The advocacy team thanks our ACB members who participated on our Hill Day back on March 18. After reviewing your Hill surveys, we reached back out to several of the offices you reported to have had positive meetings with; we want to continue to foster those relationships. On Tuesday, May 20 and Wednesday, May 21, Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs Claire Stanley participated in six Hill meetings to talk more about the imperatives in hopes of gaining more support for the bills. As a reminder, our three imperatives this year are:
- The Websites and Software Applications Accessibility Act, H.R. 3417
- The Communications, Technology, and Video Accessibility Act
- The Medical Devices Nonvisual Act
The Website and Software Applications Accessibility Act, H.R. 3417, was introduced by Rep. Pete Sessions last week. As a result, it was an exciting opportunity to update the offices on the progress of the bill. Several of the offices Claire met with were Republican offices and seemed excited to learn about the Republican leadership of the bill. We hope to leverage this to procure additional cosponsors.
Claire would also like to specifically thank the Florida Council of the Blind (FCB). Because of your active day on the Hill, Claire met with more Florida offices than any others over the last two days. Many of the offices requested constituent stories on experiences surrounding issues covered by the three bills. So, regardless of if you made visits back in March or not, if you have any personal stories that would be impacted by the legislation above, please share those with me by emailing Advocacy@ACB.org. Summaries of the bills can be found on the ACB website if you would like a refresh of the bills.
Claire Stanley will continue to meet with more legislative offices to talk about the imperatives and other related bills before Congress.
Posted on May 22nd, 2025