Policy Agenda and Legislative Priorities
RespectAbility policy staff have been working diligently throughout the past month to research the current concerns of people with disabilities. We have had many in-depth conversations with policymakers from federal and state agencies, other disability rights organizations, state agency advisory committees, grassroots activists, and people with disabilities and their families. We have been attending coalition meetings and state agency advisory committee meetings, and we solicited the opinions of our own Policy Advisory Committee. We have been noting the most pressing concerns to develop our new long-range policy agenda and our specific legislative objectives for 2024. We look forward to releasing them within the next few weeks!
Fighting Barriers to Voting
RespectAbility joined 58 other organizations as diverse as Earthjustice, Human Rights Campaign, Interfaith Power and Light, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, League of Women Voters, League of Conservation Voters, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, the National Federation of the Blind, Native American Rights Fund, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Voto Latino to send a letter to every member of the US Senate, recommending that Senators vote in opposition to Senate Amendment #1243 to Senate Amendment #1092. The amendment would prohibit using funds to increase voter registration on a nonpartisan basis and increase voter participation among eligible Americans.
A “yes” vote on this amendment would increase barriers to voter registration and participation for people with disabilities and other marginalized groups. The amendment would also undercut the bipartisan National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) passed three decades ago. We urge the U.S. Senate to reject Senate Amendment #1243!
