 April 5, 2006 The Honorable Jay Inslee Dear Representative Inslee: We understand that when the Telecommunications Subcommittee considers the video franchising reform legislation, you intend to offer amendments that will apply a number of the critical accessibility provisions of current law to VOIP offerings:
The undersigned groups and individuals, who advocate on behalf of the rights of millions of Americans with disabilities to have full access to our nation’s telecommunications infrastructure, strongly support your amendments. As you clearly recognize, people with disabilities can only gain equal access to the exciting and innovative Internet-enabled products and services that are entering the marketplace through affirmative Congressional action. Given the transformation that is underway in telecommunications technologies and services, and the potential for accessible broadband services to dramatically improve the lives of people with disabilities, we were excited by the prospect that Congress would enact reform legislation with comprehensive accessibility provisions, such as those contained in earlier drafts of this legislation. While we recognize that time constraints may oblige the Committee to narrow its goals, we believe that any telecommunications reform legislation the Committee approves must address critical accessibilities issues to the fullest extent of the bill’s reach. For example, if the Committee’s legislation clarifies the rights and obligations of VoIP providers on issues such as E911 and interconnection, it also must address access to VoIP offerings for people with disabilities. To fail to include such access provisions not only will deprive people with disabilities of a fundamental right, but it will perpetuate the very types of regulatory and competitive disparities between traditional telecommunications and video services and the emerging broadband services that policymakers have been struggling to solve. Regardless of the outcome of this particular bill, we also hope that you and your colleagues will quickly revisit any unfinished accessibility issues next year, and we pledge to work with you and the industry to ensure that all Americans have full access to the benefits of modern telecommunications technology. In short, we are very appreciative of your leadership on this critical issue, and we strongly support your amendments. Sincerely, Alliance for Public Technology |