[nfbwatlk] Testimony on SB-6491

[Albert Sanchez]

Mike
A masterful piece! Once more! Into the Breach!
A.S.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 7:42 PM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Testimony on SB-6491


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



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


> _______________________________________________
> nfbwatlk mailing list
> nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nfbwatlk:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/albertsanchez%40suddenlink.net
>