By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 38
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to determining a child's eligibility for a school
  district's special education program on the basis of a visual
  impairment.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 30.002, Education Code, is amended by
  adding Subsections (c-1) and (c-2) to read as follows:
         (c-1)  To implement Subsection (c)(1) and to determine a
  child's eligibility for a school district's special education
  program on the basis of a visual impairment, the full individual and
  initial evaluation of the student required by Section 29.004 must,
  in accordance with commissioner rule:
               (1)  include an orientation and mobility evaluation
  conducted:
                     (A)  by a person who is appropriately certified as
  an orientation and mobility specialist, as determined under
  commissioner rule; and
                     (B)  in a variety of lighting conditions and in a
  variety of settings, including in the student's home, school, and
  community and in settings unfamiliar to the student; and
               (2)  provide for a person who is appropriately
  certified as an orientation and mobility specialist to participate,
  as part of a multidisciplinary team, in evaluating data on which the
  determination of the child's eligibility is based.
         (c-2)  The scope of any reevaluation by a school district of
  a student who has been determined, after the full individual and
  initial evaluation, to be eligible for the district's special
  education program on the basis of a visual impairment shall be
  determined, in accordance with 34 C.F.R. Sections 300.122 and
  300.303 through 300.311, by a multidisciplinary team that includes,
  as provided by commissioner rule, a person described by Subsection
  (c-1)(1)(A).
         SECTION 2.  (a)   Not later than January 1, 2014, the
  commissioner of education shall adopt rules necessary to implement
  Subsections (c-1) and (c-2), Section 30.002, Education Code, as
  added by this Act.
         (b)  Not later than the beginning of the 2014-2015 school
  year, Subsections (c-1) and (c-2), Section 30.002, Education Code,
  as added by this Act, shall be implemented.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2013.