Words from Washington
April 5, 2001
Vol. 107 No. 4


In this issue. . . .

* Court Challenges Filed on FCC Video Description Rule
* Congressional District Work Period Ideal Time to Contact Legislators
* Update on Efforts to Secure Medicare Coverage of Vision Rehabilitation
   Services
* President's Budget Expected Next Week
* Subscribe to AFB's Current Projects & Activities (CP&A)

=====
Court Challenges Filed on Video Description Rule

Three industry associations have filed a petition challenging the rule
requiring Video Description that was recently adopted by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC). A separate petition was also filed by the
National Federation of the Blind. Both petitions were filed in the United
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The Motion Picture Association of America, the National Association of
Broadcasters, and the National Cable Television Association state that the
FCC does not have the authority to adopt a video description requirement and
that the requirement violates the Constitution by imposing a form of speech.
The NFB says that the new rules are arbitrary and capricious, and otherwise
not in accordance with the law.

The Court must set a schedule for the filing of briefs. It is likely to
take several months before this matter will be resolved The rule does not
take effect until April-June 2002. It would require that:

  * affiliates of the top four commercial broadcasting networks
    in the top 25 TV markets must provide 50 hours per calendar quarter of
    prime time and /or children's programming with video description.

  * multi-channel video providers, such as cable networks, with 50,000 or
    more subscribers must provide 50 hours per calendar quarter of
    prime time and/or children's programming with video description on each
    of the top five national nonbroadcast networks they carry.

  * any broadcast station regardless of its size must pass through any
    video description it receives from a programming provider, if the
    broadcast station has the technical capability necessary to do so, and
    the multi channel video providers, regardless of the numbers of
    subscribers must do the same on the channel on which it distributes
    the programming of the video provider.

In addition the rule sets certain requirements regarding emergency broadcast
information.

=====
Congressional District Work Period Ideal Time to Contact Legislators

Contact your Representative and your Senators while they are back home
during the weeks of April 9 and April 16. Talk to them about two important
issues affecting individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

  * Appropriations for the Chapter 2, Independent Living Services for
    Older Individuals Who Are Blind: Ask your Representative to send a
    "member request" for $26 million for this program to Ralph Regula,
    (R-OH-16), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
    Services, and Education Subcommittee of the House Appropriations
    Committee. AFB testified before the Subcommittee regarding the need
    for a $26 million appropriation for FY 2002. See WFW 3/23 at
    http://www.afb.org/info_document_view.asp?documentid=1495. Read AFB's
    testimony before the Subcommittee at
    http://www.afb.org/info_document_view.asp?documentid=1485. It includes a
    table of estimates of each state's FY 2002 allocation with a $26 million
    appropriation.

  * Access to Voting Equipment: Several bills have been introduced to
    provide federal funding to improve voting equipment. Ask your legislators
    to ensure that any legislation finally adopted will contain language which
    guarantees that no federal dollar spent to assist states in the
acquisition
    of new voting technology will be spent on inaccessible equipment. Bills
    being proposed by Senators Schumer (D-NY) and Dodd (D-CT) contain strong
    language in this regard. A variety of other proposals to a lesser degree
    also make provision for disability access. In general, all of the election
    reform proposals call for the promulgation of technical standards
regarding
    voting equipment and offer varying amounts of federal financial assistance
    to help states modernize their overall voting systems.

In addition to contacting your representative and Senators, advocates should
work aggressively with their state and local lawmakers to educate them on
the need for equal access to the electoral process. The "Technology-Related
Assistance for Individuals With Disabilities Act of 1988" ("Tech Act")
provides funding for statewide projects to promote comprehensive,
consumer-responsive, statewide programs of technology-related assistance; a
list of projects can be found at
http://www.resna.org/tap/person/p_direct.htm. Your state's "Tech Act"
project may be a useful resource in helping state and local officials
understand the value of accessible voting technologies. In addition, your
state's Protection and Advocacy agency may also prove helpful in persuading
officials to adopt accessible voting systems. More information on these
agencies can be obtained at http://icdri.org/natpai.htm.

Check the government listings in your local telephone directory or contact
your local public library or registrar of voters.

Want to brush up on your meeting-with public-officials skills? Check out "A
Capital Idea! Successful Strategies for Getting What You Want from
Government," AFB's advocacy how-to manual. You'll find it online at
http://www.afb.org/info_document_view.asp?documentid=1065.

=====
Update on Efforts to Secure Medicare Coverage of Vision Rehabilitation
Services

Representative Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) is again planning to introduce
legislation to provide coverage under Medicare for vision rehabilitation
services. The new legislation would build on H.R. 2870 (the bill he
introduced in the last Congress). Efforts are now underway to include
language that would address concerns raised about HR 2870 by organizations
representing ophthalmologists, optometrists, and occupational therapists.

The legislation would expand Medicare coverage by establishing a national
policy that recognizes vision rehabilitation services as "medically
necessary" and, it would add qualified vision rehabilitation professionals
"orientation and mobility specialists, rehabilitation teachers, and low
vision therapists" to the Medicare program as providers of such services
eligible for reimbursement.

This effort to change Medicare is supported by the National Vision
Rehabilitation Cooperative and nearly 60 other national, state, and local
organizations, including AFB. It represents a significant change in
national policy to increase access to specialized services for older adults
and other Medicare beneficiaries. The implications extend beyond Medicare
since changes in that program often lead the way for expansion in coverage
by Medicaid and by private insurance.

For more information or to get involved as a grassroots supporter of the new
legislation, please visit www.medicarenow.org or contact Lorraine Lidoff,
Director of the National Vision Rehabilitation Cooperative, at
[log in to unmask] .

=====
President's Budget Expected Next Week

We expect the President to unveil his budget during the week of April 9. We
will report on his proposals in an upcoming issue of WFW. In the meantime,
check the following web sites. They often publish budget request documents:
the White House at www.whitehouse.gov, the Department of Education at
www.ed.gov, and the Department of Labor at www.dol.gov.

=====
Subscribe to AFB's Current Projects & Activities (CP&A)

CP&A informs those in the blindness field about opportunities to get
involved in projects, surveys, studies, information gathering, and similar
efforts undertaken by AFB, as well as to inform readers about publications
and other materials they can acquire by contacting AFB. CP&A is published in
the spring and fall, and can be viewed online at
www.afb.org/currentprojects.asp. Subscribe to the e-mail edition (available
fall 2001) or print edition by contacting AFB via e-mail at
[log in to unmask]

=====
Paul Schroeder, Alan Dinsmore, Mark Richert and Barbara LeMoine are
contributors to WFW.

WFW is published by the American Foundation for the Blind, Governmental
Relations Group, 820 First Street, N.E., Suite 400 Washington, DC 20002,
202-408-0200, Fax: 202-289-7880, E-mail: [log in to unmask] Address questions
regarding subscriptions or content to Barbara Jackson LeMoine.

This report focuses on the most significant issues currently being addressed
by AFB's Governmental Relations Group, and is delivered to you approximately
biweekly via the Topica "Words from Washington" list. WFW (with live links)
is available, shortly after publication, on our web site www.afb.org/gov.asp.



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