Kerry, Markey Seek Quick Action on Accessibility Legislation
House and Senate sponsors of Internet accessibility bills hope to pass the legislation this year. At a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing Wednesday, Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., said he aims to have S-3304, which he co-sponsored with Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., ready for President Barack Obama’s signature this year. Kerry said he hopes to address concerns raised by USTelecom “in the next few days.” Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who has a similar bill in the House (HR-3101), agreed in testimony that the bill should be passed this year.
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"We're going to try and get this done as rapidly as we can,” said Kerry. Markey said, “I think we can get this done this year, and I think it’s important to get it done. This the time to break down the walls of exclusion of the Digital Era” and “delay is unacceptable,” he said. “The ADA was an historic victory, but now, two decades later, we must take action again to ensure that new walls are not erected.” New barriers “may be virtual, wireless, composed of zeroes and ones, or a result of devices and services designed without accessibility in mind,” Markey said.
Kerry said his and Pryor’s bill is modeled on Markey’s. The senators introduced it this month (CD May 5 p10). “Too many” Internet applications are not accessible to people with disabilities, said Kerry. “That’s unacceptable.” It’s not overreaching for the government to set rules, he said, asking for industry cooperation. “Beginning with the largest firms that control access and entry onto the Internet and eventually spreading to all communications service providers over the Internet,” the bill would require “that they at a minimum make a good faith effort at accessibility and also, where technology is available to make a product or service accessible, that they adopt it."
Telecom providers have some concerns about the Senate bill, said USTelecom President Walter McCormick. The measure “inadvertently and unjustifiably distinguishes between technologies that deliver the same or similar services, leaving it entirely to the FCC’s discretion the question of whether it’s necessary for a wide variety of applications and services to be made accessible.” That shouldn’t be up to the FCC, and Congress should adopt the “clear definition of advanced communications” from the House bill and National Broadband Plan, he said. USTelecom also is concerned about a line in the bill requiring the FCC to apply new accessibility rules to services and equipment when that’s “achievable,” because the bill doesn’t define that term, McCormick said. The lack of clarity could lead to “regulatory jockeying and litigation,” he said.
Kerry called USTelecom’s concerns legitimate and said he hopes to address them “very quickly” so the bill can pass this year. McCormick said he'd be happy to work with Kerry to do so.
Advocates for people with disabilities backed Kerry’s bill. “Communication with everyone is the cornerstone to a wide open world,” said Bobbie Scoggins, president of the National Association of the Deaf. But many Internet apps and digital communication tools aren’t accessible, she said. Enacting Kerry’s bill would be a “major step forward,” said Russell Harvard, an actor who is deaf and who spoke for the association.
Companies must have flexibility to develop innovative accessibility solutions, cautioned Thomas Wlodkowski, AOL accessibility director. He urged collaboration among government, industry and disabilities groups.