vehicles amendment to the Endless Frontier Act.  The amendment contains two provisions that would benefit blind people. The first would create an exemption classification for manufacturers who provide transportation access for individuals with disabilities as long as the vehicle was equivalently safe to a non-exempt vehicle. The second would prohibit a state from issuing an operator’s license for the use of a highly automated vehicle in a manner that discriminates on the basis of disability. Together, these two amendments will ensure that blind Americans are able to reap the rewards of highly automated vehicles.

Thanks."

 

 

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