WHEREAS, Governor Larry Hogan has announced $135 million in targeted investments to transform and improve transit throughout the Baltimore metropolitan area; and

WHEREAS, the multi-phase plan will create an interconnected transit system, known as BaltimoreLink, and will include redesigning the entire local and express bus systems throughout Baltimore; and

WHEREAS, special wage certificates, as authorized under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, unjustly allow certain employers to pay workers with disabilities subminimum (less than the minimum wage) and sub prevailing (less than the prescribed rate for contract workers) wages; and

WHEREAS, Section 14(c) was written in an era in which expectations and opportunities for Americans with disabilities were vastly different than those in the year 2015; and

WHEREAS, Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) is founded on the erroneous belief that people with disabilities lack the capacity for competitive, integrated employment and currently permits approximately 40 Maryland employers to obtain Special Wage Certificates resulting in workers with disabilities being paid wages that are less than minimum wage; and

WHEREAS, with the proper training, support, and expectations, workers with disabilities can be productive employees worthy of at least the minimum wage; and

WHEREAS, Maryland Election Law Article §9-102(d)(1)(vii), Annotated Code of Maryland, requires a voting system that produces a voter verifiable paper record; and

WHEREAS, Maryland Election Law Article §9-102(f)(1), Annotated Code of Maryland, states that a voting system selected and certified by the Maryland State Board of Elections (SBE) shall "provide access to voters with disabilities that is equivalent to access afforded voters without disabilities without creating a segregated ballot for voters with disabilities;" and

WHEREAS, all mass transit systems are required to provide an auxiliary service to disabled people in order to fill gaps in the accessibility of their fixed-route services under the Americans with Disabilities Act; and

WHEREAS, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) provides MetroAccess as its paratransit service in the Washington, DC area; and

WHEREAS, in recent years the demand for these services has increased as more people are using MetroAccess; and

WHEREAS, the cost per trip for providing these services has also increased substantially; and

WHEREAS, 42 U.S.C. Section 12182(a) provides that “No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation”; and

Sponsored by Cheryl Fogle-Hatch, Secretary, Greater Baltimore Chapter, Nicole Fincham-Shehan, Vice-President, TLC Chapter, and Ellen Ringlein, President, Greater Baltimore Chapter

WHEREAS, the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is implementing the BaltimoreLink Network to improve service quality and reliability of MTA's bus routes; and

WHEREAS, the proposed BaltimoreLink Network consists of color-coded city link routes that connect to local routes designated by number in many neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, Governor Hogan has created the Commission to Modernize State Procurement, and has asked this Commission to complete its work, including recommendations, by December 1, 2016; and

WHEREAS, Governor Hogan has also charged this commission to create policies and procedures that are open, transparent, and equitable for all participants, as well as to establish clear, uniform operational standards; and

WHEREAS, for many years Maryland has had excellent laws requiring the inclusion of nonvisual access within its procurement processes; and

WHEREAS, one of the major obstacles that blind people face is access to the printed word; and

WHEREAS, the Maryland Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (LBPH) remains a major source of reading material for blind children, working age citizens, and seniors losing vision; and

WHEREAS, LBPH has been administratively part of the Division of Library Development and Services (DLDS) in the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) for the forty-eight years of its existence; and

WHEREAS, while living the life we want, blind persons have the responsibility for managing our own health as well as the health of others; and

WHEREAS, this care often requires access to important information printed on prescription labels; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Access Board has published pharmacy best practices, which it adopted in 2013,  for making medication labels accessible; and