[INSERT HEADER OF ORGANIZATION]
INSTRUCTIONS: 
1.	Put this on your organization’s letterhead, adapt and edit as you see fit
2.	Go to: https://calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates/ 
3.	Create an account if you do not already have one.
4.	Click on “Submit a Letter”
5.	Select a bill: SB 639
6.	Select recipient: Appropriations 
7.	Select Stance: Support, Subject SB 639, upload your letter, review, and submit. 
8.	Please send a copy of your letter to Gregory Cramer at DRC and Jennifer Richard in Senator Durazo’s office: gregory.cramer@disabilityrightsca.org, Jennifer.richard@sen.ca.gov. 

[Insert Date]
Honorable Lorena Gonzalez  
Chair, Assembly Committee on Appropriations 
State Capitol, Room 2114
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: SB 639 (Durazo): Minimum Wages: Persons with Disabilities –SUPPORT
Dear Assemblymember Gonzalez:
[INSERT ORGANIZATION] is pleased to support SB 639, a bill that prohibits employers from paying people with disabilities less than the minimum wage.
SB 639 addresses historic barriers to gainful employment for people with disabilities by prohibiting the California Labor Commission from issuing employers a new license that allows for the payment of subminimum wage to employees with disabilities beginning in 2022. This bill requires workers with disabilities to be paid at least minimum wage by 2025.
Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act allows the state to issue special certificates to employers to allow them to pay employees with disabilities less than the minimum wage based on the purported impact that the employee’s disability has on their ability to perform a job. This is premised on the theory that wages should be downwardly adjusted for employees whose disabilities make them unable to work in typical work settings because they are not as productive as their peers without disabilities. This assumption was made prior to civil rights laws that protect employees with disabilities from discrimination in employment. The failure to provide qualified employees with disabilities reasonable accommodations that do not create an undue hardship on the employer is one form of employment discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. 
Today, unemployment rates among people with disabilities are disproportionally high. In 2019, California ranked 22nd in the nation for its employment of people with disabilities. People with disabilities experienced employment rates at 36.9 percent compared to 75.6 percent for their peers. Additionally, people with disabilities also represent a larger portion of the population not included in the labor force. Nationally, about 8 in 10 were not in the labor force in 2019, compared with about 3 in 10 of those with no disability.  Further, there are over 5,000 Californians with disabilities who work in segregated settings and are paid as low as 15 cents an hour for their work.
SB 639 ensures all California employees earn at least minimum wage and joins the eight states and several U.S. cities that have already stopped paying workers a subminimum wage. For these reasons, [INSERT ORGANIZATION] supports SB 639.

Sincerely,
[Insert name, title, affiliation]

cc:	Jennifer Richard, Chief of Staff for Senator Durazo, Jennifer.Richard@sen.ca.gov 
Gregory Cramer, Legislative Advocate, Disability Rights California, Gregory.Cramer@disabilityrightsca.org