STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3109

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 76

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Education, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 76 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION AND THE DIRECTOR OF HEALTH TO FORM A WORKING GROUP TO ASSESS WHETHER CHILDREN IN HAWAII WHO ARE DEAF OR SEVERELY HARD OF HEARING AND WHO CHOOSE THE AURAL/ORAL ROUTE OF COMMUNICATION RECEIVE PROPER TRAINING AND SUPPORT TO LEARN SPOKEN LANGUAGE SKILLS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Request the Superintendent of Education and the Director of Health to convene a working group to assess whether children in Hawaii who are deaf or severely hard of hearing and who choose the aural/oral route of communication receive proper training and support to learn spoken language skills;

 

     (2)  Request the working group to assess whether a gap in education and health care exists for children who are deaf or severely hard of hearing such that they do not adequately receive the guidance of therapists who are trained in the field of oral speech therapy and that children are given the accommodations required by law for their schooling; and

 

     (3)  Require the working group submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2015.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Department of Education, State Council on Developmental Disabilities, and five individuals.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Aloha State Association of the Deaf.

 

     Your Committees find that the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects the rights of individuals with disabilities to access programs and services that are supported by federal funds.  Since public schools receive federal funds, they must provide a free education in the least restrictive environment to students with physical impairments.

 

     Your Committees further find that for children who are seriously hard of hearing or deaf, some of the accommodations that the State is required to provide under these laws are access to least restrictive environments, including carpeted rooms and tiles on the ceiling to absorb sound, and individual education programs to establish a specific course of action for these children's education.  This measure will support children in Hawaii who are hard of hearing or deaf and may not be receiving adequate educational opportunities that are legally afforded to them.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Removing the requirement that the working group submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2015; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 76, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 76, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Education,

 

____________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

 

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair