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TRANSCRIPT and VIDEO: UPDATE on AB 2072 – IN SUSPENSE

From www.dcara.org

Hi Everyone. I wanted to share with you all about my trip to Sacramento yesterday.

The Appropriations Committee yesterday put the AB 2072 bill in suspense. This is good news! The reason why it is being put in suspense is because of the costs. The California Department of Education estimated that the total price tag for this bill was $300,000-$400,000. While the bill being put in suspense is good news, Mendoza has two days to come up with an amendment that reduces some of the costs associated with the bill. But then it is up to the Senate leadership team to make a decision whether to keep it in suspense or take it off suspense. If they keep it in suspense, the bill is essentially dead. If they take it off suspense, it goes directly to the floor for vote.

There is one surprising thing I wanted to share with you all. One thing that we all learned yesterday was that Mendoza plans to introduce an amendment that will include an audiologist and a physician on the panel. This is a stakeholder panel of Deaf and hard of hearing people, parents of deaf and hard of hearing children. This is not a panel for medical professionals. This is a panel to address developing written information for parents of Deaf and hard of hearing children about early language development (ASL and written/reading English) and various communication systems that support the development of English.

Because of this new amendment that Mendoza is planning to introduce and because of the costs associated with the bill, it is important that YOU get involved. This is about our Deaf babies’ future! How can you be involved? Two ways:

1. Call two State Senators:
   1. Call Senator Kehoe’s office. She is the Chair of the Appropriations Committee
   2. Call Senator Steinberg’s office. He is the President of the Senate.

Both of them are on the leadership team that reviews the bills that are in suspense and they make decisions whether to keep bills in suspense or taken them off suspense for floor vote. When you call them, tell them that you are opposed to AB 2072 and that you want them to keep the bill in suspense!

1. Show up at the Capitol in Sacramento on Thursday August 12^th at 9am in the morning. There will be the hearing regarding the suspense bills. If they keep AB 2072 in suspense, the bill dies. If they take it off suspense, it will go to the floor of the Senate for vote. If that happens, we will break into teams and lobby ALL 40 Senators to vote no on AB 2072.

See you on Thursday!

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