[NFBNJ] Legislative alert from John Pare

[joe ruffalo]

Greetings to all!
Ryan has provided valuable information for all of us to act.
This is an opportunity for the voices of the blind to be heard.
Please share with others.
Chapter/Division presidents, please discuss during upcoming meetings.
One voice is heard, many voices sound like thunder!

Joe


We care. We share. We grow. We make a difference
Joe Ruffalo, President
National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey
973 743 0075
nfbnj1 at verizon.net
www.nfbnj.org
RaisingExpectations To Live The Life You Want!

Your old car keys can be keys to literacy for the blind.
Donate your unwanted vehicle to us by clicking
www.carshelpingtheblind.org
or call 855 659 9314


From: Ryan Stevens
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2020 7:38 PM
To: joe ruffalo
Subject: Legislative alert from John Pare

Greetings, Joe,



Can you please forward the below message to the NFBNJ listserv? This will 
hopefully push more action from our members.



Thanks and take care,

   Ryan





Greetings, NFBNJ members,



John Pare, NFB’s Executive Director of Advocacy and Policy is asking all 
Federationists to contact their Congressperson and two US Senators to help 
increase the number of cosponsors for each of the three issues we went to DC 
to discuss. We will be doing one issue per week.



The first is the Access Technology Affordability Act (ATAA). This bill would 
give blind persons the ability to purchase their own access technology, such 
as a screen reader or refreshable Braille display, and receive a refundable 
tax credit of up to $2,000 over a three-year period. This would mean not 
needing to wait for the state agency to buy the equipment, allowing the 
person to potentially take a job when it becomes available. The ultimate 
goal of this legislation is to reduce the unemployment/underemployment rate 
for blind people, which stands just under 70%.



The bill in the House of Representatives is HR2086. It currently has 63 
cosponsors, including New Jersey Reps Bill Pascrell (District 9), Albio 
Sires (District 8) and Chris Smith (District 4). If you live in any of these 
districts, thank your member when you call. Otherwise, please ask your 
Congressperson to sponsor the bill.



Neither of our Senators, Corey Booker nor Robert Menendez, has sponsored the 
Senate version of ATAA, S815. Please call both of them and ask them to sign 
onto this legislation.



To reach each of the people you need to, call the Capitol Switchboard at 
(202) 224-3121. To find out who your member of Congress is, either go to 
www.house.gov and enter your zip code, or contact your local library. Once 
you have made your call, please email me at rysteve at comcast.net and Joe 
Ruffalo at nfbnj1 at verizon.net so that we can keep track of the numbers.



The more of us who reach out, the better the chance the legislation we are 
pursuing will become law. Thank you for your attention to this.



Take care,

   Ryan



Ryan Stevens, Legislative Director

National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnj_nfbnet.org/attachments/20200224/6f2498fc/attachment.html>