Regarding State Fiscal System
A2011-07: Regarding State Fiscal System
Adopted In : 2011
Topics : Accessible Technology
WHEREAS, Minnesota Management and Budget recently unveiled the new Statewide Integrated Financial Tools (SWIFT) system, which governs all the State's fiscal transactions, including those with private service vendors; and
WHEREAS, attempts by blind persons to use the SWIFT system have been unsuccessful because parts of its design, including the vendor training manuals and the ability to create a new password, are inaccessible by nonvisual means; and
WHEREAS, Section 16C.145, Minnesota Statutes 2006 requires that "nonvisual technology access standards ... must be included in all contracts for the procurement of information technology by, or for the use of, agencies, political subdivisions, and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities", and that "nonvisual access technology must be integrated into networks used to share communications among employees, program participants, and the public"; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in convention assembled this 9th day of October, 2011, in the city of Bloomington, Minnesota, that we call upon the State of Minnesota to correct these problems and others in the SWIFT system that may need fixing immediately, so that blind people can use the system and the State is in compliance with the law; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if this is not done, the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota intends to take whatever action is necessary, including entering into litigation, to compel the State of Minnesota to make it accessible.