Legislative Updates

From Jean Jones
DVR/DVS Legislative Information Representative

2009 ~ 2008 ~ 2007

April 15, 2009

U.S. Dept. of Education Announces Release of Stimulus Funds to States

On April 1st the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released a portion of the federal stimulus funds destined for education and rehabilitation programs under its authority.

ED’s action brings states a step closer to use of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for disability programs, but in some states actual expenditure of stimulus funds will have to wait on decisions by state legislatures and Governors. In Oklahoma for example, state agency plans for spending ARRA funds must be shared with the Appropriations committees in the legislature, and with the Office of State Finance. DRS’ ability to use stimulus funds for VR may also be affected by the VR/VS state appropriation level determined by the Legislature. Since stimulus funds for VR cannot be used to “supplant” other funds (i.e. make up for budget cuts), a significant reduction in state dollars could force VR to lose some stimulus funding.

On April 1st ED released the following ARRA funds to states:
1. 50 percent of the ARRA Vocational Rehabilitation State Grant funds;
2. 100 percent of the ARRA Independent Living State Grant funds; and
3. 100 percent of the ARRA IL Services for Older Individuals Who are Blind (OIB) funds.

The U.S. Department of Education website has fact sheets and guidances on the use of ARRA funds for these programs. Click on this link to access these materials: www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/index.html 

The site also presents fact sheets and guidances on ARRA funds going to education, including funds for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

ED will provide separate guidance regarding the Centers for Independent Living program authorized under Title VII, Chapter 1, Part C of the Rehabilitation Act.

ARRA funds released to Oklahoma on April 1st:

• $54,721,251- ESEA title I, to LEAs (50% of OK allotment)
• $73,962,453 - IDEA-B (50% of OK allotment)
• $1,940,970 - IDEA-B preschool (50% of OK allotment)
• $2,636,128 - IDEA-C infants & families (50% of OK allotment)
• $3,791,925 - VR (50% of OK allotment)
• $242,913 - IL State Grants (100% of OK allotment)
• $430,314 - Older Blind (100% of OK allotment)
• $387,273,690 - State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (partial allotment)

State Legislative Update

Next deadline: April 23rd - deadline for passage of bills in opposite house.

Many bills affecting Oklahomans with disabilities have not met legislative deadlines. Most of these bills are “dormant.” This usually means they have not been brought up or voted on by a committee or a house of the Legislature. It is possible for dormant bills to be revived next year. A few bills have actually been voted down, and these are dead for the entire two-year legislative session. The provisions of failed or “dead” bills can only be brought up later in the two-year session if an exception is made by House or Senate leadership.

Two bills that were voted down by committee and thus are dead for the entire two-year legislative session are HB-1842 to establish licensure for sign language interpreters, and HB-1312 to enact Nick’s Law, requiring health insurance coverage for autism.

Autism:

HB-1312 (Brown) to provide insurance coverage for autism failed in Committee on a 10-5 vote. Members voting to kill the bill were Sullivan, Randy McDaniel, Faught, Key, Liebmann, McNiel, Moore, Ownbey, Peters and “Leadership.” Voting against the “Do Not Pass” motion (i.e. supporting insurance coverage of autism) were Carey, Auffet, Morgan, Shelton, and Shumate.

Although the provisions of this bill could not be considered again in the two-year session under current House and Senate rules, the Senate recently amended HB-2027 to permit coverage of autism through the state’s High Risk Health Insurance Pool only. HB-2027 is Rep. Steele’s bill to train autism behavior therapists. The High Risk Health Insurance Pool allows medically uninsurable individuals to purchase health insurance under specified conditions. Premiums are higher than standard health insurance premiums, and the Pool is partially subsidized by an assessment on other health insurers in the state. “Nick’s Law” proponents have commented favorably on the amended bill, which passed the Senate 48-0. The bill will go to a conference committee.

Sign language interpreters:

HB-1842 (Duncan) failed by a vote of 6-3 in the Senate Business and Labor Committee. One Senator called the licensure bill a classic example of government encroachment, and another Senator referred to messages he had received from citizens opposing the legislation. Voting against the bill were Newberry, Adelson, Brogdon, Myers, Rice and Russell. Voting for the bill were Coates, Burrage and Leftwich.

Active and Vetoed Measures:

Business Enterprise Program

HB-1074 (Cooksey; Sykes) removes the requirement that Corrections canteen employees be state employees. Although the bill makes no direct reference to the Randolph-Sheppard Program, it could either help or harm business opportunities for blind vendors, depending on how it is implemented. The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee with title and enacting clause stricken. It next goes to the full Senate. SB-803 is a similar bill, also by Sykes and Cooksey. It has passed both the Senate and the House.

Autism; education

HB-1512 (Blackwell; Johnson) provides that school districts that comply with special education and related services as required by IDEA cannot be held liable in any civil action for the failure to provide autism-specific services. This bill was reported from the Senate Education Committee with its title stricken.

State office of Information Services:

State agencies will be affected by HB-1704 which recently passed the Senate, and SB-980, a similar bill that is moving through the House. These bills establish a separate state agency to centralize computer-based information systems, information technology and all financial and management information services across all state agencies. The final version of this legislation will probably be decided by a conference committee.

Vision screening

SB-964 (Paddack; Cox) amends current law regarding the Health Department’s vision screening advisory committee. It adjusts the membership of the committee, and adds a person from a statewide organization for the prevention of blindness. The bill strengthens the role of the advisory group. The committee would recommend vision screening and referral standards, qualifications for vision screeners, qualifications for vision screener trainers, and grounds for not recognizing trainers or screeners. (Note: Current law requires vision screening for children in grades K, 1 and 3.) This bill has passed both houses.

HB-1462 (Trebilcock; Nichols) is not a duplicate of SB-964, but it does address vision screening. It provides that the vision screening advisory committee can also serve as a sports eye safety consultant to the public schools. This bill has passed the House and passed in the Senate Education Committee.

Voting

SB-4 (Ford; Tibbs) requires proof of identity to vote and specifies what constitutes proof. Voters would have to present a photo ID issued by federal, state or tribal government, or their current voter ID (which has no photo). The bill passed both houses of the Legislature but was vetoed by the governor on April 8. In his veto message the governor said Senate Bill 4 would have established an unnecessary impediment to exercising this most basic freedom in conflict with the Constitution.

Aging and disability

HB-1893 (Peterson) Authorizing Department of Human Services to develop and implement the Aging and Disability Resource Consortium initiative. The initiative would support development of a single point of entry for elderly and disabled individuals seeking services and guidance in understanding their options for long-term care and supports. DHS is directed to collaborate with other agencies in development of this initiative. The agency is authorized to pursue grants and such other funding sources as may be found for this project. The bill has cleared both houses and was sent to the Governor on April 14th.

Administrative rules

SB-817 (Brogdon; Faught) provides that the Legislature has to specifically approve state agency rules and that if it fails to do so, the rules will be considered disapproved and cannot go into effect. This differs from current law which gives the legislature the right to disapprove state agency rules, but allows proposed rules to go into effect if the legislature does not specifically disapprove of t hem. The bill has passed the Senate and passed the House Administrative Rules Committee. It now goes to the full House for a vote.

Health insurance legislation

HB-1975 (Benge; now listed as Moore; Bill Brown) creates the Oklahoma Health Care Coverage Legislation Act. A substitute bill adopted by the House changes the way health insurance legislation would be handled. It provides that any bill that would require health insurance to cover added services can only be introduced in odd-numbered years in the Legislature, and can only be voted on in even-numbered years. Further, the bill would require any person or group advocating such a bill to provide a report to the appropriate legislative committees on the social and financial impact of the legislation. The bill describes what must be included in the report. The bill makes an exception for introduction of bills that address emergency situations - these can be offered in any year but will require a three-fourths vote to pass. This measure has cleared the Senate Retirement and Insurance Committee and awaits a Senate floor vote.

Dormant Bills:

Orientation and Mobility; instruction for blind students

HB-1062 (Sherrer) would have directed the State Department of Education, when funds are available, to provide an annual bonus of $5,000 to any public school district employee who is an orientation and mobility instructor certified by the Academy for Certification of Visual Rehabilitation and Education Professionals. The bill was not brought up in committee and is dormant.

Blind and visually impaired students

HB-16 28 (Pittman) addressed several issues in the education of blind children, including evaluation requirements, teacher training, and testing accommodations. For students with IEP’s, the bill required the end-of-instruction criterion-referenced tests to be given in the media identified in the student’s IEP, whether Braille, read-aloud, large print or using assistive devices. The bill was not heard in its initial subcommittee and is dormant.

End-of-instruction tests and students with disabilities

Another bill with implications for school testing accessibility was HB-1511 (Blackwell).
The bill did not directly address accessible testing, but by giving students more choice among end-of-instruction tests necessary for graduation, the measure could have helped visually impaired and learning disabled students work around the current lack of accessible audio versions for English II and III tests. This bill did not clear the Senate Education Committee and is dormant.

Pedestrian safety; blind and disabled individuals

HB-1795 (Hoskin) would have allowed motorcycles and bicycles to proceed through red lights at an intersection if they believe the traffic control signal change has to be triggered by the presence of a larger motor vehicle and if they do not see pedestrians or other vehicles in the intersection. This bill did pass the House, but staled in the Senate Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee. Versions of this legislation have been introduced for the past several years. Concern has been raised by blindness groups that these measures would create a safety hazard for blind pedestrians by giving them misinformation about the direction traffic is flowing.

Wheelchairs on roads

SB-760 by Sen. Ellis would require wheelchairs on roads to have attached to them orange flags at a certain height to alert motorists to their presence. The bill passed the Senate, but is now dormant in the House Transportation Committee.

Public Transit

HB-2034 by Pruett (and Walker; Barrington), a new committee substitute (attributed to Steele), allows a business tax credit for the expenditures a business makes for public transportation for employees or the donation it makes to a public transit system. The credit is limited to 25% of expenditures, the credit not to exceed $10,000 per year. The maximum annual cash business donation to a single transit system that can qualify for the credit is $20,000. The credits cannot be used to reduce a business’s tax liability to less than zero, but they can be carried over for up to five years. This bill passed the House but is now dormant in the Senate Finance Committee.

Self-Directed Care

HB-1700 (Morrissette) would implement the Self-Directed Care Program that may be used by persons with disabilities who are eligible for Medicaid home and community based waiver services. This bill would move the Self-Directed Care Program from pilot status to make it a continuing statewide program if federally approved as part of Oklahoma’s Medicaid waiver for community based services. The program would provide a monthly budget to eligible individuals for purchase of personal care, home modifications and related long-term care services. The bill is dormant in the House A & B Subcommittee on Human Services.

Other dormant bills: All bills promoting public transit and rail are dormant. At this time all bills to increase state employee pay appear to be dormant. The resolution of teacher salary issues must wait on the Legislature’s adoption of an “Education budget,” due on April 1st but delayed. A number of traffic safety - injury prevention bills that restrict texting and cell phone use while driving are dormant. Bills requiring health insurance coverage for colon cancer screening and other medical services are dormant.

For Your Files

Find Your Federal and State Legislators: www.capitolconnect.com/oklahoma/ 

All U.S. Senators can be reached by calling 202-224-3121.
The U.S. House switchboard number is 202-225-3121.