MAY 3, 1997
IN THIS DOCUMENT
PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE
LEGISLATION
CDR FOUNDATION
PROJECTS
20TH ANNIVERSARY OF 504 SIT-INS
ORGANIZATIONAL PLAINTIFF
DISABILITY INDEPENDENCE DAY
The CDR State Council's meeting on May 3 in Davis was marked more by the range and depth of its deliberations than by the number of topics covered. Following is a summary of what occurred. Several issues are also covered in separate articles in this New World.
The February State Council meeting asked the chapters to make recommendations to the Council on what position, if any, CDR should take on the physician-assisted suicide issue. There were delegates present from seven of the eleven active chapters who reported a range of opinion. Two chapters had not met to consider the issue and one could not reach a consensus although a majority opposed physician-assisted suicide. The other four recommended one or another of the three opposed positions, as presented in the March New World article. The Council adopted a position which embodied principally the second and third options presented in that article.
The Council warmly thanked the Legislative Committee--Chris Elms, Pat McPartland, Ralph Black and George Moore--for their efforts in getting AB 1277 introduced and through initial committee hearings. The committee also presented six other bills with recommended positions for CDR. Those recommendations were approved. Reporting for the committee, Ralph Black pointed out that there are a great many bills dealing with SSI and IHSS under the general umbrella of "welfare reform," which is the legislature's main preoccupation this year, which will shake out or be absorbed, so it's difficult to spot where they are going. The Council approved some basic principles to guide the committee's work in determining which bills to concentrate on. Those principles and a description of the six bills CDR has so far decided to follow are in a separate article.
Normally the meeting of the Foundation, which is CDR's 501(c)(3) adjunct (meaning that donations are tax-deductible), is brief and uneventful because there isn't much money to do anything with in the way of scholarships and the like. Just a few days before the Council met the Treasurer received a letter indicating that the Foundation was to receive a substantial bequest from a trust fund. As the money was not in hand, no final statement could be made at the Council meeting, but the prospect, together with the bequest CDR received last fall, gave a special focus to planning the future of both entities. The Council approved authorizing a special committee consisting of the four officers and Ralph Black to solicit Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from chapters and members for projects to increase and improve services to members, reach out to prospective new members, establish new chapters, etc. Details are in an accompanying article.
The Council approved a contract with Gwyn Tracy to do an intensive follow-up with delinquent with the idea of retrieving as many as possible. It also approved expenditure of funds as front money for the 1998 Convention to be held in Sacramento and to the Yolano Chapter for maintenance of the new Web site.
20TH ANNIVERSARY OF 504 SIT-INS
The Council approved financial support with organizational recognition for CDR at the June 1 celebration in San Francisco remembering the 25-day sit-in at the Federal Building which resulted in the signing of the 1977 HEW regulations implementing section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the first federal civil rights protections for persons with disabilities in the nation's history.
The Council is considering becoming an organizational plaintiff in a suit against three southern California movie theater chains about the adequacy and dispersal of seating for patrons with disabilities.
Notice was taken of the San Diego chapter's (01) newly traditional and hugely successful Disability Independence Day on July 26 which marks the seventh anniversary of President Bush's signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The next State Council meeting will convene in San Diego the next day, Sunday, July 27, to coincide with the event.