ACTION ALERT: AB 2072
UPDATE INFORMATION AS OF JUNE 23, 2010:
LATEST NEWS OF TODAY'S MEETING
Karina Pedersen from AB2072 PR Committee Team explains briefly about what came out of the hearing with the Senate Health Committee earlier today in Sacramento. The AB2072 bill passed with the amendments written and revised. CDNIAS (representing the Oppose AB2072 side) made three demands that was heavily discussed among the committee and Mendoza accepted the three demands.
Transcript/Voice coming soon.
CREDITS: www.opposeAB2072.com
UPDATE INFORMATION AS OF JUNE 16, 2010:
As requested by Assemblymember Mendoza, the AB 2072 hearing has been POSTPONED. Instead of today, June 16, AB 2072 will be brought up to the Senate Health Committee on June 23rd. We, the opponents of AB 2072 have made INCREDIBLE progress on educating and lobbying the senators on why AB 2072 is not acceptable. It is not balanced, not transparent, not
inclusive, not comprehensive, and not evidence-based. However, our work is not done.
Although the hearing has been postponed, there will still be a press conference and a rally to oppose AB 2072 at 9:00 am today on the South Side of the state Capitol building in Sacramento. Afterwards, there will be plenty of time to lobby the senators to show them our opposition to
the bill.
Lets come TOGETHER as a community, and stand strong in our opposition to AB 2072. CALL your senators that you oppose this bill, a pretty please.
~Go to www.opposeAB2072.com to help as it is up to us to overcome by opposing AB2072. When we do, the power of this movement to make change in the need for early language acquisition for deaf babies --despite the best efforts of special interests-- will no longer be up for debate!
ACTION REQUIRED AS OF JUNE 9, 2010:
SHARE THIS with your colleagues, friends, and family (ASL and English Alert)
(Please forward to all your friends, family and colleagues in California)
- The State must have accountability, transparency, and oversight of all information provided to parents. This bill will not do that.*
- There is no ongoing mechanism in the bill to ensure that the information being provided to parents is comprehensive, evidence-based, unbiased and accurate in the present form of the "Brochure" or any future "Brochures".
- There is no oversight by a state agency or department. Will the state become liable for biased and manipulated information that is disseminated?
- The bill mentions written information, the author showed a brochure, which has no reporting and tracking system of follow-up procedures.
- The bill requires that the information to be provided to parents by "Audiologists" and "other related professionals". It is flawed because the "Audiologist" is not properly trained on the language and educational needs for deaf infants and toddlers. The "other related professionals" are not defined in the bill and they too may not be qualified or be properly trained.
- The bill threatens existing law that requires parents in need of information be provided by qualified state governmental entities like the State Department of Education, State Department of Developmental Services, State Department of Social Services/Deaf Access Assistance local providers.
- The Author states the purpose of the bill is due to the recent developments of Cochlear Implants, and wants to encourage all babies to have this surgery to be able to be "assimilated into today's society", as evidenced in the Assembly committee analysis. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have identified numerous risks with the "Cochlear Implant" (CI) in infants and children. It also states the CI does not make hearing normal.
- The bill says neither the state nor the early start provider shall incur costs for implementation of this section. Is the private company willing to hold harmless to indemnify the state regarding "written
- The state should ensure that all stakeholders are involved with any information that involves deaf and hard of hearing infants and children with experts from all stakeholders.Parents & Deaf Community Oppose AB2072
End the call with: "Thank you for listening, again, please tell the Senator that I called and to vote NO on AB2072".
1. Senator Elaine Alquist, Senate Health Committee Chair
Heart of Silicon Valley in Santa Clara County and includes the cities
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 5080
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4013
Fax:(916) 324-0283
San Jose Office
100 Paseo de San Antonio #209
San Jose, CA 95113
Phone: (408) 286-8318
Gilroy Office
7800 Arroyo Circle Ste. A
Gilroy, CA 95020
Phone: (408) 847-6101
Fax: (408) 847-6096
http://dist13.casen.govoffice.com/
2. Senator Tony Strickland, Health Committee Asst. Chair
Portions of Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 4062
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4019
Fax:(916) 324-7544
Simi Valley Office
2655 First St., Suite 230
Simi Valley, CA 93065
Phone: (805) 306-8886
Fax:(805) 306-8899
Santa Barbara Office
610 Anacapa Street, Unit B-4
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Phone: (805) 965-0862
Fax:(805) 965-0701
3. Senator Samuel Aanestad
Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity and Yuba Counties. Senate District 4 includes the most northern coastline in the state and follows the California-Oregon state line, then moves down the central portion of Northern California to just north of the greater Sacramento area
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 3063
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4004
Fax: (916) 445-7750
Nevada City Office
200 Providence Mine, #108
Nevada City, CA 95959
Phone: (530) 470-1846
4. Senator Gilbert Cedillo
Part of Los Angeles County, including all of Alhambra, Maywood, San Marino, South Pasadena, Vernon, and Walnut Park, and parts of East Los Angeles, Florence-Graham, and Los Angeles
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 5100
Sacramento, CA 95814
Los Angeles Office
617 South Olive Street Suite 710
Los Angeles, CA 90014
Phone: (213) 612-9566
http://dist22.casen.govoffice.com/
5. Senator David Cox
Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Plumas and Sierra Counties, as well as portions of Nevada, Placer and Sacramento Counties, including Lake Tahoe and the Plumas National Forest
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 2068
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4001
Fax: (916) 324-2680
Roseville Office
2140 Professional Drive, #140
Roseville, CA 95661
Phone: (916) 783-8232
Fax: (916) 783-5487
Jackson Office
33C Broadway
Jackson, CA 95642
Phone:(209) 223-9140
Quincy Office
2094 E. Main Street
Quincy, CA 95971
Phone: (530) 283-3437
Fax: (530) 283-3439
San Francisco and San Rafael
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 4061
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4003
Fax: (916) 445-4722
San Rafael Office
Marin Civic Center,
3501 Civic Center Drive, Suite 425
San Rafael, CA 94903
Phone: (415) 479-6612
Fax: (415) 479-1146
San Francisco:
Golden Gate Avenue Suite 14800
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 557-1300
http://dist13.casen.govoffice.com/
San Bernardino County and city of Pomona in Los Angeles county
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 2059
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4032
Fax: (916) 445-0128
Montclair Office
4959 Palo Verde Street, Suite 110B
Montclair, CA 91763
Phone: (909) 621-2783
Fax: (909) 621-7483
http://dist32.casen.govoffice.com/
Agoura Hills, Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Westlake Village, as well as several communities in the City of Los Angeles, including Bel
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 4035
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone:(916) 651-4023
Fax: (916) 324-4823
Santa Monica Office
2716 Ocean Park Blvd. Suite 3088
Santa Monica, CA 90405
Phone: (310) 314-5214
Fax: (310) 314-5263
http://dist23.casen.govoffice.com
East Los Angeles--includes parts of the City of Los Angeles, including East Los Angeles, El Sereno, Lincoln Heights, City Terrace, Montecito Heights, and the Cities of Azusa, Baldwin Park, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Industry, Irwindale, La Puente, Monterey Park, Rosemead, South San Gabriel, and West Covina. The district also includes the communities of Avocado Heights, Citrus, Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Valinda and Vincent
Capitol Office
State Capitol, Room 2090
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 651-4024
Fax: (916) 445-0485
Los Angeles Office
149 S. Mednik Ave Suite 202
Los Angeles, CA 90022
Phone: (323) 881-0100
Fax:(323) 881-0101
http://dist23.casen.govoffice.com/
Last but not least, If you are interested to also send a letter, please do! Send a fax or mail today!
The California Deaf Newborn Identification & Advocacy Stakeholder Coalition
PRESS RELEASE AS OF MAY 27, 2010
Proposed "Quick Fix" Bill in California Legislature Upsets Parents and Deaf Community
A bill which is now being considered by the California State Senate (AB 2072) threatens to harm the well being of deaf children by allowing vested interests to dominate the process of creating and distributing information provided to parents of newborn deaf children.
A bill introduced by Assembly member Mendoza (AB 2072) has parents, members of the Deaf Community, and professionals in an uproar over a lack of state accountability, transparency, and oversight concerning information to be shared with new parents of infants identified as being deaf or hard of hearing.
Members of a stakeholder coalition, the California Deaf Newborn Identification & Advocacy Stakeholder Coalition (CDNIAS), composed of many who use American Sign Language (ASL), believe the bill threatens existing law and ignores the importance of early language acquisition for infants who need early start services provided by the California Department of Education as the appropriate agency which develops and shares information with parents.
This bill, by ostensibly using the broadminded term "options," actually proceeds to list a patchwork collection of incommensurable items. By listing what the bill calls "communication options," the thrust of the bill is wide off the mark since it fails to identify the key issue for babies: Language. The proposed material to be distributed to parents that has so far been identified by proponents of the bill is a brochure which is biased, devoting the bulk of the space toward steering parents into choosing a surgically implanted device to help their infant hear, and does not provide balanced and comprehensive, research-based information. Danielle Reader, a parent of a deaf child explains, "When my son was 8 months old, the only thing we heard about was the push to get him a cochlear implant. Now he is 7 years old and he never did benefit from it. The propaganda about cochlear implants overwhelms parents. Thank God for the visual language of ASL. With ASL, he is able to catch up and learn language and also excel in English."
The bill misleads the public in purporting that information to be provided to parents of deaf children will not cost the state anything. So who would actually finance the distributing of the information? The brochure in question misleads parents into believing their child can easily learn to "hear and speak" a language with the aid of hearing devices. Whether acknowledged or not, the brochure is, in effect, published by the manufacturers, vendors and dispensers of these devices. While there are some successes with a strictly auditory approach, the vast majority do not succeed. Deaf children, whether implanted or not, are still deaf children, and need visual access to American Sign Language and English. The bill, while on its face provides information on options, actually would limit families' choices. The bill also conveys undue prominence toward audiologists, who would thereby tend to become the de facto first providers of information to parents of newly identified deaf children. But audiologists are trained to advise on issues of speech and hearing and are not language specialists. They are not trained to know how to share resources with the family on how to successfully raise a deaf child. Speech is not the equivalent of language, and device-aided hearing is not the equivalent of language comprehension.
Only a few lines in the proposed material explain anything about American Sign Language, which is not enough of a description or explanation to convey to parents of newborn deaf children how necessary and important it is that their child be provided a VISUAL means to acquire language in infancy and as toddlers.
Without the State of California being involved in creating the material called for by AB2072, we stakeholders believe that the State is passively showing favoritism toward vested financial interests who purposely aim to manipulate parents though misleading information. "If this bill passes as written, California would have no way to ensure that the materials given to new parents do not create additional liabilities or public policy issues for the state," says Ralph Singleton, President of the California Association of the Deaf. He adds, "Sign language should never be viewed as an option, it's a human right."
###
The California Deaf Newborn Identification & Advocacy Stakeholder Coalition (CDNIAS), is a diverse group of taxpayers who are consumers, parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing children, California educators, deaf service providers, researchers, and hearing allies.
Contact: Julie Rems Smario
(510) 267-8800
(510) 740-0946 (fax)
UPDATE INFORMATION AS OF MAY 20, 2010
The hearing on AB 2072 will be held at State Senate Health Committee on June 16th. Time and location to meet will be annnouced soon. If you can join as a community that day, it would be AWESOME! Please let Julie Rems-Smario know if you want to go. She can be reached at directoratlargenorth@cad.1906.org to confirm your attendance.
ACTION REQUIRED AS OF MAY 13, 2010
As of recently, the Senate Rules Committee had forwarded the AB 2072 bill to the Senate Health Committee. The California Association of the Deaf would like to request the California voters to send a letter to ALL nine senators on the health committee to ask that they vote to oppose AB 2072. We encourage you to personalize the letter with your own experiences. Posted here, you will find both the sample letter to fax, mail or to use as "talking" points during phone calls to their offices.
Below the letter, you will find the list of NINE state senators and their contact information.
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear Senator _______________:
I am asking you to OPPOSE AB2072 - Hearing Screening: Resources and Services. It is a bill created to manipulate parent choice. Look closely at the bill before voting and ask us why we oppose AB2072. The only thing AB2072 does differently from 124119.5 is that it takes away the POWER from the deaf consumer groups and takes away the STATE MANDATE. After all, AB2072 does not elaborate on WHO will be creating, printing, disbursing, and paying for the written and electronic information for parents of Deaf and hard of hearing children. This bill leaves the door wide open to privatize a government service to a company without going through a competitive bid process. The government should not shirk its current mandate to provide parents with information!
AB2072 is sponsored by oral-only programs and organizations, which are supported by the Let Them Hear Foundation and Oberkotter Foundation. Such foundations only support speech and listening aka Cochlear Implant programs, this bill would be supporting their financial gain.
The creators of AB2072 did not invite ASL/English Stakeholders to be a part of the creation of this bill. Assembly member Mendoza is waving around a brochure called Communicating With Your Child created by the Let Them Hear Foundation and the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management whose brochure was developed WITHOUT the participation of ASL/English Stakeholders and was highly criticized for its content by national stakeholders. This brochure is not part of the bill and Mendoza is trying to make you believe that this is the written information to be used.
This bill passed the Assembly because no one was looking into the details. No one was checking with the end users. Deaf Stakeholders. Parent choice has everything to do with Deaf stakeholders. They are the people who end up being the most affected by parent choice.
Another group who stands to gain financially from this bill are Audiologists. This bill puts these professionals to be the gatekeepers for new parents and they should not be allowed to do this! Audiologists are not trained in language acquisition and special education. They do not have professional credentials to advise parents on such choices. This is why the State of California has a program called Early Start. This program provides a system so that parents receive unbiased information by professionals who are trained to do this kind of work. Audiologists only purpose is to diagnose hearing loss and to provide information about hearing aids and cochlear implant.
Parent have a right to a fully balanced, accurate, comprehensive, and research-based information developed and disseminated by California Department of Education with a team of stakeholders who are held accountable for the content and with oversight and work in collaboration with other government entities responsible for CA Newborn hearing screening program, such as the State Department of Developmental Services, and the State Dept. of Social Services/Deaf Access Assistance.
Dont let this bill deceive you. The state of California should NOT hurry through legislation that allows for oral groups with money behind them to control and manipulate parent choice by controlling the information given out to parents.
I encourage you to oppose AB2072.
Respectfully,
NAME
Contact Legislative Representatives:
Senate Standing Committee Members
PRESS RELEASE AS OF APRIL 29, 2010
ASSEMBLY PASSES AB 2072-NEWBORN HEARING SCREENING BILL, DENIES THE DEAF ACCESS TO PROCEEDINGS
Sacramento, CA – This morning, the California Assembly passed AB 2072 a newborn hearing screening bill sponsored by Assemblymember Mendoza (D-Norwalk) which states the bill will have audiologists and other related professionals then local Early Start providers give parents written and electronic information about communication options.
Even though, AB 2072 is a bill about Deaf and hard of hearing people, the Assembly was not able to provide captioning for the live broadcast because Assemblymember Mendoza was not willing to allow a week to get this Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation set up. American Sign Language interpreters were provided but that still did not allow deaf and hard of hearing people the ability to access the proceeding.
After a newborn infant is tested positive for being deaf, the infant is referred to an audiologist within three months for additional tests to confirm the results. The purpose of the bill is to have the audiologists and other related professionals whose job and training involves selling hearing aids and cochlear implants serve as the first information gatekeeper with parents of deaf children. The bill is not clear about who will develop and provide funding for the written and electronic communication which will be provided to the parents. Neither California state nor the Early Start providers will be responsible for the implementation or funding of AB 2072.
AB 2072 is sponsored by the California Coalition, a group of private schools which support the oral education method and receive funding from the Oberkotter Foundation, an organization with over $120 million which supports the oral education method. During 2008, the Oberkotter Foundation spent over $20 million supporting oral education, professional training, and marketing to parents, educators, healthcare workers, and audiologists.
During the Assembly Health Committee hearing on April 20, 2010, Karl White, the Director of the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM) located at Utah State University told members that there is a brochure and website which is being used in 30 states. Although NCHAM will be responsible for distributing the brochure, the funding for it comes from Let Them Hear Foundation which receives funding from the Oberkotter Foundation for this purpose.
The opposition of AB 2072, which includes California Deaf Newborn Identification and Advocacy, a citizens advisory group comprised of Deaf consumers, parents of
Deaf infants and children, California educators, Deaf service providers, and researchers, believes this bill is flawed because it is biased toward one communication option, listening and speaking. Besides the ambiguity in the language of the bill and lack of accountability, AB 2072 will make audiologists, ENTs and supporters of the listening and speaking communication option as the gatekeepers of information for parents.
CEO Sheri Farinha of NorCal Services for Deaf & Hard of Hearing based in North Highlands, California, said, “Having audiologists as the people giving information to parents about communication options is like having a used car salesman provide people with transportation options; it’s going to be biased and parents are not going to be able to make the best choices for their Deaf children.”
THE RESULT ON VOTE WAS AS FOLLOWS: 47 AYE
7 NAY
20 ABSTAINED
Go and check out on www.opposeab2072.com for more details.
PRESS RELEASE AS OF APRIL 20, 2010
The Health Committee voted YES on CA AB 2072, sending to the Assembly floor. The result on the vote was as follows:
- AYE - 10
- NAY - 4
- NOT VOTING - 5
ACTION ALERT:
Join CAD to oppose Assembly Bill AB 2072: This law would replace deaf/hard of hearing consumer organizations with early education centers on the list of resources for parents and families of newborns identified with hearing loss. Please send letters to Members of the Assembly Health Committee listed below on or before Tuesday, April 20, 2010 when they will consider this new bill.
Assembly member Mendoza (D) of Norwalk introduced a bill called AB 2072. The bill will be heard by the California Assembly Health Committee on Tuesday, April 13, 2010. The Assembly Health Committee Members will vote to either to support or oppose this bill.
WHAT IS AB 2072?
Existing law (the Newborn and Infant Hearing Screening, Tracking, and Intervention Act) requires every general acute care hospital with licensed perinatal services to offer every newborn a hearing screening test and provide written information on the availability of community resources and services for children with hearing loss to their parents.
The California Early Start Intervention Services Act (known as the Early Start program) provides various early intervention services for infants and toddlers who have disabilities to enhance their development and to minimize the potential for developmental delays.
This bill provides that the written information shall be on all communication options for children with hearing loss, and that the information shall be provided to parents when their newborn or infant fails the hearing screening, at a follow-up appointment to diagnose a hearing loss, and at entry into the Early Start program. It would also specify additional items of information to be provided pursuant to these requirements.
Click here for BILL NUMBER: AB 2072
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