On Thursday July 15, 2010, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation held an 'executive session' where they adopted "The Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act," S. 3304, part of a package of bills and amendments considered.

July 14, 2010.  COAT affiliates AAPD, AFB and HLAA are members of another coalition, the Independence Through Enhancement of Medicare & Medicaid (ITEM) coalition and met with fellow members today for an annual planning meeting.

July 9, 2010. COAT leaders travel out-of-town to discuss H.R.3101 and S.3304 at the national conferences of leading COAT organizations.

On July 7, 2010, COAT sent Comments (read here) to the FCC in regard to the proposed merger of Comcast with GE and NBC Universal. Our comments addressed the need for the merged corporation to provide leadership in accessibility and usability across its video products and services companies.   For instance, COAT expects more captioning and video description, accessible and usable equipment and interfaces, accessible phone services, and customer serv

July 2, 2010: COAT Action Alert! Sample Message:"Restore Section 105(b) to H.R. 3101 – Access to 21st Century Communications by People who are Deaf-Blind." 

On July 1, 2010, several representatives from COAT affiliates -- AAPD, TDI and WGBH-NCAM -- met with representatives from several federal agencies to ensure more accessibility of and better inclusion of people with disabilities as the "Integrated Public Alert and Warning System" (IPAWS) develops.

COAT leader Eric Bridges of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) was in Geneva, Switzerland recently for yet another meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s “Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights” (or SCCR/20), held June 21-24, 2010. The group's intent is to ensure more and more print materials are made available to people who are blind.

On June 30, 2010, almost one hundred people attended the long-awaited markup of H.R.