[NFBMT] Wahoo for Montana!

Thu Feb 3 18:00:41 UTC 2022

Hi All,

I am pleased to let everyone know that our very own Senator Steve Daines
will be a speaker at our Great Gathering In, the kickoff meeting for the
2022 NFB Washington Seminar, on Monday, February  7, 2022.  Please join us
via Zoom to support the Montana voice and our Federation.  Our legislative
advocacy makes good things happen, and this time, Montana's brand is all
over those improvements.  Please join the meeting and represent Big Sky
Country proudly!

The Monday February 7 meeting starts at 3:00 PM and ends at 5:00 PM Mountain
Time.  Here is the link:

Great Gathering-In Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/96245510444

Thanks to the powerful influence of Sheila and Harold Leigland and other
Montanans, Senator Daines sponsors The Transformation to Competitive
Integrated Employment Act (H.R. 2373/S. 3238).  This legislation would put
an end to the shameful practice of paying subminimum wages and segregating
employment of workers with disabilities.

Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act (H.R. 2373/S. 3238)
Promote competitive, integrated employment for people with disabilities.
Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to
discriminate against people with disabilities. Passed in 1938, Section
14(c)1 authorizes employers to pay workers with disabilities subminimum
wages while they perform mundane tasks that do not transfer into skills
necessary to transition to other employment options. This law only
reinforces stigmatic misconceptions of people with disabilities and creates
an artificial barrier to future employment opportunities.
The misconception that the elimination of 14(c) will displace workers with
disabilities is based on speculation and rhetoric. A growing number of
employers have already stopped relying on Section 14(c) and have voluntarily
withdrawn their certificates. In 2011 420,000 people with disabilities were
paid subminimum wages under the 14(c) program.2 Today, only 39,386 people
with disabilities continue to receive subminimum wages.3 During that same
time period (2011-2017), the employment rate for people with disabilities
has steadily increased every year from 33.4 percent to 37.3 percent.4
Additionally, ten states have passed legislation limiting or barring the
payment of subminimum wages for people with disabilities.
Bipartisan consensus supports the phase out of Section 14(c). The Republican
and Democratic parties’ 2016 platforms both called for an end to subminimum
wages for people with disabilities.5 In 2016 a committee tasked by Congress
to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities also
recommended the phase-out of Section 14(c).6 In addition, in an October 2018
report, the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency
charged with advising Congress, recommended “the phase out of Section
14(c).”7 Furthermore, in September 2020, the US Commission on Civil Rights
recommended that “Congress should repeal Section 14(c) with a planned
phase-out period to allow transition among service providers and people with
disabilities to alternative service models prioritizing competitive
integrated employment.”8
The Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act (H.R. 2373/S.
3238):
Discontinues the issuance of new Special Wage Certificates. The Secretary of
Labor will no longer issue Special Wage Certificates to new applicants.
Creates a grant program for states and individual 14(c) certificate holders
to assist with their transition to competitive, integrated employment. This
grant program will be available to all states and individual 14(c)
certificate holders who transition their business models to support
competitive, integrated employment for people with disabilities. States that
receive grants must establish an advisory committee that includes employers,
organizations specializing in employment for people with disabilities,
Medicaid agencies, AbilityOne contractors, people with disabilities, and
vocational rehabilitation agencies.
Creates a technical assistance center to support all 14(c) holders in their
transition to competitive integrated employment. Under the Department of
Labor, the technical assistance center will disseminate information about
best practices to facilitate transition of entities to competitive,
integrated employment.
Requires reporting and evaluation of the progress of creating and expanding
support for workers with disabilities. States and 14(c) certificate holders
will be required to report on their grant activities, evaluate changes in
employment for people with disabilities, report average wage information,
and evaluate employer actions taken to comply with the phase out of 14(c).
Sunsets Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Five years after
enactment of the TCIEA, employers will no longer be permitted to pay workers
with disabilities subminimum wages.
REMOVE ARTIFICIAL BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES.
Cosponsor the Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act
To cosponsor H.R. 2373 in the House of Representatives, contact:
Phoebe Ball, Disability Counsel, House Committee on Education and Labor
Phone: 202-225-3725, Email: phoebe.ball at mail.house.gov
or
Kristin Flukey, Senior Legislative Assistant for Representative Cathy
McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)    
Phone: 202-225-2006, Email: kristin.flukey at mail.house.gov
To cosponsor S. 3238 in the Senate, contact:
Michael Gamel-McCormick, Disability Policy Director, Senate Special
Committee on Aging
Phone: 202-224-4193, Email: Michael_Gamel-McCormick at aging.senate.gov
For more information on the Transformation to Competitive Integrated
Employment Act, contact:
Jeff Kaloc, Government Affairs Specialist, National Federation of the Blind
Phone: 410-659-9314, extension 2206, Email: jkaloc at nfb.org
1.	29 U.S.C. § 214(c)(1).
2.	National Council on Disability, “Report on Subminimum Wage and
Supported Employment,” (August 23, 2012),
http://www.ncd.gov/sites/default/files/NCD_Sub%20Wage.pdf
3.	U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Certificate
Holders, (October 1, 2021), https://www.dol.gov/whd/specialemployment/
4.	United States Census Bureau, “The percentage of
non-institutionalized, male or female, with a disability, ages 21-64, all
races, regardless of ethnicity, with all education levels in the United
States who were employed [2011-2017].”
http://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/acs.cfm?statistic=2
5.	The 2016 Republican Party platform stated, "Our TIME Act
(Transition[ing] to Integrated and Meaningful Employment) will modernize the
Fair Labor Standards Act." The 2016 Democratic Party platform stated, "We 

support 
 ending the sub-minimum wage for 
 people with disabilities."
6.	Advisory Committee on Increasing Competitive Integrated Employment
for Individuals with Disabilities. “Final Report,” (September 15, 2015),
http://www.dol.gov/odep/pdf/20150808.pdf
7.	National Council on Disability, “National Disability Employment
Policy – From the New Deal to the Raw Deal: Joining the Industries of the
Future,” (October 11, 2018),
https://ncd.gov/sites/default/files/Documents/NCD_Deal_Report_508.pdf
8.	U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Subminimum Wages: Impacts on the
Civil Rights of People with Disabilities, (Washington, DC: 2020), 223.
https://www.usccr.gov/files/2020-09-17-Subminimum-Wages-Report.pdf

Jim Marks
President
National Federation of the Blind of Montana
president at nfbofmt.org
(406) 438-1421
www.nfbofmt.org

You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.