Policy Corner: March 8, 2019

ACL Confirms Location for March 12 TBI Stakeholder Meeting

The Administration for Community Living’s Traumatic Brain Injury Third Annual Stakeholder Day, Collaboration to Community Living!, scheduled for March 12, will be held in the Hubert H. Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C. If you’d like to attend, please RSVP by March 8 at TBI@acl.gov or 202-795-7604. If you have any questions about this event, please do not hesitate to contact ACL.

House Passes Voting Bill Priority

This week, the House of Representatives passed one of its main priorities, H.R. 1, “For the People Act of 2019,” addressing voting rights, campaign finance, and ethics. The bill creates automatic voter registration, expands early voting and targets policies that limit voting hours, restores voting rights to citizens who are felons, and prohibits voter rolls purges. It also address redistricting and ethics among Members of Congress.

Senator Introduces Legislation to Protect the Rights of Passengers with Disabilities in Air Travel

On March 6, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) introduced S.669 to protect the rights of passengers with disabilities in air transportation and for other purposes. The text is not yet available.

Chair Announces Hearing on President’s FY 2020 Budget Proposal

House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) has announced that the Committee will hold a hearing, “The President’s Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Proposal with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin,” March 14 at 9 a.m. in 1100 Longworth House Office Building.

BIAA will attend Hill Day March 29 to Advocate for Injury and Violence Prevention

Amy Colberg, Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) director of government affairs, will attend the Injury and Violence Prevention Hill Day scheduled for March 29. The Injury and Violence Prevention Network (IVPN), American College of Preventive Medicine, National Violence Prevention Network, and members of Safe States will work to strengthen the support of injury and violence prevention policies. BIAA is a member of the IVPN, which supports funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Injury Center.

BIAA Signs Letter Supporting Funding Allocation for Departments of Labor, HHS and Education

The BIAA signed the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities’ (CCD) organization sign-on letter to Senate and House Appropriations Committee Chairs and Ranking Members urging them to significantly boost the fiscal year (FY) 2020 allocation for subcommittees that appropriate money to the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education. The programs and services funded by the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee have a profound impact on health and well-being, child development, educational and skills attainment, and productivity, yet they have been overlooked in the appropriations process over the last decade. Most recently, for FY 2019, the bill received just a 0.6 percent increase in funding even though overall non-defense discretionary funding increased by 3 percent, shortchanging important services and activities by billions of dollar.

Court Reinstates Protections Against Racial Discrimination in Special Education

Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled the U.S. Department of Education had engaged in an “illegal delay” of the 2016 Equity in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) regulations, which were to go into effect July 1, 2018. The department was to implement requirements relating to significant racial disproportionality. The federal court’s ruling requires those 2016 final regulations to immediately go into effect.

The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, who were represented by the National Center for Youth Law lawsuit, filed the lawsuit July 12, 2018, alleging that the Department’s delay violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Specifically, the suit alleged that the Department had taken actions that interfere with their obligation under IDEA to ensure children with disabilities get the education services they need in the most appropriate setting without regard to their race.

Organizations Thank FDA for Proposed Rule Banning Electrical Stimulation Devices for Behavior Modification

BIAA and other national organization sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expressing appreciation because the final rule for the proposed ban of electrical stimulation devices (ESDs) used to treat self-injurious or aggressive behavior had been placed on the FDA’s Fall regulatory agenda. For nearly three years since the FDA initially released its Proposed Rule to ban these devices, and for almost five years since a panel of experts recommended that they be banned, children and adults with disabilities have continued to suffer from painful and dangerous electric shocks. FDA finally plans to formally recognize that these are devices of torture and abuse and that their use must end.

BIAA gratefully acknowledges the Centre for Neuro Skills and Avanir Pharmaceuticals for their support for legislative action.