[Nfbv-announce] Call Members of congress - legislative Day of Action on Tuesday, May 16

[Tracy Soforenko]

From: Deepa Goraya [mailto:deepa.goraya at gmail.com] 



Hello everyone,

 

On Tuesday, May 16, we'd like to have a Day of Action where we call our
specific members of Congress to cosponsor our two federal bills that we
pushed during Washington Seminar. The two bills are the  Accessible
Instructional Materials in Higher Education act and the Affordable Access
Technology Accessibility Act. Some brief talking points are below, and the
fact sheets for both bills are attached. Below the talking points, find info
on how to call your Senators and House members.

We are asking you to call your member of the House of Representatives
(details on finding the number are provided below) and ask them to support
these 2 bills.

We are asking you to also call our 2 Senators and tell them you support the
Access Technology Affordability act bill. At this time, there is no AIM HE
Senate bill so you do not need to mention this second bill with the Senate
staffers. 

Please feel free to share that as a blind Virginian, these bills are
important to you. Since you are reaching out to anyone who answers the phone
in the office, you do not need to provide too many details but we are
providing talking points if you are interested.

 

The Access Technology Affordability Act (ATAA): S. 732. And HR 1734

*	The ATAA would create a refundable tax credit for blind individuals
to use in order to offset the expense of purchasing assistive technology.
*	The refundable tax credit can be used over three years and has a
maximum value of $2500. This means that the credit can be spread out over
three years but it can also be used up entirely in the first year.
*	The tax credit is means tested. This means that up to a certain
level of income ($75,000) the entire $2500 is available for use. Any income
beyond $75,000 starts to reduce the amount of the tax credit that can be
used. Once an individual's income reaches $100,000 per year, the tax credit
becomes entirely unavailable.

 

Accessible Instructional Materials in Higher Education Act (AIM HE):
H.R.1772

*	Promotes accessible instructional technology and content in colleges
and universities.
*	There are currently six republicans and seven democrat House
cosponsors, but none are from Virginia.

 

We are asking for you to call your Virginia representatives in the House and
Senate to express support for these two bills and to encourage the Senator
or Congressman to support the bill. Remember that you should call both House
and Senate members to cosponsor the ATAA since there are companion bills in
both the House and Senate, and Virginia House members  to cosponsor the AIM
HE Act. There is no Senate bill yet for AIM HE. This will be on Tuesday, May
16 between 8 AM and 5 PM. Please encourage your chapter members, friends,
and even family to make calls.

 

To figure out who your US House of Representatives member is, go to
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find and type in your zipcode and they
should come up.

 

To contact Senator Tim Kaine, call (202) 224-4024. To contact Senator Mark
Warner, call (202) 224-2023.

 

 

Deepinder K. Goraya, ESQ.

 

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