Dear Advocates:

SF 948 will be heard in the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. We need your support.

Please contact the legislators who haven't decided if they will support our bill and ask them to vote for it.

• Senator Eric Pratt

Two legislators do not have emails, but they have online contact forms you will need to fill out.

• Senator Goggin
• Senator Matthew

Suggested text

Subject line: Please support SF948

Dear Senator [name]:

Please support SF 948, a bill that will increase funding to the Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans who work with the 20% of Minnesotans who are deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing. The funds would come from a surcharge on phone lines that goes into the Telecommunication Access Fund.

The funds are needed to:

• Continue the work they do to engage people who are deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing in developing solutions for communication barriers they face,
• Continue their collaborative work on education, including the annual education conference for advocates, parents and professionals,
• Move forward with education and advocacy around age-related hearing loss to promote healthy aging,
• Ensure that Commission has the capacity to monitor the implementation of laws passed, including those related to employment and accessible technology.

Please vote for the bill. Thank you.

[Your name]