The purpose of this note is to summarize the efforts of the Missouri Commission for the Deaf (MCD) during the 2002 legislative session, which ended last Friday. MCD began the session with seven legislative priorities. Those priorities, and the final outcomes of our efforts to accomplish those priorities, are as follows:

(1) PRIORITY: Change the law to allow MCD to pay its evaluators for their services to the Missouri Interpreter Certification System.

OUTCOME: At the request of MCD, Representative Jenee Lowe introduced HB 1783, and later Senator Betty Sims worked with MCD to develop a Senate Committee Substitute for HB 1783, which included a section to allow us to pay our evaluators. So, this objective was accomplished with the passage of SCS HB 1783.

(2) PRIORITY: Enact a law to mandate real-time captioning of local news, weather and sports broadcasts by all television stations located in Missouri.

OUTCOME: At the request of MCD, Representative David Reynolds introduced HB 2093, which would have accomplished this objective. Unfortunately, that bill was never assigned to a committee and died after it had a
second reading.

(3) PRIORITY: Change the law to create an MCD administrative fund that would allow MCD to accept grants, gifts, bequests or donations from individuals, organizations and companies, as well as allow MCD to enter into contracts with other state agencies and private entities.

OUTCOME: This objective was accomplished with the passage of SCS HB 1783.

(4) PRIORITY: Change the law to change the name of MCD to the Missouri Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

OUTCOME: This objective was accomplished with the passage of SCS HB 1783.

(5) PRIORITY: Enact a law to give students in public elementary and secondary schools credit for taking classes in American Sign Language (ASL), allow them to earn ASL credit by proficiency, and allow them to use ASL to satisfy “foreign language” graduation requirements.

OUTCOME: At the request of MCD, Representative David Reynolds introduced HB 2092, which would have accomplished this objective. Unfortunately, that bill was never assigned to a committee and died after it had a second reading.

(6) PRIORITY: Enact a law to mandate hearing aid coverage for dependent children by all insurance companies doing business in Missouri.

OUTCOME: MCD supported the initiative of Missouri Assistive Technology in this area. Bills were introduced by Representative Harold Selby (HB 1695) and Senator Harold Caskey (SB 838) in an effort to accomplish this objective. Late in the legislative session, amendments were added to a couple of bills to try and accomplish this objective. One such bill was HB 1446, which was in conference committee on the last day of the session. Unfortunately, all efforts to pass legislation mandating hearing aid coverage for dependent children failed this year.

(7) PRIORITY: Change the law to recognize ASL as the native language of many deaf Missourians.

OUTCOME: At the request of MCD, Representative Jenee Lowe introduced HB 1784 and Senator Larry Rohrbach introduced SB 861. Although both of those bills would have made the desired change in the law, HB 1784 died in committee and SB 861 was never placed on the calendar for third reading in the Senate. However, at the request of MCD, Representative David Reynolds introduced House Concurrent Resolution 5 (HCR5), which included a section recognizing ASL as the native language of many deaf Missourians. So, this objective was accomplished when HCR5 was adopted by both houses.

It should also be noted that HCR5 included a section urging the Governor to establish by executive order an annual “Deaf Awareness Week” to be held in September of each year to coincide with the International Deaf Awareness Week.

Last, it should be mentioned that MCD supported the initiative of Representative Danielle Moore (HB 1715) to modify state law and mandate the provision of interpreters in proceedings concerning the well-being or
rehabilitation of deaf persons in juvenile detention or correction facilities. HB 1715 successfully passed the legislature and is now awaiting the Governor’s signature.

All in all, it has been a very busy legislative session for the Missouri Commission for the Deaf this year. We wish to thank all those legislators who have worked with us during the past year, as well as all deaf and hard of hearing advocates who supported our initiatives. Through the cooperative efforts of many people, the future lives of deaf and hard of hearing Missourians will be enhanced by our 2002 legislative successes.