Please contact legislators today!
5/1/2017 4:53:36 PM
UPDATE: The Conference Committee for the State Government Budget Bill has finished their negotiations between the House and the Senate. We have some good news and some bad news about the Accommodation Fund for state employees. Good news: they are not cutting the Accommodation Fund - they will still put $200,000 in it per year. Bad news: the bill would require state agencies to pay 50% of the cost of accommodations. We still encourage you to email legislators today and ask them not to require agencies to match the Accommodation Fund. The sample letter has been revised to reflect this.
Original information: We encourage you to please call or email legislators today! The Senate State Government bill cuts funding for the Accommodation Fund for state employees and requires state agencies to find half of the money to pay for accommodations in their own budgets. The House bill and the Governor’s bill do not. Please call or email the members of the State Government Conference Committee today. If you live in the legislator’s district, be sure to mention that.
Subject Line: Accommodation Fund
Hello. My name is _____. [If you live in the legislator’s district say that now.]
Thank you for agreeing to keep the funding for the State Agency Accommodation Reimbursement Fund at $200,000 in the State Government Finance Bill, SF 605. This is a very good step. However, I urge you to also change the policy in the bill so that agencies are not required to provide a 50% match for the cost of accommodations. Allowing agencies to be fully reimbursed means that hiring managers can hire people with disabilities without worrying about finding money for accommodations in their own budgets. Requiring a match makes it harder for people with disabilities to get hired. Please remove the language requiring a 50% match.
Thank you.
[Your name and address]
Here is the list of legislators with their phone numbers:
employment
legislation
