Florida Senate - 2017                                     SB 772
       
       
        
       By Senator Rouson
       
       19-01032-17                                            2017772__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to assistive technology devices;
    3         amending s. 1003.575, F.S.; revising provisions
    4         relating to the accessibility and use of assistive
    5         technology devices by persons with disabilities;
    6         providing an effective date.
    7          
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Section 1003.575, Florida Statutes, is amended
   11  to read:
   12         1003.575 Assistive technology devices; findings;
   13  interagency agreements.—Accessibility, utilization, and
   14  coordination of appropriate assistive technology devices and
   15  services are essential as a young person with disabilities moves
   16  from early intervention to preschool, from preschool to school,
   17  from one school to another, and from school to employment or
   18  independent living, and from school to home and community. If an
   19  individual education plan team makes a recommendation in
   20  accordance with State Board of Education rule for a student with
   21  a disability, as defined in s. 1003.01(3), to receive an
   22  assistive technology assessment, that assessment must be
   23  completed within 60 school days after the team’s recommendation.
   24  To ensure that an assistive technology device issued to a young
   25  person as part of his or her individualized family support plan,
   26  individual support plan, individual work plan, or an individual
   27  education plan remains with the individual through such
   28  transitions, the following agencies shall enter into interagency
   29  agreements, as appropriate, to ensure the transaction of
   30  assistive technology devices:
   31         (1) The Early Steps Program in the Division of Children’s
   32  Medical Services of the Department of Health.
   33         (2) The Division of Blind Services, the Bureau of
   34  Exceptional Education and Student Services, the Office of
   35  Independent Education and Parental Choice, and the Division of
   36  Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Education.
   37         (3) The Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program
   38  administered by the Department of Education and the Office of
   39  Early Learning.
   40  
   41  Interagency agreements entered into pursuant to this section
   42  shall provide a framework for ensuring that young persons with
   43  disabilities and their families, educators, and employers are
   44  informed about the utilization and coordination of assistive
   45  technology devices and services that may assist in meeting
   46  transition needs, and shall establish a mechanism by which a
   47  young person or his or her parent may request that an assistive
   48  technology device remain with the young person as he or she
   49  moves through the continuum from home to school to postschool.
   50         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.