[NFBV-Winchester] Fwd: [NFBV-Announce] Final Draft 2022 Legislative Priorities from the Blind of Virginia

Sun Jan 16 11:33:06 UTC 2022

Chapter members and friends,
Please see below for the priorities for the Richmond seminar. Also, don't forget the board meeting starting at 1 PM tomorrow Monday, January 17.

Chris Vinson Walker
President, Winchester Chapter
National Federation of the Blind of Virginia
540.303.0080
chrisvinson1 at gmail.com
www.nfb.org
www.nFBV.org
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Begin forwarded message:

> From: "tracy.soforenko--- via NFBV-Announce" <nfbv-announce at nfbnet.org>
> Date: January 15, 2022 at 3:58:50 PM EST
> To: Sarah Patnaude via NFBV-Announce <nfbv-announce at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [NFBV-Announce] Final Draft 2022 Legislative Priorities from the Blind of Virginia
> Reply-To: tracy.soforenko at gmail.com
> 
> Please find below and attached the near final draft of our 2022 Legislative
> Priorities. On Monday, we will receive the bill number for our Priority 1
> item. At that time, I will provide an updated version but we recognize
> everyone wants to read about our exciting legislation.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2022 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES FROM THE BLIND OF VIRGINIA
> 
> Priority 1: Enable equal access to learning tools by students with
> disabilities
> 
> Action: Co-Sponsor HB ___ (Patron Delegate Kathy Tran)
> 
> Issue: Students with disabilities use the same education technology as their
> peers. While there is a robust market for education technology,
> accessibility for students with disabilities is not a factor in the product
> selection process by Virginia school boards, despite the existence of
> widespread accessibility standards for over twenty years. As a result,
> school boards are purchasing technology that cannot be used by students with
> disabilities. Since much of a student's academic experience is tied to
> technology deployed by schools (including classroom materials, testing,
> portals for grades, and homework), it is critical for these products to be
> accessible to students with disabilities. With the recent shift to virtual
> learning during the pandemic, this access challenge for students with
> disabilities has increased. Currently, teachers are forced to develop
> one-off solutions to address systemic challenges with technology
> acquisitions made at the district level. 
> 
> 
> 
> Solution: HB xx shifts accountability to education technology vendors.
> First, the bill will require local school boards to include accessibility
> requirements in the procurement process. Second, the bill will require that
> vendors indemnify the purchaser for costs arising from any lack of product
> accessibility. Third, the bill will require school boards to prioritize the
> purchase of education technology that best meets accessibility standards
> while taking into consideration costs and lack of alternatives. Fourth, the
> bill will require vendors to remediate inaccessibility issues within 180
> days' notice. Finally, the bill will require that school boards and the
> Department of Education track accessibility and remediation efforts and make
> such information publicly available to all school boards. 
> 
> Priority 2: Enable blind Virginians to become employed and live
> independently 
> 
> Action: Support the Governor's budget proposal for the Department for the
> Blind and Vision Impaired (DBVI). 
> 
> Issue: DBVI provides vocational rehabilitation (VR) training, leading to
> employment of Virginians who are blind, deaf/blind, and vision impaired.
> DBVI does not have dedicated funding for the state's share of
> Federal-matching VR services and state funding has not increased for 20
> years. In FY2023, DBVI anticipates a wait list of 12 months to provide VR
> services for approximately 200 adults and 400 potentially underserved
> students. 
> 
> Solution: In 2020, the General Assembly approved additional funds to support
> DBVI VR and employment services, but these funds were unallotted due to
> COVID-19. The Governor's budget request includes approximately $842,000 for
> such services. This funding will help ensure the availability of sufficient
> funds needed to serve blind Virginians who require VR services because it
> will reduce the waiting list and assure a source of matching funds for the
> federal VR grant.
> 
> Priority 3: Support disability employment by adding Virginians with
> disabilities to the existing local jurisdiction Veterans Preference 
> 
> 
> 
> Action: Co-Sponsor HB 710 (Patron Delegate Mark Keam) 
> 
> 
> 
> Issue: 10% of Virginians have a disability as defined by the Americans with
> Disabilities Act. Employment enables people with disabilities to use their
> talents and become taxpaying citizens; however, people with disabilities
> continue to be underrepresented in the workforce. According to the Bureau of
> Labor Statistics, 18% of people with a disability nationwide were employed
> in 2020 compared to 62% of people without a disability. In many cases,
> otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities are passed over for jobs
> due to a commonly held misconception that people with disabilities cannot
> perform a job as well as someone who does not have a disability. 
> 
> 
> 
> Solution: HB 710 will add hiring of people with disabilities who are
> otherwise qualified for the job as a priority for local governments to the
> existing program for prioritizing the hiring of Veterans and Veterans with
> disabilities. This bill will give people with disabilities who are otherwise
> qualified for a job an opportunity to overcome the misconception that they
> cannot perform jobs at a high level. 
> 
> 
> 
> Priority 4: Promote competitive, integrated employment for workers with
> disabilities
> 
> Action: Co-Sponsor HB 676 (Patron Delegate Patrick Hope) 
> 
> Issue: Section 14(c) of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act allows certain
> employers in the United States to pay workers with disabilities wages that
> are lower than the minimum wage (subminimum wages). These employers, which
> generally are non-profit organizations, often do not teach skills necessary
> for their employees with disabilities to transition to competitive,
> integrated employment, thus trapping otherwise capable people with
> disabilities in jobs paying as little as twenty-two cents an hour. A growing
> number of 14(c) employers have already stopped relying on Section 14(c) and
> have voluntarily withdrawn their certificates, resulting in their employees
> with disabilities receiving the minimum wage or higher. Ten states have also
> passed legislation limiting or barring the payment of subminimum wages for
> people with disabilities and both Republican and Democratic parties'
> national platforms have included elimination of the 14(c) subminimum wage
> exemption for people with disabilities. 
> 
> 
> 
> Solution: HB 676 will eliminate the reference to Section 14(c) in the
> Virginia minimum wage law, which will require Virginia employers with a
> federal 14(c) certificate to pay workers with a disability at least the
> Virginia minimum wage unless another exception under Virginia law applies
> such as the "tipped employee" exception.
> 
> ABOUT THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
> 
> The National Federation of the Blind is America's largest and most active
> organization of blind people. With tens of thousands of members nationwide,
> we are not an "agency" claiming to speak for the blind; we are blind people
> speaking for ourselves. In Virginia, we are organized into fourteen local
> chapters throughout the Commonwealth, and into various special interest
> divisions.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 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
> 
> National Federation of the Blind. Live the Life You Want
> 
> The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends
> who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation's blind. Every day we work
> together to help blind people live the lives they want.
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> NFBV-Announce mailing list
> NFBV-Announce at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbv-announce_nfbnet.org
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