WIA Watch

The House Committee on Education and Labor will essentially start from scratch on a new bill to reauthorize the programs under the Workforce Investment Act, which includes the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 (VR).

Like all other mandatory partners and stakeholders in WIA, the National Rehabilitation Association believes and has an Issue Statement addressing this issue which calls for separate, line-item funding authorized by the authorizing Committees of the Congress and appropriated by the Appropriations Committees in both the House and the Senate.

The National Rehabilitation Association will strongly oppose (together with many other stakeholders) any effort to have the mandatory partners in WIA (of which VR is one) assume the monetary responsibility for this purpose. NRA will work in collaboration with many other stakeholders to secure additional monies for infrastructure funding through the Appropriations' process.

To read NRA's 2010 Issues Statements, visit: www.nationalrehab.org; click on “Government Affairs” and then on “Issues Statements”.

Legislative Updates

The National Rehabilitation Association's priorities for reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act, shared with Members of Congress and their staff during NRA's Government Affairs Summit and, more recently, this week include:

• The Governors' Waiver Authority Issue Statement which states that the National Rehabilitation Association cannot and will not support any waiver of any provision of the Rehabilitation Act by Governors, the U.S. Department of Labor, or anyone else who seeks to waive the provisions of our carefully-crafted Act.
• The National Rehabilitation Association is not insensitive to the plight of Governors and the State of the States, but we believe the Community and Congressional architects' intent was that the Rehabilitation Act would always maintain a discrete funding stream for the sole use of eligible young adults and adults with disabilities and the integrity of the programs were to be honored.
• Maintaining Mandatory Funding for Title I of the Rehab Act. Pursuant to a recent Washington Wire, the President signed an Executive Order in February establishing a Commission to look at all entitlement (mandatory-funded) programs. Title I of the Rehab Act is mandatory funded, which means that Title I receives the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) every year unless inflation and the Consumer Price Index (Adjusted for Urban Areas) (CPIU) are in the negative. This year, that was the case. The rate of inflation was negative and, as a result, Title I did NOT receive the COLA.
• The National Rehabilitation Association believes that the Title III and Title VI programs, respectively, are complementary to the supports and services that Title I provides to eligible individuals with disabilities.
• The National Rehabilitation Association supports continued, discrete funding for Supported Employment, Projects with Industry, In-Service Training, and Migrants and Seasonal Farm Workers, all of which are extraordinarily important to individuals with disabilities.
  

Find all NRA 2010 Issues Statements on NRA's website: www.nationalrehab.org

Washington Wire- Reauthorization of WIA

NRA WASHINGTON WIRE--

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (the HELP Committee) has been conducting on a bipartisan basis a series of "Listening Sessions" on WIA to which all stakeholders -- and principally the mandatory partners -- have been invited. The National Rehabilitation Association has participated in several of these "Listening Sessions," the first on November 17, 2008. The National Rehabilitation Association also participated in the April 7, 2009 "Listening Session" of the HELP Committee which focused on the adult population, which included individuals with disabilities.

During this Listening Session and in November, NRA stressed the importance of proper training of rehabilitation counselors and all personnel involved in the provision of quality services and supports to individuals with disabilities. During the April 7 presentation we shared hard copies of NRA's 2009 Issues Statements which can be found at http://www.nationalrehab.org. NRA called particular attention to The Qualified Rehabilitation Professional, With an Emphasis on Valuing the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, citing the significant and positive relationship between the level of education of the rehabilitation counselor and the quality of consumer outcomes which is well-documented in this Issues Statement. We also shared once again our Issue Statement (which is the first of NRA's 2009 Issues Statements) on The Governors' Waiver Authority with both the Congressional staff and other advocates. This was partially in response to NRA's concern with the presentation that the National Governors' Association had made on April 7, on the importance of the flexibility of Governors in using WIA funds. We will continue to monitor this issue very closely and will advise you of developments in this regard should they affect the integrity and funding of the programs administered under the Rehabilitation Act. Those of you who attended NRA's 2009 Government Affairs Summit and for those of you who have attended NRA's Summits in the past, appreciate the importance of the art of effective advocacy. This year's Summit focused on the Three "R"s of Legislative Advocacy: Relationships; Return-on-Investment and Results."

The Senate HELP Committee has tentatively set a hearing on the reauthorization of WIA to occur on May 19, 2009. We will keep you advised of additional information in this regard and ask you once again to provide us with your current contact information, including e-mail address.

Mark your calendars for next year's 2010 Government Affairs Summit, which will begin on Sunday, March 7, continues on Monday, March 8, and culminates on Tuesday, March 9, 2010, with NRA's Day on the Hill. And, do remember that understanding the ways of Washington includes a focus on the importance of TITLES, TURF AND TAKING CREDIT.