A major battle was waged today and because of the efforts of all who called, wrote and called again – our bill was not one of the casualties of the seemingly endless war against any and all licensure bills. The bill to license vision rehabilitation therapists and orientation and mobility specialists (A5581-B) will live to see another day on an Assembly Higher Education Committee agenda this session.
This was a huge win today and it is all due to the actions of support the bill received. Here is how it went down. A5581-B was on the Assembly Higher Education Committee agenda today because our Sponsor, Assembly Member Jonathan Bing ”99ed” the bill. To ”99″ a bill means that at some point during this session the Committee Chair has to put that bill on an agenda unless the sponsor removes the “99.”
Assembly Member Glick, Chair of the Higher Education Committee, did not want A5581-B to be on her agenda this session just as she did not want the bill to be on the agenda last session. She has yet to give a reason except that she is said to have the same policy for all of the licensure bills before her committee.
Glick’s strategy today was to put the bill on the agenda and have the committee agree to put a “hold” on the bill. By placing the bill on hold it satisfies Bing’s ”99″ and, if the committee agreed, it would have effectively stopped all progress on the bill this session in the Assembly.
Yesterday’s Assembly Higher Ed Committee saw more than 5 licensure bills held. Those bills will likely have to wait until next year to be considered again. Our huge show of support this weekend - thanks to your efforts- many committee members were prepared to vote against the hold. The Chair decided to take the bill off the agenda for now. Had the Chair’s motion to hold been defeated, there could have then been a motion to report the bill out of committee.
So, rather than risk having the committee go against her, the Chair pulled A5581-B off the agenda and chose to wait for another day when perhaps the winds will have weakened. But, I’m here to say that our gale force winds will only get stronger. We now know that we are being heard and we are so close – the next round will be met with hurricane force winds! Winds of Change!
Thanks everyone for their support! Look for updates on www.nyvra.org and send comments on the blog if there is any question or issue you would like addressed.
