[Missouri-l] [leadership] Action Alert- Telecommunication access

Fri Aug 21 12:44:25 CDT 2009

---- Original Message ------
From: "Ardis Bazyn" <abazyn at bazyncommunications.com
Subject: [leadership] Action Alert- Telecommunication access
Date sent: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:02:54 -0700

This is the first of two messages I'm forwarding about H.R.  
3101, the 21st
Century Communications and Video Access Act of 2009.

Please read and consider taking the actions listed in this 
message.  The
committee list as well as the Dear Colleague letter will follow 
in two
separate E-mails.  They were originally sent as attachments but 
this is
being sent to several lists and many of these lists do not accept
attachments.
I hope that some of you can help out with this, especially if you 
are in the
districts of the Representatives on this subcommittee.  A 
subcommittee is a
smaller committee under the larger committee so that this one 
will be under
the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House.

The COAT steering committee is behind this alert and includes ACB 
and NAD
among others.  Results of your actions would be greatly 
appreciated.

Thank you.  The other two messages will follow right behind this 
one.

Karyn Campbell,
karyn1421 at wowway.com
Check out my blog at packerbackerkaryn.blogspot.com

----Start of forwarded material
        Urgent!  Time is running out!  Contact your 
Representative ASAP!
----- Original Message

SELECT ACTION ALERT!

Dear COAT Affiliate, we are writing to you because you are the 
advocate at a
COAT affiliate that is in a state with a Congressional Member who 
is on the
House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology & the Internet.  
As you may
recall, Rep.  Markey (MA) introduced H.R.  3101, the 21st Century
Communications & Video Accessibility Act of 2009, in June.  While 
he is on
this critical subcommittee, we need every Member on this 
Subcommittee to
know how much we all want HR 3101 to be passed!

A big push is needed with these Subcommittee members.  We write 
to ask you
to do some very specific advocacy activities to get this 
committee to move
on HR 3101:

During the month of August, members of Congress will be in their 
home
states.  Grab this opportunity to meet with the Congressional 
Representative
from your state who is on this critical subcommittee and advocate 
for
access.

1.  Find the subcommittee member (s) in your state from the list 
attached.
Telephone their local offices and/or meet with them, then fax and 
write
letters to their national offices, to let them know how much you 
want this
bill passed in this Congress, this year!  List includes Wash DC 
addresses,
fax #s, phone #s, and name of telecom staffer.  (You will have to 
research
their local phone #s or contact
info at coataccess.org)

2.  Use any of the following materials to help you:

a.  You can read, print, and provide them a one-page summary of 
H.R.  3101
(on the COAT website at
http://www.coataccess.org/node/4624

or print off PDF at
http://www.nad.org/sites/default/files/COAT%20One%20Pager%202009%
20%282%29.p
df)

b.  You can give them a section-by-section summary of H.R.  3101 
(on the COAT
website at
http://www.coataccess.org/node/4623
or print off PDF at
http://www.nad.org/sites/default/files/HR%203101%20Summary%20%282
%29.pdf)

c.  You can also read, print, and provide a copy of the "Dear 
Colleague"
letter that was recently sent to members of the U.S.  House of
Representatives by Representative Ed Markey.  In his letter, he 
asked his
colleagues for support of H.R.  3101! It is a powerful letter and 
you can
share it with staffers and Members! This is below and attached as 
a Word
document.

 You must take action!  Contact the U.S.  Representative in your 
state who is
on the Subcom today.  Telephone them, & make an appointment to 
see this
Representative in your home state, and/or write them at their 
national
office.

 Your message is simple:  Ask the Representative to "co-sponsor 
H.R.  3101"
to ensure access to phones and TV for people with disabilities in 
the 21st
Century.

3.  Circulate this request to your networks and ask them to take 
action!

If you need additional information, send email to
info at coataccess.org.

This Action Alert is in effect for one month.  Please report back 
to
info at coataccess.org
how your meetings went and how many letters and faxes
you have sent.  This bill will not pass without taking this type 
of select
action! If you have already taken these Action Steps, please find 
at least
one other person to execute this Action Alert!  THANKS!

Thank you for everything you do to make our world more 
accessible!

----------from the COAT Steering Committee (Jenifer Simpson at 
AAPD, Eric
Bridges at ACB, Mark Richert at AFB, Karen Peltz Strauss at CSD, 
& Rosaline
Crawford at NAD).

To stay on top of COAT activities, visit the website periodically 
at
http://www.coataccess.org
or follow coataccess on twitter.com

 (Mr.  Markey's wonderful  "Dear Colleague" letter is below.  You 
can write
and thank him for it too, if you have time!)

Ensure Equal Access to the New Technologies and Innovations of 
the 21st
Century

Co-Sponsor H.R.  3101, the Twenty-first Century Communications 
and Video
Accessibility Act

August 12, 2009

Dear Colleague:

Over the last decade, we have seen a revolution in the way 
Americans
interact, learn and conduct business.  However, the wizardry of 
the wires and
the sophistication of software programs do little for those who 
cannot
affordably access or effectively use them.  I recently introduced 
H.R.  3101,
the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility 
Act, to
ensure that all Americans are offered equal access to these 
exciting and
innovative new technologies.

H.R.  3101 would amend the Communications Act to ensure that new
Internet-enabled telephone and video services and equipment are 
accessible
to, and usable by, people with disabilities.  The bill also 
closes existing
gaps in telecommunications laws.  From extending hearing aid 
compatibility
and Internet closed captioning to real-time text support for 
emergency
services, H.R.  3101 seeks to provide a smooth migration to the
next-generation of Internet-based and digital communication 
technologies.

            The guiding principle of the Twenty-first Century 
Communications
and Video Accessibility Act is to bring existing federal laws 
requiring
communications and video programming accessibility up to date, to 
fill in
any accessibility gaps, and to ensure the full inclusion of 
people with
disabilities in all aspects of daily living through accessible, 
affordable
and usable communication and video programming technologies.  
H.R.  3101
would:

  a..  Extend federal law that currently requires hearing aid 
compatibility
(HAC) on newly manufactured and imported telephones to comparable
IP-compatible equipment (CPE) used to provide Internet-enabled 
voice
communication service.  The purpose of this provision is to 
ensure that
people with hearing loss have access to telephone devices with a 
built-in
speaker (typically held to the ear) used with advanced 
technologies.

  a..  Clarify that telecommunications relay services (TRS) are 
intended to
ensure that people who have hearing or speech disabilities can 
use relay
services to engage in functionally equivalent telephone 
communication with
all other people, not just people without a hearing or speech 
disability

  a..  Require advanced communications service providers and 
manufacturers to
make their services and equipment accessible to and usable by 
people with
disabilities unless doing so would result in an undue burden

  a..  Add new measures to improve the accountability and 
enforcement of
these new disability safeguards, including reporting obligations 
for
industry and the FCC, directives for new FCC complaint 
procedures, and
clarification of FCC penalties for non-compliance

  a..  Direct the FCC to conduct inquiries on a variety of 
topics, including
ways to transmit closed captioning and video description on video
programming exhibited on new technologies, including Internet 
protocol and
digital wireless services and equipment; ways to make televised 
emergency
information accessible to people who are blind or visually 
impaired; and
ways to make user interfaces and related on-screen menus or 
visual
indicators on video programming apparatus used for the navigation 
or
selection of video programming accessible.

  a..  Expand existing closed captioning requirements to video 
programming
apparatus of all sizes and require that such apparatus also 
deliver video
description.

  a..  Direct the FCC to establish a schedule of deadlines for 
video
described programs.  Those rules, originally promulgated in 2001, 
were
struck down by a U.S.  Court of Appeals for lack of FCC 
authority.

  a..  Require the FCC to issue regulations for video programming 
providers
and owners and multichannel video programming distributors to 
make their
video programming information and selection accessible to people 
who are
unable to read the visual display, so that these individuals can 
make
program selections in real-time.

This bill would not be an economic burden on the industry and 
consumers,
just as similar assertions raised against hearing aid 
compatibility or
against the closed captioning bill I sponsored and successfully 
battled to
make law in 1990 proved to be erroneous.  In that debate, we were 
told that
mandating closed captioning was overly burdensome and would cost 
a fortune.
Today, that law is indispensable, and the update this new bill 
would provide
will be equally indispensable.

Current co-sponsors of H.R.  3101 are:  Barbara Lee, Linda 
Sanchez, Stark,
Israel, Tim Ryan, Van Hollen

If you have questions or would like to co-sponsor, please have a 
member of
your staff contact Mark Bayer on my staff at 5-2836 or
mark.bayer at mail.house.gov.

Sincerely,

Edward Markey

Ardis Bazyn
For inspirational speaking, business coaching, or writing:
www.bazyncommunications.com
Check out my books and other products
To order Avon products: www.youravon.com/abazyn

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