SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2448        FILED ON: 3/8/2010

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2303

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Ten

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An Act to establish a commission to study the needs of blind and visually impaired citizens of the Commonwealth.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any general  law to the contrary, a commission, to study the needs of visually impaired and blind citizens of the commonwealth, hereafter referred to as the “commission” is hereby established for the purposes of investigating, studying and reporting and recommending legislative and regulation remedies for the unmet needs of children and adults who are blind or visually impaired.  These needs shall include, but not be limited to, social services, health services and medically adaptive equipment that would foster the achievement of independent living.

For the purposes of this study, an individual shall be considered visually impaired if they meet one or more of the following criteria and are not legally blind: (a) has an impairment of visual function which cannot be improved, by the use of corrective lenses, to a level that would normally be acceptable for reading without a special level of light, or, (2) is unable, due to physical disability to focus or move his eyes to the extent that would normally be acceptable for reading.

The commission shall consist of: the Secretary of Health and Human Services; the Secretary of Elder Affairs; the Commissioner of Early Education and Care; the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind; or their designees; a member of the Department of Public Health’s Division of Vision and Hearing; a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Massachusetts Chapter; a member of the Council on Aging; and 3 members of the public who are blind or visually impaired or who have a family member who is blind or visually impaired.

The commission shall convene within 60 days of the passage of this act and shall file a report within one year of the passage of this act and thereafter before December 31st of each following year. The report shall be filed with the clerks of the House and the Senate;  the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means; the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities; and the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.