[Nfbv-announce] Virginia HB2296 Bank Web Site Accessibility Notification Bill Vetoed!

[Tracy Soforenko]

Hi Virginia Federationists,

 

I am pleased to inform you that through our collective efforts, we were able to convince Governor Ralph Northam to veto HB 2296, the Virginians with Disabilities notification bill.  As you will recall, this bill would have required Virginians with disabilities to provide notification to financial entities prior to the commencement of a lawsuit regarding web accessibility and give them 120 days to cure such issues.  While we were unsuccessful in convincing the Legislature not to pass such a discriminatory bill, your calls to your members helped us to pass a very watered down version of the bill in the Senate that would have simply created a standard for website accessibility, something we would celebrate.  Unfortunately, the House of Delegates rejected this compromise and forced the discriminatory notification bill through the House and Senate on February 23, during the last hours of the 2019 General Assembly session. We convinced Governor Northam to propose an amendment in late March that returned to the compromise language of simply setting accessibility standards. In early April, the House of Delegates rejected the compromise. Because of your efforts, we were able to convince the Governor that there was a way forward that people with disabilities would support that would also provide guidance and clarity for Virginia’s businesses.  

 

On the basis of that argument and the other arguments we’ve been making against this bill, the Governor vetoed HB 2296 on May 3.   Our collective voice can be heard in his press release announcing the veto, which can be found by going to this link,

https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/all-releases/2019/may/headline-840397-en.html

The Governor repeated many of the arguments you all made in your emails, phone calls, and meetings with members at the Legislature in January.  We believe that the Governor’s statement also is a signal to anyone that wants to pass such bills in the future: “either get the support of the disability community in crafting legislation that makes changes to the Virginians with Disabilities Act, or don’t bother.”  We are very grateful for all your efforts and an outstanding partnership with the Virginia Disability Law Center, the Virginia Centers for Independent Living, and the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities. The persistent advocacy and unified support of the entire disability community effort enabled this result.

 

We want to send a special thank you to Mark Roane who attended a number of hearings on this bill for us in the General Assembly.  Additionally, we benefitted from a strong team including Derek Manners, John Halverson, Charlie Brown, Angie Matney, Fred Schroeder, John Pare, Gabe Cazares, and Deepa Goraya. This is a big win for us but our fight for equality will continue.  We will be in touch soon with additional actions you can take over the summer to help us build on this momentum.

 

Thank you for all your efforts over this General Assembly session. 

 

Tracy Soforenko

President, National Federation of the Blind of Virginia

202 285-4595

 <mailto:Tracy.soforenko at gmail.com> Tracy.soforenko at gmail.com

 <http://www.nfb.org> www.nfb.org

 <http://www.nfbv.org> www.nfbv.org

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