SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 920
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR CASKEY.
Read 1st time January 14, 2002, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
3837S.01I
AN ACT
To repeal sections 162.1136, 162.1139, 178.160, 178.180, 191.853 and 209.010, RSMo, relating to rehabilitation services for the blind, and to enact in lieu thereof six new sections relating to the same subject.
Section A. Sections 162.1136, 162.1139, 178.160, 178.180, 191.853 and 209.010, RSMo, are repealed and six new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 162.1136, 162.1139, 178.160, 178.180, 191.853 and 209.010, to read as follows:
162.1136. 1. The division of special education within the department of elementary and secondary education shall conduct an annual study of the educational status of eligible students and report the findings of that study no later than December first of each year to the speaker of the house of representatives and the president pro tem of the senate and to the standing committee of jurisdiction in each chamber.
2. The report shall contain information pertaining to literacy of blind and visually impaired children including:
(1) The methodology of the study;
(2) The percentage of eligible students in the study who read Braille, print, or large print;
(3) The number of students who have a visual impairment sufficient to meet the definition "eligible student", as defined in section 162.1130;
(4) The number of students currently reading Braille, large print and standard print. The report shall also detail how many eligible students there are by age, grade level, ungraded and with multiple handicaps, who are enrolled in public school, or in the Missouri school for the blind, respectively;
(5) The number of Braille-reading students who no longer receive any instruction in Braille reading and writing but do receive materials in Braille and Braille-related services;
(6) The number of certified vision teachers or teachers of the blind or visually impaired who are currently employed in the field in the state of Missouri;
(7) The number of eligible students who use a slate and stylus and/or other devices in writing Braille;
(8) The number of eligible students educated in the general education classroom, in an itinerant or resource classroom, in a self-contained classroom or in a separate educational facility;
(9) The graduation rate of eligible students compared to those students who are not disabled;
(10) The number of eligible students who did not meet graduation requirements but were terminated from formal education having reached age twenty-one years;
(11) The number of eligible students who received transition planning services with the cooperation of the division of vocational rehabilitation or the division of rehabilitation services for the blind as part of their IEP;
(12) The number of eligible students referred to the division of rehabilitation services for the blind or division of vocational rehabilitation.
162.1139. The division of special education within the department of elementary and secondary education shall develop a system of joint referral with the division of rehabilitation services for the blind. All children identified by a school district or the division of special education as eligible students, upon receipt of written documentation of parental consent or consent of the student if the student is at least eighteen years of age, shall be referred to the division of rehabilitation services for the blind. All children identified by the division of rehabilitation services for the blind as being eligible for services will be referred, upon receipt of written documentation of parental consent or consent of the student if the student is at least eighteen years of age, to the local school district and the division of special education of the department of elementary and secondary education.
178.160. 1. Whenever a blind person who is a citizen of this state and a pupil in actual attendance in a local school district program or a special school district program or in actual attendance at a college, university, technical or professional school located in this state and authorized by law to grant degrees, other than an institution established for the regular instruction of the blind, applies to the division of rehabilitation services for the blind for the aid provided under this section, the state shall pay the sum of five hundred dollars per annum with which to employ a person or persons to read to the pupil from textbooks and pamphlets used by him in his studies at the college, university or school.
2. Blind persons who are eligible to receive the services of a reader under provisions of any other state or federal program are not eligible to receive the aid provided under this section. However, money shall be paid under this section as matching funds to the extent required to provide services of a reader to blind persons who are eligible to receive the services of a reader under provisions of any other state or federal program, provided that the matching funds provided under this section shall not exceed five hundred dollars per annum.
178.180. Except for school districts, the moneys shall be paid monthly out of the general revenue fund of the state, after the beginning of the school year of the institution, by the division of rehabilitation services for the blind, department of social services, to the treasurer of the institution upon his presenting an account showing the names of individuals who received the services and the number of hours of services each received. For school districts, the money shall be paid out of the state school moneys fund upon application to the department of elementary and secondary education showing the actual number of blind pupils attending school in the school district after the beginning of the school year with the regular distribution of state funds provided for in sections 163.081 and 163.082, RSMo. The account shall be verified by the executive officer of the school district or institution.
191.853. 1. The "Missouri Assistive Technology Advisory Council" is hereby established, as created pursuant to the Missouri state grant under Title I of the Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988, P.L. 100-407.
2. The voting membership of the advisory council shall be composed of twenty-three members. The members of the council that are serving on August 28, 1993, shall continue to serve in their normal capacities. The original twenty-one members shall determine by lot which seven are to have a one-year term, which seven are to have a two-year term, and which seven are to have a three-year term. Thereafter, the successors to each of the twenty-one members shall serve a three-year term and until his successor is appointed by the governor. The members appointed by the governor shall include twelve consumer representatives, the group consisting of individuals with disabilities, parents, spouses, or guardians of individuals with disabilities and shall include a variety of types of disabilities across the age span from all geographic areas of the state, and nine agency representatives, the group consisting of one representative of the division of vocational rehabilitation, one representative of the division of special education, one representative of the department of insurance, one representative of the division of rehabilitation services for the blind, one representative of the division of medical services, one representative of the department of health and senior services, one representative of the department of mental health, and two representatives of other agencies or organizations responsible for the service delivery, policy implementation, and funding of assistive technology. In addition, one member who is a member of the house of representatives shall be appointed by the speaker of the house and one member who is a member of the senate shall be appointed by the president pro tempore of the senate. The appointment of individuals representing state agencies shall be conditioned on their continued employment with their respective agencies.
3. A chairperson shall be elected by the council. The council shall meet at the call of the chairperson, but not less often than four times each year.
209.010. The "Division of Rehabilitation Services for the Blind" is established within the department of social services. The duties of the division of [family services] rehabilitation services for the blind shall be to prepare and maintain a complete register of the blind persons within this state and to collate information concerning their physical condition, cause of blindness and such additional information as may be useful to the division in the performance of its other duties as herein enumerated, and to investigate and report to the general assembly from time to time the condition of the blind within this state, with its recommendations concerning the best method of relief for the blind; to adopt such measures as the division may deem expedient for the prevention and cure of blindness; to establish and maintain at such places within this state as the division may deem expedient shops and workrooms for the employment of blind persons capable of useful labor, and to provide superintendence and other assistance therefor and instruction therein; to compensate the persons so employed in the manner and to the extent that the division shall deem proper; to provide such means for the sale of the products of the blind as the division shall deem expedient; to act as a bureau of information for the purpose of securing employment for the blind of this state elsewhere than in the shops and workrooms of the division and to this end the division is authorized to procure and furnish materials and tools and to furnish aid and assistance to blind persons engaged in home industries and to buy and sell the products of the blind wherever and however produced within this state; to provide for the temporary cost of the food, raiment and shelter of deserving blind persons engaged in useful labor; to ameliorate the condition of the blind by such means consistent with the provisions of sections 209.010 to 209.160 as the division may deem expedient; provided, however, that no part of the funds appropriated by the state shall be used for solely charitable purposes; the object and purpose of sections 209.010 to 209.160 being to encourage capable blind persons in the pursuit of useful labor and to provide for the prevention and cure of blindness.