Commissioner Ruttledge Testifies Before Senate HELP Committee

On March 2, 2001, RSA Commissioner Lynnae Ruttledge, ADD Commissioner Sharon Lewis, and others testified before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on improving the employment outcomes for individuals with intellectual disabilities. In her remarks, Commissioner Ruttledge described VR program data on transition-age youths, state VR agency emerging practices and current research and demonstration activities. Taken together, you may extract sufficient data and documentation from these presentations to develop your own materials that could be used in your states to promote improving the achievement of employment outcomes for transition-age youths. You may either view the presentations or read the text at the link below.
http://help.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=536891af-5056-9502-5d9c-9a3e588e3214

Legislative Update- HELP Committee

From Patricia Leahy-
Senator Kennedy's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee recently released a 615 page health care reform draft bill, entitled "Affordable Health Choices Act," which includes insurance market reforms, a prohibition on insurers from denying coverage to sick people, a mandate on individuals who want coverage and marketplaces where people can compare and buy coverage. Senator Chris Dodd (D.CONN.), the second Ranking Democrat on the Senate HELP Committee will lead this legislation through the Senate while the Chairman of the HELP Committee, Senator Edward Kennedy, continues to recuperate from brain cancer. The Committee will mark up this legislation beginning next week.

NRA TeleSeminar: Legislative Landscape Dr. Connie Garner

NRA-- Announcing a June 12, 2009, TeleSeminar with Dr. Connie Garner, Senior Disability Policy Advisor to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The TeleSeminar will begin promptly at 1:00pm EST.

Dr. Garner will Keynote a TeleSeminar on the Legislative Landscape for 2009 and beyond on Friday, June 12, 2009. She will discuss several important legislative issues including, but not limited to, a report on the ongoing Congressional discussions on universal health care, as well as the forthcoming reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), with an emphasis on the programs administered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

This TeleSeminar will be two hours in length, with a half an hour devoted to a Q&A session. Mark your calendars now for this important TeleSeminar with one of the most informed individuals on Capitol Hill, Dr. Connie Garner. Registration information will be coming soon and available on our website: http://www.nationalrehab.org/.