[NJABS-Talk] Important Legislation, Please Read Entire Message Before Tonight's Call

Mon Sep 9 17:09:05 UTC 2019

Hi, NJABS!

As the secretary of the Legislative Advocacy Committee for NABS, this
message is crucial! Therefore, please read the entire message.

We have three bills that we really need to pass to help us achieve
greater equality, opportunity, and security for the blind. We need to
get every cosponsor we can get, starting with our individual
Congressman or Congresswoman, and both Senators from our state. We
need support from each of our Senators and each of our
Representatives. Neither of our Senators are cosponsoring any of our
bills, and many of our Reps are not cosponsoring our bills. We need
YOUR phone calls and e-mails!

Here, I am listing each bill, with a description, and a link to the
full list of cosponsors. If your Representatives are on the list of
cosponsors, please thank them. If they are not, please ask them to
cosponsor. The HR bill numbers apply to Members of the House of
Representatives, and the S bill numbers apply to Members of the
Senate. Also, you need to know which federal Congressional district
you belong to.

Transformation to Competitive Employment Act
House - H.R. 873 - Sponsored by Bobby Scott (D-VA-3) Senate - S. 260 -
Sponsored by Bob Casey (D-PA)
These bills would phase out Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards
Act over a six-year period, at which point the provision would
officially be sunset.
S. 260 Cosponsors:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/260/cosponsors?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22s260%22%5D%7D&s=3&r=1&overview=closed#tabs
H. R. 873 Cosponsors:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/873/cosponsors?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hr873%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=1&overview=closed#tabs

Note that NO ONE from NJ is cosponsoring this bill. If you’re reading
this e-mail, you can change that!

Access Technology Affordability Act
House - H.R. 2086 - Sponsored by Mike Thompson (D-CA-5) Senate - S.
815 - Sponsored by John Boozman (R-AR)
This legislation removes an employment barrier commonly experienced by
blind Americans who cannot afford the high cost of access technology
by creating a refundable tax credit in the amount of $2,000 to offset
the cost of these technologies.
S. 815 Cosponsors:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/815/cosponsors?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22s815%22%5D%7D&s=4&r=1&overview=closed#tabs
H. R. 2086 Cosponsors:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2086/cosponsors?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hr2086%22%5D%7D&s=6&r=1&overview=closed#tabs

Note that if you are in District 9, please thank Representative Bill
Pascrell. If you are not in District 9, your Representative is NOT
cosponsoring this bill, so please ask him/her to do that!

Gain Act

H.R. 3929 Cosponsors

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3929/cosponsors?q=%7B"search"%3A%5B"rules"%5D%7D&s=1&r=7&overview=closed

Note that this House bill does not have a Senate counterpart.

When you call or email, you might say something like the following:
"Hello, my name is [your name] and I am a constituent of [your
senator/representative]. I live in [city, state]. I am calling to urge
[your senator/representative] to cosponsor [S. 260 for Senate
calls/H.R. 873 for House calls], the Transformation to Competitive
Employment Act. This bill would phase out subminimum wages for people
with disabilities over a six-year period, at which point Section 14(c)
of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the provision that allows this
practice, would be sunset. I urge [your senator/representative] to
cosponsor the bill.

I am also calling to urge [your senator/representative] to cosponsor
[S. 815 for Senate calls/H.R. 2086 for House calls], the Access
Technology Affordability Act. This legislation removes an employment
barrier commonly experienced by blind Americans who cannot afford the
high cost of access technology by creating a refundable tax credit in
the amount of $2,000 to offset the cost of these technologies. I urge
[your senator/representative] to cosponsor the bill.

We also have the Gain Act, which is just in the House. So for House
calls and e-mails you can add:

Finally, I urge you to cosponsor H.R. 3929, the Greater Access and
Independence through Nonvisual Access Technology (GAIN) Act. This
legislation directs the Architectural and Transportation Barriers
Compliance Board (the “Access Board”) to develop a minimum nonvisual
access standard for home-use medical devices, exercise equipment, and
home appliances, and provide for the enforcement of the standard. This
will allow blind people to privately, safely, and independently use
necessary items such as stoves, exercise equipment, and medical
devices. I urge you to cosponsor the bill.

Thank you."

You can contact your member of Congress by calling the Capitol
Switchboard and asking for the office in question. The number is
202-224-3121. If you email your representative or senators, please
copy Gabe Cazares at gcazares at nfb.org<mailto:gcazares at nfb.org>.

If you have any questions about contacting these officials or about
the bills,  please feel free to call John Pare at 410-659-9314,
extension 2218 or email JPare at nfb.org.

Also, The NABS Legislative Advocacy Committee have a special
initiative to write articles for our school newspapers to raise
awareness of the subminimum wage issue. If your school newspaper won’t
publish an article like this, please consider contacting your local
paper. Here are links to articles that have already been published.
This is a great start, but we want to see articles across the country
and in New Jersey! Links to the articles are below.

https://www.stanforddaily.com/2019/05/01/people-with-disabilities-are-still-subjected-to-sub-minimum-wages/
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/stop-exploiting-people-with-disabilities-by-paying-them-subminimum-wages/
https://truthout.org/articles/workers-with-disabilities-are-making-cents-per-hour-and-its-legal/
http://www.theeastcarolinian.com/opinion/article_3bd4ad1e-2e60-11e9-ba0b-7b14afce5aed.html
http://gmufourthestate.com/2019/04/29/the-exploitation-of-workers-with-disabilities/
https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/05/the-injustice-of-disability-based-subminimum-wages/
https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/02/disabled-workers-often-paid-far-below-minimum-wage/
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/22865/Government-Funded-Sweatshops-No-Minimum-Wage-for-Hawaii-Disabled-Workers.aspx
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/22995/Naming-Names-Hawaii-Politicians-Profit-from-Sub-Minimum-Wage-Sweatshops-for-the-Disabled.aspx

Thanks so much for reading all of this. I know it’s a lot, but we need
to make big changes to help us gain our accessibility and
independence!

Also, you don’t have to be blind to participate in these efforts, so
please share this message far and wide! Even people outside of the
U.S. can share with others in the country. This is a national
initiative, but we should be working on it in our state!

Thanks so much everyone, and I will see you on tonight’s call at 8 P.M!

Best,

Amy Albin