Forwarded message 1
Justice For All
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Victories: Rehab Act, Campaign Reform
HR 1385, the Workforce Investment Partnership Act,
which includes the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, passed out
of committee last week and is on its way to the President for
signature!
The revised Section 508 of the Rehab Act will require Federal
agencies to procure and use accessible electronic and information
technology, unless it poses an undue burden to do so. It directs the
Access Board to develop and publish electronic and information
technology standards in 18 months.
It also requires agencies to evaluate their technology access in 6
months (meaning by 12-31-98), and the Attorney General must submit a
report to the President in 18 months on Federal info tech access, and
biennially thereafter. There is also an individual right of action in
filing complaints, using the same procedure as to file 504
complaints.
This is a big victory for people with disabilities in the area of
technology access! Now that standards are imminent with a known date,
people inside and outside the Federal government can work to make
agencies comply, and you outside agitators --I mean advocates!-- can
hold our feet to the fire. This also gives all the industry folks a
target date for that "someday soon" that they're going to make their
next release accessible.
You can get the text of the bill at the Thomas Congressional Record
web site at:
http://rs9.loc.gov/home/thomas.html
The conference was held on July 16, the conference report was
released on July 29, the Senate agreed on July 30, and the House
agreed on July 31. Agencies are now working on the signing statement,
and we expect the President to sign the bill this Thursday or Friday.
Lastly, a big thank you to those who gave input, prodded us,
beseeched us or other entities to get standards in place or move the
legislation, or just took an active interest in relaying this info to
your communities. Now the real work begins!
For more info:
Jennifer C. Mechem
Disability Policy/Section 504 Coordinator
U.S. Department of Education
600 Independence Avenue S.W., Room 2468
Washington, DC 20202
(202) 401-3586 phone
(202) 401-3582 TTY
(202) 205-5760 fax
Jennifer_Mechem@ed.gov
--
Republicans joined Democrats on Monday in endorsing the
bill, which could deprive both political parties of
millions of dollars in contributions by banning
unregulated gifts.
The House voted 237-186 for legislation sponsored by
Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Martin Meehan, D-Mass.
That relatively strong vote made the bill the favorite to
come out on top in an unusual procedure in which the House
is considering several proposals, with the one getting the
most votes winning.
The GOP leadership has promised to finish work on the
issue by the end of the week, when the House leaves for its
August recess.
"This is truly a historic opportunity to restore
integrity to the political process," Shays said in urging
support for the legislation. Fifty-one Republicans joined
185 Democrats and one independent in backing it. Voting in
opposition were 175 Republicans and 11 Democrats.
The Shays-Meehan bill has survived months of
challenges as opponents put forth amendments designed to
crack the unity of the bipartisan coalition supporting it.
But the biggest challenge of all, Senate unwillingness to
take up the issue, lies ahead.
Shays-Meehan would ban unregulated contributions to
political parties, known as "soft money," at both national
and state levels and would expand disclosure requirements.
It also regulates so-called issue ads, which purport to
educate voters but are clearly meant to get voters to vote
for or against a candidate.
To survive to this point, Shays-Meehan had to survive
"killer" or "poison pill" amendments to limit union
political activities, weaken the "motor voter" law that
encourages voter registration and water down language
regulating issue ads.
But even if Shays-Meehan comes out on top in the
House, its prospects in the Senate are not good. A similar
Senate bill, sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and
Russell Feingold, D-Wis., was pulled earlier this year after
supporters failed to get the 60 votes needed to end debate.
`No side can get 60 votes.'
McCain, in a statement, said he was still well short of
getting that 60 votes and that reviving debate in the Senate
would be "an exceedingly difficult task at best." But he
said passage of Shays-Meehan might convince a supermajority
of senators that the time has come "to reform a campaign
finance system that a clear majority of Americans believe
is corrupt."
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., has said
he has no intention of returning to the issue this year.
But Shays said he won't give up. "It's been
resurrected from the grave. This bill won't die," he said.
"I intend to speak to every senator who will speak with me.
The Senate has the opportunity of a lifetime."
(AP)
Thanks to all who called, wrote, faxed and emailed:
We won in the House. On to the Senate! Please call your
Senators to urge their support for campaign reform.
Ask them to ask Senator Lott to bring it up for a vote!
The final vote for the Shays-Meehan's campaign
finance reform esterday was 237 for (185 Dem., 51 Rep.)
and 186 against (11 Dem., 175 Rep.)! For all who
have asked how their Rep voted go here:
http://clerkweb.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=1998&rollnumber=379
While we're at it, please save the following for educating Congress:
To email your Representative to either commend or reprimand him/her, look
them up here:
http://www.house.gov/MemberWWW.html
To find out who your Representative is, go here:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
To write your Senators and urge them to take up this legislation and
support it ASAP, go here:
http://www.senate.gov/senator/membmail.html
For more information on campaign finance reform, see these sites:
other resources:
The Center for Responsive Politics:
http://www.crp.org
Common Cause homepage:
http://www.commoncause.org/
Public Campaign homepage:
http://www.publicampaign.org/
--
Fred Fay
Chair, Justice For All
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