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Attorney General: mandatory yearly braille assessments in proposed bill could conflict with IDEA
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Summary
The Department of the Attorney General told the House Committee on Finance that HB620's proposed requirement for annual braille assessments may conflict with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which delegates assessment decisions to IEP teams.
The Department of the Attorney General told the House Committee on Finance that a provision of HB620 that would mandate yearly assessments for eligible students could conflict with federal law because assessment decisions belong to Individualized Education Program teams.
An attorney from the Department of the Attorney General told the committee the department recommended deleting a new subsection of the bill. “Mandating the yearly assessments in those areas is contrary to federal law, which leaves that determination to the IEP teams themselves,” the attorney said and recommended removal of new section 302a‑c subsection b, page 5, lines 1–6.
James Gashel, representing the National Federation of the Blind of Hawaii, urged support for the bill and told the committee the measure has been refined since last year and has broad backing from disability‑rights groups and advisory bodies. “It’s never a wrong thing to do to stand up in favor of literacy, and that means braille literacy when the child is blind or low vision,” Gashel said.
Marie Koothoff, a person with progressive vision loss who testified in support, described missed opportunities in her own education and urged action to better serve children now. “I will never have the proficient braille that I would need or I wanted ... But what it will do is it will help our blind children today so they don't have to face a similar future,” Koothoff said.
Written comments were filed by the Department of Education and other advisory bodies; the committee recorded support from disability advocates and sought to balance federal IDEA constraints with state policy goals.
Why this matters: HB620 affects special‑education assessments and instruction options for students who are blind or have low vision; it intersects with federal special‑education law that vests placement and assessment decisions in local IEP teams.
What’s next: the committee advanced HB620 (reported passed unamended). The Attorney General’s recommended deletion of the specified subsection was entered into the hearing record for consideration as the bill proceeds.
