Past Legislation 2009
2009
Type III School Bus driving privileges for deaf teachers and staff restored.
A law passed in 2008 that had the unintentional consequence of barring school staff who are deaf from driving Type III vehicles. By passing this bill, driving privileges have been reinstated. ***Read more***
HF 166 (Rep. Ward) and SF 33 (Senator Olseen)
The Department of Education is now required to report outcomes by age and region of deaf and hard of hearing students.
The state spends $30 million on the education of deaf and hard of hearing students but to date we had no aggregate data to see which schools and or regions are meeting state performance standards. The state already had mandates in place for this information to be provided for children birth to three. Now the same information is required to be provided for K-12.
HF 1212 (Rep. Brown) and SF 1107 (Senator Wiger)
State of Minnesota technology, hardware, software, and online services must now be made accessible.
The new law pertains to Websites and Software and Hardware. Currently, many state websites are not accessible. Online videos are not captioned, live streaming of state meetings is not captioned, and some software for employees is not accessible to people who are deafblind. The state is now required to adopt standards and guidelines (508 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 WCAG 2.0) so all state websites are accessible for visitors and employees. When these guidelines are followed studies show they are more usable for all people.
The process of implementing these standards and guidelines is underway. The state is expected to be within compliance by 2011.
HF 1744 (Rep. Hilty) and SF 1600 (Senator Rest)
Permanent funding achieved for “Parent Guides” by adding $3 to the blood spot fee that is charged each time a baby is born.
About $3 is enough to support the program for a year. Trained parents provide support and unbiased information to other parents with babies newly identified as deaf or hard of hearing.
We initiated the process, while Capitol Hill Associates are did much of the session work to get the bill passed.
HF1819 (Rep. E. Murphy) and SF1512 (Senator Ropes)
A bill by Minnesota Council of Nonprofits protecting charitable tax exemptions for Minnesota’s nonprofit organizations;
including many of the nonprofits most important to our constituents, such as DeafBlind Services of Minnesota, Minnesota Employment Center at Lifetrack Resources, People Inc., Thompson Hall, and more. Nonprofits throughout the state rallied together with MCN for the passage of this bill into law. For details on the new law and protections read more
HF 872 (Rep. Marquart) and SF 0751 (Senator Clark)
A bill we helped to support for school harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence policies required in schools
The bill passed through the House and Senate, but was later vetoed by the Governor. Read more
HF1198 (Rep. Davnie) and SF0971 (Senator Dibble)
|
