[Ohio-talk] Critical action needed H.B. 271 and H.B 309

Tue Dec 11 16:58:59 UTC 2018

You go Akron.

Richard Payne,  President
National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
937-396-5573or 937/829/3368
Rchpay7 at gmail.com
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back

-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Andra Stover via
Ohio-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2018 11:29 AM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Andra Stover <astover at kent.edu>
Subject: Re: [Ohio-talk] Critical action needed H.B. 271 and H.B 309

My senator has been contacted. I actually spoke with a live person this
time.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 11, 2018, at 2:34 AM, Mike Leiterman via Ohio-Talk
<ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Dear colleagues,
> The National Federation of the Blind of Ohio requires your immediate
action, and assistance regarding H.B. 271, and H.B 309. both of these pieces
of legislation have been passed by the house, and have  been referred by the
Senate Judiciary Committee for a vote from the full Senate.  The Senate will
next  be in session on December 12, with this in mind it is imperative that
we let the senate know what NFB's position is regarding each of these House
bills. In short we are vehemently opposed to H.B. 271, and  we are in full
support of H.B 309. I will be including a brief description of both H.B. 271
and H.B 309 later in this message. Please email and call your senator's
office today and Wednesday, and let them know how you feel on both  H.B. 271
and H.B 309. If you have the time to make a number of calls please consider
calling the other state Senators, and letting them know  that you are again
opposed to H.B. 271, and  that you are in full support of H.B 309. You can
find out who your senator is by going  to
www.ohiosenat.gov<http://www.ohiosenat.gov>, and  navigating to the "find
your Senator" link on the webpage there you will find a list of the 33
different Senators, along with another "find your Senator" link.  At the
second "find your Senator" link, you will find an edit field to enter your
mailing address. After you enter your mailing address, and hit enter the
name of your senator will be listed.  Please hit enter on their name and
their  Bio will appear, along with their contact information. Please note,
that there is a visual map  that provides the geographic location of where
the different Senators districts can be located throughout Ohio. Please feel
free to share this information with your friends and family, and ask them to
help ensure that the blind of Ohio be treated equally and fairly.
> 
>                In regards to H.B. 271 we are opposed to this bill being
passed. In short this bill if passed would make it more difficult to file
legal action against a party who may be in violation of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA), or in violation of  any other accessibility law. If
this bill is passed it would require a person who is being discriminated
against to send the alleged violator a letter asking them to correct the
unlawful behavior before you can pursue legal action with all available
remedies. Once you have sent them a letter asking them to stop
discriminating against you, and to stop violating the relevant law this bill
would give the alleged violator an extended period of time before they would
need to reply to your letter if at all. In addition to this drawn-out
process H.B. 271  would then allow the alleged violator an extended  period
of time to stop the discrimination or fix the problem. One would think this
would  be enough but there is more to H.B. 271.  under this bill the alleged
violator can make a request for an extension of time to further allow them
even more time to correct the problem, which may be ok if they would be
willing to fix the wrong doing slash violation. However if no action is
taken, even after  all the     delays have taken place you are simply left
with a problem that has not been fixe. Our position is simply that H.B. 271
is just another obstacle  for the  blind and disabled to receiving justice.
> 
>                In regards to H.B 309 we are in full support of  this
bill. This piece of legislation would prohibit   a person's blindness from
being used  to deny or limit custody, parenting time, visitation, adoption,
or service as a guardian, foster caregiver regarding a minor.  Again we are
in support of this legislation, it should be noted that H.B 309 has not
faced any opposition during the legislative process. Please ask your Senator
to support  the passage of H.B 309.
> 
> In closing I would like to Thank you in advance for all of your hard work
on these two issues. We have made  a great deal of progress regarding H.B.
309, and I look forward to H.B. 309 being passed by the full Senate, and
being sent to the governor's office  to be signed into law.
> 
> Respectfully yours,
> 
> Michael Leiterman ESQ.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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