H. B. 2634
(By Delegate Beane)
[Introduced February 24, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §5-14-2, §5-14-3, §5-14-5 and §5-14-6
of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating
to removal of the requirement that the West Virginia
Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing maintain a
register of persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and
conduct and maintain a census of both populations in West
Virginia; and making technical changes.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5-14-2, §5-14-3, §5-14-5 and §5-14-6 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 14. WEST VIRGINIA COMMISSION FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF
HEARING.
§5-14-2. Definitions.
As used in this article:
(a) "Deaf" means severe to profound impairment of the sense of
hearing whereby the understanding of speech is unattainable through
the ear alone with or without amplification, and visual
communication is used as the primary mode of communication.
(b) "Hard-of-hearing "Hard of hearing" means significant
impairment to the sense of hearing, but not to the extent that the
person must rely primarily on visual communication.
(c) "Hearing-impaired" means persons who are either deaf or
hard-of-hearing hard of hearing.
§5-14-3. Continuation of Commission; membership.
(a) The West Virginia Commission for the Deaf and
hard-of-hearing Hard of Hearing is
hereby continued within the
Department of Health and Human Resources consisting of seventeen
persons, eight of whom shall serve ex officio. The remaining
members are appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate. The Commission shall meet no less than four
times annually. All meetings and activities held by the Commission
shall be attended by at least two qualified interpreters who shall
be hired at the Commission's expense or provided free of charge by
agencies, organizations or individuals willing to volunteer
qualified interpreters.
The members are:
(1) (b) The members are: The Secretary
or his or her
designee, of the Department of Health and Human Resources,
or his
or her designee; the Commissioner
or his or her designee, of the Division of Labor,
or his or her designee; the
director
Commissioner or his or her designee, of the
division of health
Bureau for Public Health, or his or her designee; the State
Superintendent of Schools
or his or her designee, of the State
Board of Education,
or his or her designee; the Director
or his or
her designee, of the Division of Rehabilitation
Services, or his or
her designee; the
director or his or her designee, Commissioner
of
the division of handicapped children's services in the Division of
Human Services, or his or her designee; the Chairman or his or her
designee, of the Advisory Council for the Education of Exceptional
Children, or his or her designee; and the Superintendent or his or
her designee, of the West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind,
or his or her designee, all of whom serve ex officio and with full
voting privileges.
(2) (c) The Governor shall appoint nine persons appointed by
the Governor, at least five of whom are deaf or hard-of-hearing
hard of hearing, one of whom is the parent of a deaf child, one
of whom is a certified teacher of the hearing-impaired, one
audiologist and one otolaryngologist. Of the five deaf people, at
least three shall be selected from a list of five people
recommended by the Board of the West Virginia Association of the
Deaf.
§5-14-5. Powers and duties of the Commission; information
clearinghouse; coordination of interpreters; outreach programs; seminars and training sessions.
The commission shall maintain a complete register of persons
who are deaf or hard-of-hearing in the state. For each
hearing-impaired person, the register shall describe the condition
and cause of the hearing problem, the person's capacity for
education and industrial training and any other facts the
commission considers valuable. Identifying information contained
in the register is confidential: Provided, That information
collected and maintained in the register will be available upon
request to other government agencies in order to facilitate
services to their hearing-impaired clients. Every health,
educational and social agency and physician or other medical
professional serving hearing-impaired individuals shall report to
the commission, in writing, the name, age and residence of persons
who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
In addition to the register, the commission is responsible for
conducting and maintaining a census of both the deaf and
hard-of-hearing populations in West Virginia. Such census shall
contain state, county and city figures.
(a) The Commission shall maintain a clearinghouse of
information, the purpose of which is to aid hearing-impaired
persons and others in obtaining appropriate services or information
about such services, including, but not limited to, education,
communication (including interpreters), group home facilities, independent living skills, recreational facilities, employment,
vocational training, health and mental health services, substance
abuse and other services necessary to assure their ability to
function in society. The Commission shall consult existing public
and private agencies and organizations in compiling and maintaining
the clearinghouse.
(b) The Commission shall establish, maintain and coordinate a
statewide service to provide courts, state and local legislative
bodies and others with a list of qualified and certified
interpreters for the deaf and a list of qualified and certified
teachers of American sign language.
(c) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources shall promulgate rules pursuant to article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code for the state quality assurance
evaluation, including the establishment of required qualifications
and ethical standards for interpreters, the approval of
interpreters, the monitoring and investigation of interpreters and
the suspension and revocation of approvals. The Commission may
conduct national association of the deaf interpreter evaluations
and collect and expend funds with regard thereto.
(d) The Commission shall develop an outreach program to
familiarize the public with the rights and needs of
hearing-impaired people and of available services.
(e) The Commission shall investigate the condition of the hearing-impaired in this state with particular attention to those
who are aged, homeless, needy, victims of rubella and victims of
abuse or neglect. It shall determine the means the state possesses
for establishing group homes for its hearing-impaired citizens and
the need for additional facilities. The Commission shall also
determine the advisability and necessity of providing services to
the multihandicapped hearing-impaired.
§5-14-6. Seminars and training sessions.
The Commission may establish one or more training sessions or
workshops for the teaching of interpretive skills, in-service
training and counseling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing hard of
hearing. Seminars and training sessions may be conducted and are
encouraged to work with the existing facilities and organizations
established to accomplish the same goals.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to delete the hyphens in
the name of the West Virginia Commission for the Deaf and Hard of
Hearing and to make other technical changes, to delete language
requiring the Commission to maintain a registry and census of
persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and to specify that the ex
officio members of the Commission have full voting powers.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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