BILL REQ. #:  H-4188.1 

Read first time 01/20/2004.   Referred to Committee on Children & Family Services.

     AN ACT Relating to integration of services for deaf and hard of hearing children; and adding new sections to chapter 28A.300 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:
     The legislature finds that early intervention services providers, school districts and educational service districts, and the Washington school for the deaf should integrate their work in order to provide appropriate and consistent services throughout the state to children who are deaf or hard of hearing, from birth through twelfth grade.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The governor and the superintendent of public instruction shall establish an oversight committee to explore possibilities for the integration of the state's education services provided through the birth-to-three early intervention system, the preschool through twelfth grade system, and the Washington school for the deaf.
     (2) Membership of the oversight committee shall include the following: Representatives of the governor's office, the office of superintendent of public instruction, the Washington school for the deaf, and the infant toddler early intervention program in the department of social and health services; one or more parents of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing; one or more adults who are deaf or hard of hearing; one or more researchers on hearing loss; and one or more teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing.
     (3) The oversight committee established pursuant to this section shall report its recommendations concerning integration of the state's education services provided through the birth-to-three early intervention system, the preschool through twelfth grade system, and the Washington school for the deaf to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2004.