We need your help! There are hundreds of bills that will be considered by the Virginia General Assembly this year, and many will impact people with disabilities. New bills appear on the legislative services site every day. At the disAbility Law Center of Virginia (dLCV), we do our best to stay on top of the most important issues for people with disabilities, but clearly we cannot know everything! If you are aware of something happening in the legislature that you think we should be tracking, please let us know. Contact us at info@dlcv.org or by calling 1-800-552-3962 or 804-225-2042.
Special education issues are on the minds of some legislators. Here are some of the bills we are following:
HB 1381 (Leftwich) restricts non-attorney advocates from assisting families in special education due process hearings. The bill requires the state Department of Education to develop a training program for non-attorney advocates and bars anyone not so trained from participating in a hearing. The dLCV opposes the legislation as it would further restrict an already insufficient supply of assistance to families in the special education process.
HB 134 (Runion) and SB 186 (Dunnavant) direct the Department of Education to develop guidelines for Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams to include age-appropriate sex education for children with disabilities. The Senate version of the bill has already been passed by the full Senate. The House version has been assigned to the K – 12 subcommittee of the Committee on Education. It could be heard in subcommittee on Monday, January 20th.
HB 49 (McNamara) requires the Department of Education to develop a pilot program in a handful of local school divisions to help children with special education needs in private school settings transition into their local public schools.
SB 214 (Suetterlein) requires a guardian ad litem of a child between the ages of 17 ½ -21 to review the child’s IEP as part of its report to the Court. The bill has been approved by the full Senate.
The mission of the disAbility Law Center of Virginia is to advance independence, choice and self-determination; protect legal, human and civil rights; and eliminate abuse, neglect and discrimination of people with disabilities through zealous and uncompromising legal advocacy and representation.