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Committee approves amendment to HB1215 to center choice of people with communication disabilities
Summary
Lawmakers amended House Bill 1215 to substitute the term 'communication disability,' clarify that the individual with the disability chooses communication methods, and add catch-all language to cover future methods; the committee recommended the bill as amended.
A House committee voted to recommend House Bill 1215 as amended, adopting language that focuses on individuals with communication disabilities and clarifies that those individuals should be enabled to independently express their wishes.
Representative Sher described the amendment, citing testimony from Karen Rosenberg of the Disability Rights Center. Sher said the revision “changes it to a communication disability… enables such individual to independently express their own thoughts and wishes” and added wording to make clear the list of communication methods is not exhaustive.
Members said the amendment addressed concerns raised in earlier testimony and would help, for example, with Individualized Education Program (IEP) access and with getting assistive communication devices into schools. Representative LC said the change would “help them when it comes to getting their device…into the schools.”
The clerk called the roll on the amendment and on the bill as amended; the committee recommended the amendment and the bill and placed the measure on consent.
The amendment’s sponsors and supporters framed it as clarifying existing intent and capturing a broader set of assistive methods so future technologies are covered without further statutory changes.
Next steps: HB1215 advances from committee as amended and was placed on the committee consent calendar.
