HF 116 / SF 33

Support SF33/HF116 Amend the 2008 Minnesota Type III Bus Driver Law and Allow Drivers Who are Deaf to Drive School Buses

The problem

A law passed in 2008 prevents deaf and hard of hearing school employees from driving students as part of their jobs. The law requires that people pass a physical, which in Minnesota includes a hearing test. School districts are upset because they have lost skilled drivers and they have needed to cancel many activities or to contract with outside vendors to drive the students. Many drivers are upset because they are unable to continue to do a job they have done well for many years. Parents are upset because they are being asked to volunteer to drive. Students are upset because they have missed many activities and have seen deaf role models unable to drive. They see it as discriminatory and want their drivers who are deaf back to work.

Senator Olseen, Sean Virnig, Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf, and Alison Porter, junior at Minnesota Northstar Academy, together provide testify in support of SF33

What does SF33/HF116 do?

It will exempt all qualified school staff who do not drive full time from the physical, which includes a hearing test. Qualified drivers who are deaf and hard of hearing will be able to drive again.

Why was the 2008 law passed?

In 2007 a hearing driver transported a young deaf teen to school. The driver was under the influence of drugs, got into an accident and both the deaf girl and the driver died. Legislators looked at the old law and decided to tighten the rules to make sure that kids were safer. They applied many of the same rules that were in place for drivers of big buses to drivers of small vehicles. Minnesota Statute 169A.03, subdivision 23 was created to prevent the death and injury of students. If this law had been in place, many believe that the girl who died would probably still be alive.

Did the legislature plan to prevent Deaf people from driving?

No. The goal of the bill was to keep kids safe. The effect on deaf people was not intentional. The chief author of the bill, Senator Olseen and state officials did not realize that the hearing test was part of the physical exam. They also did not consider that people with disabilities would be affected.