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Posted
April 1, 2005
SB 454 (ASL Bill) Scheduled for Public Hearing |
At the request of the Missouri Commission for the
Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Senator John Loudon introduced SB 454,
which is the companion bill to HB 530 and contains exactly the same
language. If enacted into law, SB 454 would give students in all
public educational institutions in Missouri credit for taking
American Sign Language (ASL) classes if those classes are offered in
the regular curriculum of the institutions. It would also allow
students to earn ASL credit by proficiency if an educational
institution offers courses in ASL. And it would allow students to
use ASL to satisfy “foreign language” or “language arts” admission
and graduation requirements at any public institution of higher
education in Missouri. SB 454 was referred to the Senate Education
Committee and has been scheduled for a public hearing next Tuesday,
April 5, at 12:30 pm in Senate Committee Room # 1.
All advocates who would like to see this bill passed are urged to
attend that hearing and testify in support of SB 454. If you cannot
attend the hearing, and you have not already done so, please send me
(roy.miller@mcdhh.mo.gov) a letter of support for HB 530/SB 454 so
that I can add it to the pile of support letters to present to the
Senate Committee members next Tuesday. I now have over 200 letters
of support for HB 530/SB 454!. And if you have already sent me a
letter of support, it would help if you would e-mail, fax or call
the chairman of the Senate Education Committee before Tuesday with
the simple message: "PLEASE SUPPORT SB 454 AS IT WOULD BENEFIT MANY
DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING MISSOURIANS AT NO COST TO THE STATE." The
chairman of that committee is Senator Gary Nodler from Joplin (phone
573-751-2306; fax 573-751-2894; e-mail to gary_nodler@senate.mo.gov).
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For more information about legislation/issues,
contact
MCDHH@mcdhh.mo.gov
This report is being posted by the Missouri Commission for the
Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
4-1-05 |
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