ACTIVITY AT THE STATE SENATE AND HOUSE
Current bills of interest to the membership are listed below. Testimony may be submitted “in absentia”. See http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov./ where it says “Submit testimony” in order to submit testimony, or appear in person.
Senate Bill 1284: It proposes to allow the DOE to monitor the integrity of instruction provided to students with disabilities placed into private schools, and to set reasonable rates of pay for such placement.
Senate Bill 948: With respect to individuals with brain injuries, it requires insurers to provide coverage for a range of services (cognitive and neurocognitive therapy, neurobehavioral and neuropsychological testing or treatment, and transition services). Cognitive communication therapy is specifically mentioned. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs would report back to the legislature about the economic impact of such coverage at the 2013 session.
Senate Bill 127: This is a proposal to provide a grant to the Department of Human Services to establish and run a comprehension center for individuals who are deaf, HOH, and deaf/blind. Purposes of the center are the “promote individual growth, social awareness, productivity, and equality…”
Senate Bill 925: The Healthy Start Program was put in place in 2001, but due to budget cuts, has had to forgo universal screening of infants at birth and subsequent home visiting services to at-risk families to minimize any number of adverse family events leading to poor child development. The bill seeks reinstatement of screening, home visits, and referrals to home visiting services, by moving funds of the Hawaii Tobacco Settlement Fund and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Fund from the Department of Human Services to the Department of Health.
Senate Bill 962: It proposes to change the wording in state law of “mental retardation” to “intellectual disability.”
House Bill 692: It seeks unspecified amounts of money to susidize a wide range of early childhood and school readiness programs, including the Substance Abuse Free Environment (S.A.F.E.) program, the Healthy Start Program, the Keiki Care Project, the Preschool Open Doors Programs, and other unnamed programs for foetal alcohol spectrum disorders, family planning, early intervention services, perinatal health, parenting support, preschool developmental screening, and child care and preschool subsidies.
House Bill 554: When determining a weighted student formula to determine the allocation of funds to a school, there will be created a “committee on weights” within the DOE. There job is to compose a list of student characterisitcs used to determine the weights, and the weightings shall include the needs of special education students and their specialized teaching.
House Bill 780: This bill compels the DOH to set up a task force whose job is to create a developmental screening system for children entering preschool, kindergarten and elementary school. The task force will recommend screening tools for children age 0-8, with a focus on all of cognition, language, motor skill, adaptive skill, behavior, social-emotional development, hearing and vision. They will also develop referral protocols, among other duties. The Aloha United Way is praised for two pilot projects on Oahu of developmental screening, and the bill requests grants for their continuation as well as expansion to neighbor islands.
Senate Bill 744 (the House version is HB 821): This bill requires insurers to provide up to a maximum of $50,000 per year for the screening, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders for individuals under age 26. It covers, among many services, “therapeutic care” which explicitly includes services of an SLP.
House Bill 1562 (SB 1503 is Senate version): The bill changes references to “exceptional child” to a “student with a disability.” It allows the DOE the discretion to determine what requirements need be met to qualify an individual to provide sign language services to a child who is not deaf or hard of hearing, but who neverthless needs sign language services as indicated on an IEP for purposes of receptive or expressive language. Interpreter certification and other requirments are, however, required for those providing interpreter services for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The meaning of “Related services” is clarified to specifically include speech-language pathology and audiology. The DOE is charged with developing a “statewide, flexible system of educational placement and programs” for children with a disability between age 3 until the child is ready for kindergarten.
Senate Bill 894: This bill requires private health insurers to provide coverage for the cost of hearing aids.
Senate Bill 279: This bill stipulates that when an employee is injured and seeks medical care from a physician or surgeon, that person may seek a one-time consultation from a licensed specialist who may be working in a facility in which the physician or surgeon has a financial interest. The bill is titled “Relating to Medical and Rehabilitation Benefits,” suggesting that the consultation may involve rehab personnel.
Senate Bill 120 (the house version is HB 79): This bill wants to repeal many special funds and transfer their balances to the state general fund. These “special funds” have historically targeted a wide variety of state activities, ranging from preservation of local art, beach restoration, water management, to substance abuse, and so on. Of most concern is a diversion of funds from the Tobacco settlement fund (remember that the tobacco companies settled a legal suit several years ago with the states and are now paying money as punitive damages for the prevention of tobacco related injuries and the welfare of individuals so injured). Some of this money supports the John A. Burns School of Medicine and thereby the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders within that school. The intent of the bill is to take away that support.
The meaning and intent of the above bills are sometimes open to interpretation. These bills are presented to you via the personal lens of the HSHA Professional Affairs person, R. Weirather, Ph.D., and you are strongly urged to examine the bills in person for the most accurate portrayal.
R. Weirather, Ph.D.
HSHA Professional Affairs