[nfbwatlk] Testimony on SB-6491

[Mike Freeman]

Fellow listers:

Attached, you will find a fact sheet on the Washington State School for the Blind and the testimony I would have given at the hearing on SB-6491, the bill placing the Schools for the Blind and the Deaf under the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, held bythe Senate Committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education. I say "would have" because my amanuensis signed me up to testify for the wrong bill and by the time the mistake was noticed, the senators had run out of time. However, I did distribute the testimony in print to all the committee members and electronically the day before.

Denise and Berl Colley of the Washington Council of the Blind testified and gave excellent testimony largely based upon the attached fact sheet. I wish I could have physically testified because (as you will see) I pointed out what I believe to be fundamental flaws in the legislation. Oh well. Several members of the deaf community testified. The only person testifying in favor of SB-6491 was, of course, a member of Governor Gregoire's staf, kathleen Drew.

Frankly, I believe that the Governor's staff has gotten the idea that state agencies serving the blind should take care of them rather than empower them so agency structure doesn't matter.

WE will inform them of their error. please use my testimony to contact your senators and let them know that the NFB of Washington strongly opposes the bill. I am attaching a PDF copy of the bill and, rest assured, it is accessible.

Michael Freeman, President
NFB of Washington
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: wssb Revised talking points.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 29696 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20100120/1abf752d/attachment.doc>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 6491.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 142833 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20100120/1abf752d/attachment.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Testimony Opposing SB-6491 January 20, 2010.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 34816 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20100120/1abf752d/attachment-0001.doc>