The official policy statements of the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey are established every year with annual resolutions adopted at the state convention.

The resolutions committee meets early during the convention. Each proposed resolution is read, spoken for by the authoring member, considered, and then ultimately withdrawn or recommended for passage or disapproval by the Convention.

Resolution 2014-01: Regarding increasing the service area of New Jersey Transit’s Access Link paratransit service

WHEREAS, New Jersey Transit provides its paratransit service called Access Link as a vital transportation resource for blind and disabled persons who are unable to take standard mass transit; and

WHEREAS, Access Link is currently available only to those who live within the federal and state mandated minimum distance of three-fourths of a mile of New Jersey Transit fixed bus routes; and

WHEREAS, such a restrictive area of access, along with very limited county-based paratransit services leave many paratransit eligible New Jersey citizens with no public transportation options whatsoever, depriving them of opportunities in employment, education and social activities: Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey in Convention assembled this ninth day of November, 2014, in the Township of Stafford, New Jersey, that this organization encourage New Jersey Transit to increase the service area of Access Link, allowing more blind and disabled persons to utilize this service; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon New Jersey Transit to work with NFB of New Jersey and other disability advocates to determine an appropriate increase to the available distance.

Resolution 2014-02: Regarding the National Association of Blind Merchants/Hadley School for the Blind Training Program for Business Enterprise Program trainees

WHEREAS, State Licensing Agencies (SLA’s) such as the NJ Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired (NJCBVI) are required under the Randolph-Sheppard Act to provide training to ensure that prospective blind entrepreneurs are qualified to manage and operate vending facilities; and

WHEREAS, many obstacles exist to the provision of high-quality training, such as difficulty in finding the resources to provide the training, difficulty recruiting qualified candidates, and the time required for candidates to be away from home to complete the training; and

WHEREAS, the National Association of Blind Merchants and the Hadley School for the Blind have created the first ever national training curriculum for Randolph-Sheppard and have launched this training program in an online format; and

WHEREAS, online training is widely used by institutes of higher education and businesses for the provision of undergraduate and post graduate coursework and continuing education courses and is highly valued by students for the convenience it offers; and

WHEREAS, the NABM/Hadley training will allow prospective Randolph-Sheppard vendors to receive all necessary training online and will require the SLA only to provide the state-specific portion of the training and the hands-on experience; and

WHEREAS, this training program offers additional advantages, such as Hadley’s internationally recognized training model, a dedicated Hadley instructor, a reasonable cost per student, and the prospect of enabling more of New Jersey’s blind citizens to be placed in the BEP Program; now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey in Convention assembled this ninth day of November 2014, in the Township of Stafford, New Jersey, that this organization call upon the New Jersey Committee of Blind Vendors and the NJCBVI Business Enterprise Program management to review and adopt the Hadley training program as the core coursework for the Business Enterprise Program, to make necessary adjustments to the hands-on part of the training, and to create a short-term curriculum to address specific state requirements.

Resolution 2014-03: Resolution regarding the exclusion of blind employees under the NJCBVI’s technology training contract

WHEREAS, blind people have been employed by the New Jersey Commission for the Blind (the Commission) at all levels since its founding in 1910; and

WHEREAS, the Commission currently employs education consultants, rehabilitation counselors, rehabilitation teachers, technology service specialists, mobility instructors, supervisors, and the executive director to good effect; and

WHEREAS, a qualified blind instructor can uniquely impact his or her blind consumers by:
• Serving as an encouraging role model, teaching by demonstration that the skill the blind consumer wishes to learn is indeed achievable and effective,
• Teaching with the authority and fluency of a “native speaker”, earned by using his or her skills every minute of every day, not simply during working hours, and,
• Providing the consumer the moral authority of one who has “been there”; and

WHEREAS, the Regional Technology Assistance Centers (RTACS), which provide technology training to New Jersey’s school children, college students, and adults seeking employment, have been led an staffed by qualified blind CEO’s, supervisors, and instructors since technology contracts were first assigned in 1992; and

WHEREAS, Advancing Opportunities currently holds the RTAC contract for technology training throughout the state of New Jersey; and

WHEREAS, Advancing Opportunities currently employs no blind instructors or supervisors under this contract:
Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey in convention assembled this ninth day of November, 2014, in the Township of Stafford, New Jersey, that this organization condemn an deplore the total exclusion of blind technologists from employment in a field where so many qualified blind people have so much to offer; and

Be it further resolved that this organization call upon the Commission to investigate this matter, and to redress this situation, ensuring that qualified blind people have an equal opportunity for employment at Advancing Opportunities under the Commission’s RTAC contract.

Resolution 2014-04: Regarding Ending Subminimum Wage Payments to Workers with Disabilities

WHEREAS, Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), established on the erroneous belief that people with disabilities lack the capacity for competitive, integrated employment, currently permits approximately 3,000 employers to obtain Special Wage Certificates which allow them to pay more than 400,000 workers with disabilities wages that are less than the federal minimum wage, herein referred to as “sub-minimum wages”; and

WHEREAS, employers who pay sub-minimum wages argue that the Special wage Certificate is an essential tool for employing workers with disabilities, and threaten that paying the federal minimum wage to such workers would require them to terminate these employees, all the while having enough revenue to pay their executives six-figure salaries and to pay professional lobbyists to advocate for the perpetuation of this discriminatory provision; and

WHEREAS, other businesses who employ comparable populations of people with disabilities yet do not utilize these certificates are able to maintain successful operations , proving the assertions of sub-minimum wage employers to be patently false; and

WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind has been joined by our Fair Wage partners of over sixty other national and local organizations of and for people with disabilities, in our effort to support the policies and programs that work to end the payment of sub-minimum wages to workers with disabilities and to oppose the development and implementation of policies that would perpetuate the use of this unfair and outmoded provision; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Gregg Harper has introduced the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013, HR 831, which, if enacted, would immediately stop the issuance of new Special Wage Certificates, responsibly phase out existing Certificates over a three-year period, and repeal Section 14(c) of the FLSA once and for all; and

WHEREAS, no Member of the New Jersey delegation in the United States House of Representatives has co-sponsored the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act: Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey in Convention assembled this ninth day of November, 2014, in the Township of Stafford, New Jersey, that we condemn and deplore the actions of all New Jersey employers who take advantage of the unfair, discriminatory and immoral provision found in Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon the twelve members of the New Jersey delegation in the United States House of Representatives to co-sponsor the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act of 2013 and any similar legislation which may be introduced in subsequent Congressional terms.