{"id":2205,"date":"2010-01-27T11:45:16","date_gmt":"2010-01-27T15:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=2205"},"modified":"2010-01-27T12:55:06","modified_gmt":"2010-01-27T16:55:06","slug":"va-alert-contact-your-va-state-senator-today-on-senate-bill-689","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/va-alert-contact-your-va-state-senator-today-on-senate-bill-689\/","title":{"rendered":"VA Alert! Contact Your VA State Senator TODAY on Senate Bill 689"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"VA%20Alert%21%20Contact%20Your%20VA%20State%20Senator%20TODAY%20on%20Senate%20Bill%20689\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">TODAY!<\/span><\/strong> VA Senators will be discussing Senate Bill 689 when they meet at 2 pm. The bill would limit the legal rights of people with disabilities who are represented by the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy (VOPA).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is a dangerous bill that will take away the civil rights of people with developmental and other disabilities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This bill threatens our right to have an independent Virginia Office on Protection and Advocacy that can file lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and other federal disability rights laws.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Today, please contact your Virginia Senators. We need to stop this bill!\u00a0 You&#8217;ll find contact information, background on the bill, and what to say here.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>SB 689 will require any person with a disability who wishes to litigate through VOPA to first hire a mediator or arbitrator before going to court\u2013even if futile or an urgent matter.\u00a0 And instead of letting the client decide whether to litigate, SB689 will give that decision to VOPA\u2019s Board, who are politically appointed.\u00a0 This means the decision to litigate may become purely political.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Background<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Under the current law, VOPA can file a lawsuit on behalf of a person with a disability.\u00a0 For example, if Virginians with disabilities were abused and neglected, VOPA could take action, investigate, and pursue the case in court.<\/p>\n<p>But SB 689 would change all of that.\u00a0 It would require every person with a disability to first hire a mediator or arbitrator before going to court.\u00a0 The Virginian with the disability would have to pay for that if the mediator wasn\u2019t offered for free.\u00a0 The person would have to hire the mediator and go to mediation even if the opposing side would not agree to mediation, and even if the matter were urgent and they needed to go to court immediately.<\/p>\n<p>Then, if the person wanted to sue, SB 689 would no longer let him\/her make the decision.\u00a0 Instead, under SB 689, the VOPA Board would decide.\u00a0 If the Board did not approve the request, the Virginian with the disability could not sue through VOPA\u2013no matter how bad the harm or danger they were in.\u00a0 Most people with developmental and other disabilities don\u2019t have the money to hire their own attorneys.\u00a0 Representation by the P&amp;A can be crucial.<\/p>\n<p>All VOPA board members are politically appointed.\u00a0 So, SB 689 will make the decision about whether to litigate purely political.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Contacting the VA Senate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>SB 689 is before the Senate Committee on General Laws on Wednesday,\u00a0 January 27th.\u00a0 You can contact the following.<\/p>\n<p>If you are not sure what to say, use the information in the first two paragraphs above.\u00a0\u00a0 If you are a parent, friend, family member, colleague, advocate, or other interested person, say that in your call\/email.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Please make a call if you can!<\/strong><\/span> If you need to send email, that\u2019s okay, but calling the office is important because the bill is being heard on Wednesday. Below are the Committee members, their emails, the major town or city they represent, and their Richmond phone number.\u00a0 The cities provided are only where their local offices are.\u00a0 If you know one of them is your Senator, please call or email.<\/p>\n<p>The patron of SB 689 is Senator Blevins\u00a0 <a href=\"district14@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district14@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Chesapeake, (804) 698-7514)<br \/>\nSenator John Miller is also a supporter of the bill <a href=\"district01@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district01@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Newport News, (804) 698-7501)<\/p>\n<p>Members of the committee on General Laws are:<\/p>\n<p>Senator Mamie Locke (chair)\u00a0 <a href=\"district02@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district02@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Hampton, (804) 698-7502)<br \/>\nSenator\u00a0 Chap Peterson <a href=\"district34@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district34@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Fairfax, (804) 698-7534)<br \/>\nSenator\u00a0 George Barker\u00a0 <a href=\"district39@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district39@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Alexandria, (804) 698-7539)<br \/>\nSenator\u00a0 David Marsden\u00a0 <a href=\"district37@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district37@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Burke, (804) 698-1041)<br \/>\nSenator Charles Colgan<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> <a href=\"district29@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district29@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> <\/span> (Manassas, phone 804-698-7529)<br \/>\nSenator Edward Houck\u00a0 <a href=\"district17@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district17@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Spotsylvania, (804) 698-7517)<br \/>\nSenator\u00a0 William Wampler <a href=\"district40@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district40@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Bristol (804) 698-7540)<br \/>\nSenator Walter Stosch <a href=\"district12@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district12@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Glen Allen, (804) 698-7512)<br \/>\nSenator Stephen Martin <a href=\"district11@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district11@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Chesterfield, (804) 698-7511)<br \/>\nSenator Frank Ruff <a href=\"district15@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district15@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Clarksville, (804) 698-7515)<br \/>\nSenator\u00a0 Frank Wagner <a href=\"district07@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district07@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Virginia Beach, (804) 698-7507)<br \/>\nSenator Mark Herring <a href=\"district07@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district07@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Leesburg, (804) 698-7533)<br \/>\nSenator Robert Hurt\u00a0 <a href=\"district19@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district19@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Chatham, (804) 698-7519)<br \/>\nSenator\u00a0 Jill Vogel <a href=\"district27@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district27@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Winchester, (804) 698-7527)<br \/>\nSenator John Miller\u00a0 <a href=\"district01@senate.virginia.gov\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">district01@senate.virginia.gov<\/span><\/a> (Newport News, (804) 698-7501)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TODAY! VA Senators will be discussing Senate Bill 689 when they meet at 2 pm. The bill would limit the legal rights of people with disabilities who are represented by <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/va-alert-contact-your-va-state-senator-today-on-senate-bill-689\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1363,5,1273],"tags":[1312,512,511,510,509,508],"class_list":["post-2205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-discrimination-section-504-adaa","category-idea-2004","category-political-action","tag-ada","tag-arbitration","tag-mediation","tag-sb-689","tag-virginia-office-for-protection-and-advocacy","tag-vopa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2205"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2215,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2205\/revisions\/2215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}