The Capitol Insider Newsletter

Volume 15, Issue 29
July 26, 2010                                                                                                         

Action Alerts

What Will Happen to Medicaid? Urge your Senators to support the extension of the FMAP increase
Help Pass The ABLE Act in This Congress! Contact Your Representatives to Convene a Hearing and Vote on the ABLE Act

 Major Events Last Week

ADA

Last Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The first panel featured House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Representative James R. Langevin (D-RI).  The next three panels included distinguished witnesses such as Thomas Perez, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice and Richard Thornburgh, former Governor of Pennsylvania and former U.S. Attorney General.  Implementation and enforcement of the ADA were among the topics discussed.

Appropriations

Last Wednesday, the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee approved the FY 2011 Appropriations bill.  It included $200 million for Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities.  This is $100 million below the FY 2010 level. In addition, the budget includes $113 million mainstream vouchers that is shifted to the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance account, consistent with the Administration's request.  

Affordable Care Act Implementation

DPC staff joined other health care advocates in a meeting with Cindy Mann, Director of the Center for Medicaid, CHIP and Survey & Certification (CMCS) to discuss issues around implementation of the Affordable Care Act.  She provided an update on the agency's activities and an opportunity for advocates to raise issues around eligibility determination given the Medicaid expansion and the beginning of the health insurance exchanges in 2014. 

Transportation

Last week, William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), hosted a summit on the funding crisis affecting public transit programs.  It was attended by a small gathering of disability community leaders, including DPC staff. Those present explored ways that the public transit and the disability communities might work together to address the funding shortages that are causing reductions in paratransit and other service cuts in communities all across the nation. 

Department of Education Appointments

Last week, Dr. Alexa Posney, Assistant Secretary of the Offfice of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), announced that in mid-August Sue Swenson will become the Deputy Assistant Secretary of OSERS and Melody Musgrove will become the Director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). 

Sue Swenson currently runs a company specializing in management, payment technologies and social entrepreneurship to support people with disabilities and their families.  Previously Swenson was Executive Director of The Arc of the United States and the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation, as well as the Commissioner of the Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  

Melody Musgrove is currently the Director of Business Development with LRP Publications.  Formerly, she was the State Director of Special Education in Mississippi, a due process hearing officer, an Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Federal Programs, an Assistant Principal, and a special education teacher at the elementary, middle and high school levels. 

Autism

Last week, the House Energy and Commerce's  Subcommittee on Health approved legislation (H.R. 5756) that amends the Developmental Disabilities Act to create a national training initiative within the University Centers on Excellence focused on autism research and training. Additional grants are also authorized to conduct research and education focused on racial and ethnic minority populations.

Major Events Ahead

ADA Anniversary Events

Today, on the 20^th Anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, President Obama is hosting a commemoration on the White House South Lawn.  Invited guests include Cabinet Secretaries, Members of Congress, disability advocates including Paul Marchand and Marty Ford from the DPC staff, The Arc's Executive Director Peter Berns, and UCP's President and CEO Stephen Bennett.  In addition to the President's remarks there will be performances by Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Patti Labelle, and Marlee Matlin.  The celebration, which begins at 5:30 Eastern time, will be streamed live at www.whitehouse.gov/live.  Please log in and share in the celebration.

Today Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, is holding an ADA event featuring a panel of leaders who were responsible for the original passage of the ADA, and a panel looking ahead to highlight recent successes that fulfill the promise of the ADA (ADA Amendments Act, the Community First Choice Option and other community integration initiatives).  DPC staffer Marty Ford is participating in the second panel. 

On July 30^th, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis and Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy Kathleen Martinez will commemorate the anniversary in an event that will include the induction of Justin Dart, Jr. and Helen Keller into the Department's Labor Hall of Fame.  The Labor Hall of Fame honors, posthumously, those Americans whose distinctive contributions to the field of labor have enhanced the quality of life of America's workers.  Notable members of the Labor Hall of Fame include Cesar Chavez, Mother Jones, and Frances Perkins, among others.

Appropriations

The House plans to begin the August recess on Monday August 2.  Before adjourning, the House is expected to vote on the Department of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations bill and the Supplemental Appropriations bill.  The bill includes $300 million for the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities.  On the transportation side over $11.3 billion is provided for public transportation programs, an increase of $508 million above the President's request.

The House is also expected to consider the Supplemental Appropriations bill also known as the war supplemental,   The House had previously voted on this bill and had added $10 billion in aid to states intended to help prevent teacher layoffs and funding for other domestic priorities.  The Senate refused to include it and returned the war supplemental to the House with an understanding that Democratic leaders there will have to drop the $22.8 billion the House added to the Senate's $58.8 billion in funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, veterans' programs and natural disaster relief.

In the Senate, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee will mark up draft legislation that would make FY 2011 appropriations for programs under its jurisdiction.  The full Committee is expected to consider the bill on Thursday.  Funding levels in the bill are not yet publically available.

ADA and Congress

On Monday, July 26, 2010, the 20^th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Speaker's rostrum in the U.S. House of Representatives, which hosts the Speaker pro tempore and the House clerks, will finally be able to accommodate a person who uses a wheelchair.  Representative Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) will ascend the rostrum using a mechanical lift and will be the first person who uses a wheelchair to serve as Speaker pro tem.

Langevin said that the newly altered rostrum was important for the next generation of people with disabilities, including the military men and women returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan who can see it and know that their physical condition doesn't limit the scope of their accomplishments.  "I think it's an incredibly important moment for the country and the message that it sends to people with disabilities that nothing is impossible and that we should let no barriers stand in our way," said Rep. Langevin..

Announcements

ADA Title II

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached settlement agreements with several local governments under its Project Civic Access initiative which is designed to ensure that cities, towns, and counties comply with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Pearl River County in Mississippi, which is the seventh fastest growing county in the US; Pomfret, Connecticut, and Wilson County, North Carolina agreed to make services and facilities accessible to people with disabilities, train staff in the use of relay services and text telephones (TTY), amend employment policies, and ensure equal, integrated access to emergency management.  To see press releases about these agreements, see http://www.justice.gov/.    

DOJ has filed a statement of interest in US District Court in a case against the State of Illinois concerning its alleged failure to provide community based services and supports to individuals with exceptional medical needs once they turn 21 and age out of services for children.  The suit claims that there is a class of individuals that is at risk of institutionalization due to the state's failure to provide community services.  A copy of the legal brief is available at http://www.ada.gov/briefs/interest_Hampe_br.pdf

ADA  Title III

DOJ entered into an agreement with Blockbuster, Inc. to ensure equal access to individuals who use service animals at its more than 3,000 retail stores throughout the country under Title III of the ADA.  Blockbuster agreed to train all of its employees on the rights of service animal users, pay $12,000 in damages to the individual who filed the original complaint, and pay a $10,000 civil penalty.  See the DOJ press release at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/July/10-ag-831.html. 

DOJ and the Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union which owns and maintains Mount Vernon, home of George Washington, reached an agreement to settle a complaint concerning the accessibility of the National Historic Landmark.  The Association agreed to provide physical access to the facilities and grounds and programmatic access to the exhibits.  In order to provide access to areas that cannot be modified, the Association agreed to provide a photographic album with pictures of the mansion's rooms in the basement and on the second and third floors.  For more information, see http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/July/10-ag-841.html.

DOJ and the Department of Health and Human Services released a new technical assistance guide for medical providers that addresses their responsibility to make health care services accessible for people with mobility disabilities under Title III of the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.  Access to Medical Care for Persons with Mobility Disabilities will assist medical care providers in understanding how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 apply to them.  This 19-page document includes an overview of general ADA requirements, commonly asked questions, and illustrated examples of accessible facilities, examination rooms, and medical equipment.  For a copy of the guide, see  http://www.ada.gov/medcare_ta.htm

Emergency Management

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) to coordinate public engagement efforts on preparedness, response, and recovery.  The MOA concerns ways that FEMA, NCIL, and state, local and private sector partners can ensure that emergency management is inclusive of the community as a whole, including people with disabilities. (See agreement at :http://www.fema.gov/pdf/media/2010/agreement-060110-final.pdf text-only version -- http://www.fema.gov/txt/media/2010/agreement-060110-final.txt.

Section 508/Accessibility of Government Information

The Office of Management and Budget in the White House sent a memo to all information and acquisition officers in every agency of the Federal Government reminding them of their obligation to buy and use electronic and information technology that is accessible to people with disabilities.  This is a requirement of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  The memo listed existing resources to assist agencies to improve their acquisition and implementation of accessible technology.  OMB also informed agencies that for the first time since 2004, the Department of Justice will issue a report on Federal agency compliance with Section 508 in spring 2011.  Advocates have been urging DOJ to comply with the Section 508 requirement that it conduct compliance reviews every two years.  Implementation of Section 508 by Federal agencies has been sporadic.   

Transportation

The Easter Seals Project ACTION is sponsoring the Paratransit Dialogue.  It is an opportunity to discuss paratransit issues with public and private transportation providers, paratransit providers, federal, state, and local transportation professionals, disability services organizations, members of the disability community, human services agencies, aging services agencies, volunteer transportation program coordinators, planners, advocates, and policymakers.    Register for the dialogue now at www.easterseals.com/dialogue and join the conversation!

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has published Topic Guides on ADA Transportation. It is a series of guides that brings together the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the U.S. Department of Transportation's ADA regulations, FTA determinations, and operational practices that comply with the ADA.  View the Topic Guide Home Page, which offers each Topic Guide in HTML, a PDF download, and a plain text option, at http://dredf.org/ADAtg/index.shtml.  The FTA Office of Civil Rights has also linked to the Topic Guide series on its ADA website at www.fta.dot.gov/ada..

Voting 

DOJ reached an agreement with the state of New York and its public university systems concerning the responsibility under the National Voter Registration Act to provide voter registration services at disability services offices at each public university and college campus in the state.  Under the agreement, New York public university and college disability services offices will provide voter registration services by the start of the 2010-2011 school year.   For more information, see http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/July/10-crt-803.html.

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Please note that you can view previous issues of the Capitol Insider, at thearc.org anytime by choosing "Capitol Insider" under "Public Policy."
 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at:
mailto:acosta@thedpc.org

Sincerely,

Annie Acosta 
Director of Communications and Grassroots Advocacy 
Disability Policy Collaboration