buckland: can you hear me? mr. franks: yes, sir. mr. buckland: mr. chairman and ranking member conyers and members of the subcommittee, my name is kelly buckland. i'm the executive director of the national council on independent living. we are the oldest cross disability national organization run by and for people with disabilities. we go by ncil. cil advances the independent iving and the rights of people with disabilities and we envision a world in which people with disabilities are valued equally and participate fully. centers for independent living address discrimination and barriers that exist in society through direct advocacy. these barriers are sometimes architectural, but more often reflect attitudes and principles that have been reinforced for generations. they have deterred people with disabilities from working, leaving many in poverty and unjustly detained in institutions. as my long life experience has proven, with increased opportunities, individuals with disabilities can claim their ivil rights and participate in their communities in th

mr. buckland: mr. chairman, mr. conyers, i mean, the whole issue around the written notice and that you have to wait a certain time for it to cure, all that stuff, like i said in my testimony, i think that will incentivize businesses to not do anything until they do get a letter. i take exception to that. i also think that, like, just naming the number of lawsuits doesn't mean that's a bad thing. if those businesses were out of compliance, then why is that a problem, that they got sued for being out -- for breaking the law? i don't quite understand that. so there was no mention about whether or not they were valid complaints. they're just numbers. i'm not sure that that -- this results in being a bad thing. mr. conyers: would it be helpful if the committee knew what the results of all those lawsuits were? mr. buckland: yes, i think it would. and then i also think that the department of justice could provide this committee with some information about how many complaints they've received, what the complaints were abou

mr. buckland if -- we're all friends here -- mr. weiss' testimony raised any objections in terms of your experience as someone that's disabled? >> well, mr. chairman, mr. conyers, the whole issue around the written notice and you have to wait a certain time for it to cure, all of that stuff, like said in my testimony, i think that will incentivize businesses to not do anything until they do get a letter. so, yeah, i take exception to that. i also think that like just naming the number of lawsuits doesn't mean that's a bad thing. if those businesses were out of compliance, then why is that a problem that they got sued for being out of -- for breaking the law? i don't quite understand that. so there was no mention about whether or not they were valid complaints. they were just the numbers. so i'm not sure that this results in being a bad thing. >> would it be helpful if the committee knew what the results of all those lawsuits were? >> yes, i think it would. and then i also think that the department of justice could provide this commi

mr. buckland, if mr. weiss' testimony raised any objections in terms of your experience as someone that is disabled? >> mr. chairman, the whole issue around the written notice and you have to wait a certain time for it to cure, all that stuff like i said my my testimony, i think that will incentivize businesses to not do anything until they get a letter. so i i take exception to that. i also think just naming the number of lawsuits doesn't mean it's a bad link. if those businesses were out of compliance, then why is that a problem that they got sued for breaking the law? i don't quite understand that. so there is there is no mention about whether they were valid complaints, just numbers. so i am not sure that results in being a bad thing. >> would it be helpful if the committee what the results of those lawsuits were? >> yes, i also think that the department of justice could provide this committee was some information about how many complaints they have received, what the complaints were about, how the co

mr. buckland: i'm sorry, but unless he's somehow fought against the original complaint, why would there be attorneys' fees? mr. deutchland: mr. weiss, can you answer that? mr. weiss: because the suit is filed before the owner knows what the issue is. to get rid of the lawsuit, you end up settling it. mr. deutchland: i think the chairman understands this, and the ranking member of the committee understands, there's no one on this committee who fights harder to keep the courtroom doors open for people who deserve justice in this country than i do. >> believe me, he's telling the truth. mr. deutch: but in this situation, all i think we're looking for is the opportunity for someone, for a small business owner, to be able -- who has exercised all good faith, only tried to do the right thing, to continue to do the right thing without being forced to pay an extravagant amount of money given the opportunity to fix it and they will. i really appreciate the panel for being here, i think this is a really important discussion. mr. chairman, i yield back. mr. franks: i thank the gentleman. this conclud

mr. buckland noted people don't want lawsuits, they won't accessibility. we couldn't agree more. we all share the goal of more accessibility. we want full compliance and we want it faster with less cost and with more resources devoted to improving accessibility. as an industry are interests are aligned with the goal. first of all it's the right thing to do. many of us have experienced the challenges faced by family and friends who are disabled. second, it's in our economic best interest to do so. there's a misunderstanding and misconception that businesses don't support or want to comply. let me be very clear more people visiting the shopping centers and properties is a good thing. we work with our tenets to find ways to encourage mor more, nots people to come to our properties and we spend millions of dollars each year to accomplish this. let me be clear on an area there's also agreement that relates to the bad apples. for those persons that fraud they deserve the full weight of enforcement if they choose to ignore compliance and a lawsuit and the threat is the only way to force

mr. buckland, appreciate your time today. talk to you again soon. , the chief gloenl equities strategist with citi joining us from london today. thoughts, guys? >> well, the one thing, want to stick with the defensives, one of the problems by doing that, scott, many of the names have built up in valuation. when you look at some of these names, your biggest concern is, hey, look, they were great when they were the typical defensive names but because of the reaction and everybody sort of piling in those names. >> look at the names, since months, pretty good. >> con ed and at&t. >> you can see why mcdonald's started at a big slided a pullback and you start looking at valuation and can it sustain the high value? >> can you play defense or do you play opens? >> the only capital based on what he is saying is equities, 16 times next year number and 17 or 18 times this year's number. the market is fully valued but every other asset class is much more fully valued and maybe this is the generational opportunity where you see the massive flow from credit into -