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G r a s s r o o t s A
d v o c a c y
We advocate for and
with people with brain injury and family members by responding to
their challenges and representing their concerns through legislative
efforts and active support of programs created for their needs
Action Alert!
- Urgent Appropriations Alert!
The House Appropriations
Subcommittee on Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS)-Education
is expected to markup the spending bill for FY ’09 for Labor,
Health and Human Services and Education departments June 19 with
the full Appropriations Committee on June 25. The Senate
Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education is marking up
its version June 23. It is time to call or e-mail your
representative and senators regarding funding for the TBI Act
programs. Click here
for more information.
State
Advocacy:
Info and links coming soon
Federal Advocacy
For a weekly update on
the latest federal policy activity related to traumatic brain injury
posted by the Brain Injury Association of America,
Click Here.
If you do not know
your members of the U.S House of Representatives, visit the
legislative
action center and type in your zipcode. The Legislative Action
Center also gives you the option to email your representative and
provides their contact information to call and/or fax the letter.
Return to Home Page
Online Advocacy Tools
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L e g i s l a t i v e
A c t i o n C e n t e r |
 The National Brain Injury
Association maintains a terrific online advocacy resource
called the
Legislative Action Center where you can enter your zip
code, find out about your state representatives and contact
them regarding issued that are of great importance to you and
the future of the brain injury community. Simply click on the
image of the Capitol building. |
April 28, 2008
News Alert: Key TBI Legislation
Passed and Signed into Law
Earlier this week,
the President signed the TBI Act into law.
The TBI Act was
approved in the House of Representatives on April 8, 2008 and in the
Senate on April 10, 2008.
Originally
passed in 1996 and reauthorized in 2000, the TBI Act represents a
foundation for coordinated and balanced public policy in prevention,
education, research and community-living for people with TBI.
The TBI Act is the only federal law that specifically authorizes
programs to support individuals with brain injury. Prior to the
1996 law, federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control
(CDC), the National Institute for Health (NIH) and the Health
Resources Administration (HRSA) did not have the tools to assess the
number of brain injury victims or provide services to them. The TBI
Act will reauthorize federal programs under these agencies through
2011.
An important new
provision in the TBI Act authorizes a study by the CDC and the NIH
in collaboration with the Department of Defense and the Department
of Veterans Affairs to identify the incidence of brain injury
among our nation’s veterans, especially veterans of Iraq and
Afghanistan.
The reauthorized
TBI Act will extend services and establish new studies to
register brain injured veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Congratulations go
to the Brain Injury Association of America’s Laura Schiebelhut, BIAA
affiliate advocates from across the country – including Washington
State – and to all our advocacy partners.
Passage of TBI
Act reauthorization has been the number one legislative priority
of the Brain Injury Association of
America in 2008,
and much behind-the-scenes work with Members of Congress and their
staff has occurred in recent weeks and months. In addition, BIAA
grassroots advocates played an essential role in moving this
legislation and ensuring that Congress passed it this year.
More information
on the TBI Act reauthorization bill and other key legislation is
available at BIAA’s website:
http://www.biausa.org/policycorner.htm .
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