FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 408
90TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR WIGGINS.
Read 1st time February 3, 1999, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
L1839.01I
AN ACT
To repeal section 209.010, RSMo 1994, relating to blind pensions, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to the same subject.
Section A. Section 209.010, RSMo 1994, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 209.010, to read as follows:
209.010. The duties of the division of family services shall be to prepare and maintain a complete register of the blind and visually impaired persons within this state and to collate information concerning their physical condition, cause of blindness or visual impairment 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 and visually impaired within this state, with its recommendations concerning the best method of relief for the blind and visually impaired; to adopt such measures as the division may deem expedient for the prevention and cure of blindness and visual impairments; to establish and maintain at such places within this state as the division may deem expedient shops and workrooms for the employment of blind and visually impaired 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 and visually impaired as the division shall deem expedient; to act as a bureau of information for the purpose of securing employment for the blind and visually impaired 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 and visually impaired persons engaged in home industries and to buy and sell the products of the blind and visually impaired wherever and however produced within this state; to provide such services to continue their independence in the home through advocacy and independent living skills training, and through the provision of peer counseling, information and referral services, and to this end, the division is authorized to procure and furnish materials and tools to blind and visually impaired persons; to provide for the temporary cost of the food, raiment and shelter of [deserving] blind and visually impaired persons engaged in [useful labor] employment; to ameliorate the condition of the blind and visually impaired 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 and visually impaired persons in the pursuit of [useful labor] employment and independence, and to provide for the prevention and cure of visual impairments and blindness.