On Thursday, September 7, 2017, the House Judiciary Committee held a markup of H.R. 620, the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017. The bill was voted out of committee along party lines and will now go to the full House for a vote. All of the amendments proposed by democrats were voted down, also along party lines.
H.R. 620 is a terrible bill that would be a major step backwards for people with disabilities. The bill would weaken the protections afforded us under the Americans with Disabilities Act and make it even harder to enforce our rights under the ADA. Twenty seven years after the passage of the ADA, the fact that Congress is working to make it easier to discriminate against people with disabilities is shameful.
We are continuing to work on this issue, and we will keep you updated. We cannot let this bill become law. Please take action and contact your Representatives today! Tell them that H.R. 620 is harmful to people with disabilities, so they must vote NO!
For more information H.R. 620, see our April alert, CCD’s “Save the ADA” website, and the Oppose ADA Notification Facebook page. And, if you haven’t signed the change.org petition yet, please do so today!
If 620 passes the House & the Senate version passes, please don’t be too surprised when #45, after NCIL kissed up to him, signs it into law anyway.
Ever since enacted the ADA and the ABA have been flawed. As a complaint driven product it has accomplished little. In 1990 Congress mandated USDOJ to enforce the law. USDOJ maintains an archive of settlements with all twelve industries listed in “Public Accommodations.” Instead of educating these industries (transportation, sports arenas, museums…) by publishing these settlements in trade magazines, these settlements are only available on USDOJ’s web site. “Museums, galleries, places of collection and display,” are not fully aware of the enforcement side of the law, such less their responsibilities. In 1990, USDOJ partnered up with the Smithsonian Institute and the American Affiliation of Museums producing two awesome publication to educate museums. But, as these are both membership organizations national dissemination never happen for the 35,000 museums, much less antique mall or retail outlets.
Google a Graduate thesis: “The Museum as an Inclusive Community, a Blueprint Forward,” 2014, Central Washington University. Read the abstract and the summation.