Lexmark Hearing Date Set for April 22
Albany, N.Y — The Lexmark hearing has been rescheduled from April 7 to April 22 so as not to interfere with
state appropriations deadlines. "April 22 is the date," confirmed Joe Morelle. "It will not be changed come hell or high water."
"We have a great deal of people involved in this hearing," Morelle said. "I did not want any other matter interfering
with this important event."
The interest in the hearing has spurned a wealth of industry support. Morelle was contacted by Steven Ennis,
executive director of the New York State Industries for the Blind, a New York not-for-profit organization. The city of New York
has awarded the remanufacturing contract to them, and they intend to lobby city officials against Lexmark and the purchase
of Optra S equipment in particular. In addition, Ennis and other representatives from his group will be testifying at the hearing.
"I want to see how Lexmark intends to respond to their testimony and explain away a single-use impediment to
the handicapped acquiring state contracts," Morelle said. Assemblyman Morelle has not been contacted by any Lexmark
representative, and intends to notify the Lexington, Ky., company of the hearing personally.
In the interim, however, Morelle will not be idle. He is already lobbying fellow legislatures for budget
appropriations that will fund more centers for remanufacturing. He is also reviewing various tax incentive proposals that would benefit
the remanufacturing industry.
Morelle was excited by the strong show of support that the industry displayed in February, but he stresses the need
for everyone to make an even more powerful showing at the hearing on April 22. "We want a strong show of support to
demonstrate the strength of the industry."
"The Prebate program is aimed at the heart of the remanufacturing industry," says Lester Cornelius, president of
Optical Technologies Co. in New York. "We cannot sit still and wait for it to go away. We must continue to use political momentum
to ensure that this never happens again."
All remanufacturers are encouraged to participate in this crucial event. Interested parties can contact Lester
Cornelius of Optical Technologies at (718) 729-4430), Howard Topal of NECRA at (732) 431-3339 or Tricia Judge-Stone at
RECHARGER Magazine at (702) 438-5557.
This article originally appeared in the April 1998 issue of Recharger.