Fighting for Access
The Texas Civil Rights Project and ADAPT of Texas have filed more than 20 lawsuits across the state seeking compliance with the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, passed 20 years ago this week. Among those suits is a case against Republican U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, whose Austin office does not include a ramp for use by individuals with mobility impairments, and another against UT’s School of Architecture, which fails to provide complete access throughout its Goldsmith Hall to people with decreased mobility. In each case TCRP attorney Joe Berra said that individuals alerted the institutions to the problems and were told they would be remedied. To date, that has not happened. (In the case of Smith’s office, Berra said staff met with constituents with disabilities in the parking lot. “That’s nice,” he said, “but that’s not access.”) Also in Austin is a case filed against University Medical Center Brackenridge for failing to provide a deaf man with a sign language interpreter during the 11 days he was in the hospital recovering from an accident in which he’d been hit by a drunk driver. The TCRP has been successfully advocating for compliance with the federal civil rights statute since its passage in 1990, said Berra. The lawsuits “put people on notice that you can’t blow people off when they come forward with a complaint,” he said. “People with disabilities are suffering discrimination because of failures to comply with the law.” – Jordan Smith
SBOE Draws Bipartisan Fire
The only constitutionally mandated job for the State Board of Education is to look after the state’s Permanent School Fund. It seems no one told them the fund is supposed to pay for public schools. On July 23 the board voted 7-6 to put $100 million aside to pay for charter school facilities. The measure would allow the state to build new schools, then lease them out to charters. Eyebrows have been raised because the board rejected the same measure, which accounts for 0.5% of the 2010 allocation, in an initial vote the day before. The measure only passed on the second go-round because board member Rick Agosto, who previously voted no, was absent for the second vote. The decision has sparked sharp criticism from both ends of the political spectrum. Republican SBOE nominee* Thomas Ratliff condemned the move as “‘social investing’ rather than ‘financial investing,'” while Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said the board “inexplicably flip-flopped” in spite of legal advice to the contrary and announced that she will refile her bill from last session to move the fund to a nonpartisan panel of financial experts. – Richard Whittaker
Texas Fights EPA
In the continuing public health fight over polluted Texas air, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from stepping in to enforce the federal Clean Air Act in Texas. In response, leading environmental groups called upon state leadership to help the EPA clean up the air. “Facilities operating under a flexible permit in Texas are breaking the law,” said Environmental Defense Fund toxicologist Elena Craft. “As a result, Texas communities suffer with the increased risks for the health effects associated with air pollution, including increased mortality, higher cancer rates, asthma, and other life-threatening diseases.” Abbott’s legal challenge to the EPA’s disapproval of Texas’ flexible permits program was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans. Abbott earlier this year sued the EPA over its right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in Texas. Keeping to his pattern in this election year, Gov. Rick Perry issued a statement fanning fears about the economy but failing to address underlying public health issues. “Governor Perry and Attorney General Abbott are trying to mislead Texans into believing that the sky is falling,” responded EDF Energy Program Director Jim Marston, “when EPA merely asks that Texas follow the same law as the 49 other states.” – Katherine Gregor
*[Editor’s note: In the original version of the story �SBOE Draws Bipartisan Fire,” we referred to Thomas Ratliff as a Republican member of the State Board of Education; he is actually a Rebublican nominee in the November election for that board.]This article appears in July 30 • 2010.