1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the transfer of assistive technology devices for
1-3 students with disabilities who leave certain school districts.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 30, Education Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 30.0015 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 30.0015. TRANSFER OF ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY DEVICES. (a)
1-8 In this section:
1-9 (1) "Assistive technology device" means any device,
1-10 including equipment or a product system, that is used to increase,
1-11 maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a student with a
1-12 disability.
1-13 (2) "Student with a disability" means a student who is
1-14 eligible to participate in a school district's special education
1-15 program under Section 29.003.
1-16 (3) "Transfer" means the process by which a school
1-17 district that has purchased an assistive technology device may
1-18 sell, lease, or loan the device for the continuing use of a student
1-19 with a disability changing the school of attendance in the district
1-20 or leaving the district.
1-21 (b) The agency by rule shall develop and annually
1-22 disseminate standards for a school district's transfer of an
1-23 assistive technology device to an entity listed in this subsection
1-24 when a student with a disability using the device changes the
2-1 school of attendance in the district or ceases to attend school in
2-2 the district that purchased the device and the student's parents,
2-3 or the student if the student has the legal capacity to enter into
2-4 a contract, agrees to the transfer. The device may be transferred
2-5 to:
2-6 (1) the school or school district in which the student
2-7 enrolls;
2-8 (2) a state agency, including the Texas Rehabilitation
2-9 Commission and the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental
2-10 Retardation, that provides services to the student following the
2-11 student's graduation from high school; or
2-12 (3) the student's parents, or the student if the
2-13 student has the legal capacity to enter into a contract.
2-14 (c) The standards developed under this section must include:
2-15 (1) a uniform transfer agreement to convey title to an
2-16 assistive technology device and applicable warranty information;
2-17 (2) a method for computing the fair market value of an
2-18 assistive technology device, including a reasonable allowance for
2-19 use; and
2-20 (3) a process to obtain written consent by the
2-21 student's parents, or the student where appropriate, to the
2-22 transfer.
2-23 (d) This section does not alter any existing obligation
2-24 under federal or state law to provide assistive technology devices
2-25 to students with disabilities.
2-26 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-4 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-5 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 633 was passed by the House on May
11, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 148, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 633 on May 20, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0,
1 present, not voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 633 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 18, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays
0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor