[nFBMI-Talk] Senator Gary Peters

Fri Mar 23 02:22:09 UTC 2018

Hello to all list serve members and friends.

I have received word that Senator Peters still needs to sign on to the
letter of Senator Duckworth to prevent a senate version of the hr620 bill,
that puts limits on the ADA, from being introduced in the senate.  I called
his office a few days ago but we need more Michigan people to let him know
that we need his help.  Senator Stabenow has already signed on.

So review the information from my previous email on this which will appear
below my signature  and call his office.

Thank you for helping with this.  We only need a few more senators to get
this done so let's push while we have a chance of really making the
difference.

      Michael Powell

President NFBM

Disability Advocates - Call your Senators TODAY and Ask Them to Protect the
ADA!

from: AAPD <mailto:communications at aapd.com>  

Sent: Wednesday, March 7, 2018 12:56 PM

We must protect the ADA and prevent a bill like H.R.620 from being
introduced in the Senate. 

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is a convener,
connector, and catalyst for change, increasing the political and economic
power of people with disabilities. 

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ACTION ALERT!
Call Senators Stabenow and Peters TODAY and Ask them to Protect the ADA!

March 7, 2018

Michigan Disability Advocates:

As you know, last month the US House of Representatives passed
<https://aapd.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=08dab5cd58ad9250c3f56519f&i
d=2f0b3cfdac&e=0fcbcc25b7> H.R.620, the ADA Education and Reform Act. This
bill would make it harder for people with disabilities to report access
barriers in places of public accommodation and would allow business owners
to delay making their businesses accessible.

We cannot allow Congress to chip away at the Americans with Disability Act
and roll back our rights!

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) is preparing a letter (copied below) to
Senators McConnell (R-KY) and Schumer (D-NY) telling them they should not
bring forward H.R.620 or any similar bill to the Senate floor.

Please take a minute to call Senators Stabenow and Peters TODAY and ask them
to sign-on to the "Duckworth ADA letter protecting the rights of people with
disabilities."

You can reach Senator Stabenow's office at (202) 224-4822.

You can reach Senator Peters' office at (202) 224-6221.

Thank you!

Text of the "Duckworth ADA letter protecting the rights of people with
disabilities."

Dear Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Schumer:

We are writing to express our strong opposition to H.R. 620 the ADA
Education and Reform Act and any legislation that would repeal or weaken
rights under title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which
prohibits discrimination on the basis of a disability in certain places of
public accommodation.[1] As a civil rights law, title III of the ADA was
modeled after title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race, religion, and national origin in
certain places of public accommodation.

Title III of the ADA does not permit monetary relief in the form of damages
or settlements. Similar to title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the ADA
only permits non-monetary injunctive relief and recoupment of reasonable
attorney's fees for individuals who prevail in a suit to enforce their
rights under title III and secure removal of architectural barriers in
public accommodations where readily achievable.

Congress carefully crafted title III of the ADA to make sure private
enforcement actions prioritize achieving readily accessible barrier removal
and are an affordable avenue for Americans with disabilities to seek relief.
The expectation was that businesses would make themselves accessible before
people with disabilities showed up at their place of business, rather than
waiting until receiving a notice that people with disabilities have been
excluded before starting to think about complying with the law.

The ADA is a groundbreaking civil rights law that recognizes the reality
that removing an architectural barrier, when readily achievable, is a
proven, efficient solution to improving accessibility in public places and
providing equal treatment of people with disabilities across the United
States. In recognizing the importance of accessibility, Congress also
established tax incentives for businesses to lower the cost of making a
place of public accommodation more accessible pursuant to ADA guidelines and
requirements for architectural barrier removal.

Proponents of H.R. 620 assert that eliminating the right of Americans to
seek immediate injunctive relief under title III of the ADA is necessary to
address private lawsuits that threaten businesses with punitive damages and
demand monetary settlements. However, these private actions seeking damages
are filed pursuant to specific State laws that unlike Title III of the ADA,
authorize monetary damages. H.R. 620 would make no change to those state
laws and therefore fails to address lawsuits seeking damages.

However, it would destroy any incentive under the ADA for timely removal of
architectural barriers in public accommodations. Because Title III of the
ADA does not provide for damages, a business would have no reason to comply
with the law unless and until it received written notice from a person with
a disability who had been harmed, informing the business that it had
violated the law, and the business would then have four months to remove the
barrier or make "substantial progress" in doing so. There would be no
consequence for breaking the law until the notice was received and the
waiting period expired.

When supporters of the discriminatory H.R. 620 argue for its necessity by
citing examples of alleged minor accessibility infractions, they miss the
point that this bill undermines the rights of people with disabilities,
rather than protects them. They also reveal a callous lack of empathy and
understanding for the accessibility challenges Americans with disabilities
face every day. There is nothing minor about a combat Veteran with a
disability having to suffer the indignity of being unable to independently
access a restaurant in the country they were willing to defend abroad. There
is nothing minor about a child with cerebral palsy being forced to suffer
the humiliation of being unable to access a movie theater alongside her
friends.

Simply put, we reject in the strongest terms the offensive suggestion by
supporters of H.R. 620 that a civil rights violation denying access to a
public space could ever be "minor." A ramp a few degrees too steep or a
shower head a couple inches too high from the legally prescribed standards
are the difference between accessibility and discrimination. To efficiently
address the aforementioned examples, we would urge operators of public
facilities to simply fix the problem by lowering the ramp a few degrees or
lowering the shower head a couple inches. This will not only make sure
entities comply with the law, but more importantly, providing accessibility
will protect the health, safety and dignity of Americans with disabilities,
as promised under a civil rights law passed nearly 28 years ago.

We share many of the concerns on the potential impact of H.R. 620 expressed
by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division, which
administers and enforces the ADA. We believe DOJ is right to be troubled by
the premise that H.R. 620 would, "...[s]ubstantially change the balance
Congress struck for private enforcement actions pursuant to title III of the
ADA." We also share DOJ's concern that:

"The proposed notice and cure process would also unnecessarily limit
individuals' abilities to obtain much-needed barrier removal in a timely
manner by imposing additional requirements that may not result in the
collaborative process that the proposed bill intends, but may instead result
in additional areas of litigation."

Congress should promote ADA compliance nationwide by improving existing
tools and resources, rather than advancing a harmful and duplicative
proposal such as H.R. 620, which would upend a carefully crafted legal
framework that has boasted strong bipartisan support for nearly three
decades. It would be more productive to enhance funding for existing ADA
education and mediation programs rather than requiring lengthy notice
periods that remove any incentive to follow the law until violations are
detected and civil rights are denied.

We are ready to work with any Senator who is interested in developing
pragmatic and bipartisan solutions that improve business' compliance with
the ADA. For example, we support strengthening the capabilities of the DOJ
Civil Rights Division's ADA Technical Assistance Unit, which provides
education and technical assistance to help businesses comply with the law.
We should also expand the ADA National Network, which supports ten regional
ADA Centers and an ADA Knowledge Translation Center. These resources, funded
through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's National Institute
on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, provide free
assistance to entities seeking to comply with the ADA.

However, we will strongly object to any time agreement or unanimous consent
request with respect to consideration of H.R. 620, or any similar
legislation that seeks to weaken Federal protections for an entire protected
class of Americans. By preserving title III of the ADA, Congress will uphold
the intent and principle of the underlying statute that disability rights
are civil rights.

No American should be forced to endure discrimination for any length of time
so that places of public accommodation may learn how to follow a seminal,
bipartisan civil rights law that was enacted in 1990. Respectfully, we urge
you all to join us in supporting the rights of Americans with disabilities
by making clear that H.R. 620, or similar legislation, will never receive a
vote in the United States Senate during the 115th Congress. 

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