House bill requires evacuation plan for students with mobility impairments
Today's General Assembly Schedule
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Today’s General Assembly Schedule
7:30 a.m.Senate Finance and Appropriations Public Safety & Claims Subcommittee; Senate Finance & Appropriations Room, 13th Floor, General Assembly Building
8:00 a.m.House Education; House Committee Room A-008, General Assembly Building (Provide Comment) (committee info)
8:30 a.m.Press Conference with Delegate Jeion Ward on "Paid Sick Days for All Workers"; House Briefing Room, General Assembly Building
8:30 a.m.League of Women Voters Legislative Roundtable and Advocacy Day; 7th Floor House North Conference Room, Room 700-B, General Assembly Building
9:00 a.m.Agriculture Chesapeake and Natural Resources; House Committee Room B-205, General Assembly Building (Provide Comment) (committee info)
9:00 a.m.Senate Finance and Appropriations; Senate Committee Room A, 3rd Floor, #305, General Assembly Building10:00 a.m.House Appropriations - Higher Education Subcommittee; House Appropriations Committee Room - 1200, General Assembly Building (Provide Comment) (sub-committee info)
11:00 a.m.House Democratic Caucus; House Room 1, The Capitol
11:00 a.m.House Republican Caucus; House Room 2, The Capitol11:15 a.m.Senate Republican Caucus; Senate Room 2, The Capitol
11:30 a.m.Senate Democratic Caucus; Senate Room 1, The Capitol
12:00 p.m.House Convenes; House Chamber, The Capitol12:00 p.m.Senate Convenes; Senate Chamber, The CapitolAdj HouseHouse Privileges and Elections; House Committee Room C - 206, General Assembly Building - Immediately upon adjournment of the House (Provide Comment) (committee info)
15 min aftHouse Finance; House Committee Room B - 205, General Assembly Building - 15 Minutes after adjournment of House (Provide Comment) (committee info)
Adj HouseHouse Appropriations - Transportation and Public Safety Subcommittee; House Appropriations Committee Room - 1200, General Assembly Building - Immediately upon adjournment of the House (Provide Comment) (sub-committee info)
Adj subHouse Appropriations - Commerce, Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee; House Appropriations Committee Room - 1200, General Assembly Building - Immediately Upon Adjournment of the T & P S Subcommittee (Provide C (sub-committee info)
Adj subHouse Appropriations; House Appropriations Committee Room - 1200, General Assembly Building - Immediately upon adjournment of Commerce, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Subcommittee (committee info)
Adj APPHouse Appropriations - Health and Human Resources Subcommittee; House Appropriations Committee Room - 1200, General Assembly Building - Immediately upon adjournment of Full committee (sub-committee info)
30 min aftSenate General Laws and Technology; Senate Room B, General Assembly Building - 30 minutes after adjournment (View Meeting) (committee info)
30 min aftSenate Courts of Justice; Senate Room A, General Assembly Building - 30 minutes after adjournment (View Meeting) (committee info)
1hr 15 minHouse Courts of Justice; House Committee Room C - 206, General Assembly Building - 1 hour 15 min. after adjournment of the House (Provide Comment) (committee info)
Adj fullHouse Courts of Justice - Subcommittee #4; House Committee Room C - 206, General Assembly Building - Immediately upon adjournment of full committee (Provide Comment) (sub-committee info)
4:00 p.m.House Health and Human Services - Health Professions; House Committee Room B - 205, General Assembly Building (Provide Comment) (sub-committee info)
House bill requires evacuation plan for students with mobility impairments
By Olivia Dileo, Capital News Service
RICHMOND, Va. – The House of Delegates approved a measure Tuesday that mandates school divisions update emergency plans to include students with mobility impairments.
Del. Laura Jane Cohen, D-Fairfax, a former educator, introduced House Bill 501. She previously served on an advisory committee for students with disabilities as a school board member for Fairfax County Public Schools.
Cohen filed the measure in response to a parent’s testimony to the board that their first-grade child, who was in a wheelchair, would be left on the second floor with staff in the event of an emergency, or fire. Parents were “horrified” by that plan, she said.
“They felt like, you know, this was a really lousy idea,” Cohen said.
There was no specific state guidance on how to make an evacuation plan more inclusive as they worked within the locality to update the Fairfax school plan, Cohen said. The state’s most recent campus and school safety guide advises of needs and accommodations for mental, behavioral and physical disabilities, but does not provide specific guidance.
Just over 14% of students in K-12 schools have a form or multiple forms of disability, according to the state Department of Education.
Cohen wanted to create a framework for schools to make sure all kids can safely evacuate.
“I think this is probably one of the first bills that we wrote the minute that I won,” Cohen said.
Matthew Shapiro thinks the legislation is crucially important and was excited it was introduced. He is the founder and CEO of 6 Wheels Consulting, where he works with clients – including Dollywood theme park – to make spaces more inclusive.
Shapiro, a wheelchair user, remembers hiding in a school closet during emergency drills and did not feel there was an actual evacuation plan for him.
“I remember they’d say like, ‘OK Matthew, go in the closet, stay in there and do like your little hand over your head thing,’” Shapiro said. “But it’s like, that’s not gonna keep me safe.”
Shapiro also described prior instances where the call systems did not work in the area of refuge, a designated area for when evacuation is not possible. While a “clear and concise plan” is needed, so is practice and execution of the plan, he said.
“When rubber meets the road, are you gonna be able to execute it properly and is stuff not gonna hit the fan?” Shapiro said.
A recent National Fire Protection Agency publication outlines how to develop an emergency evacuation plan for people with disabilities, and the same agency provides a guide with detailed options.
“There is some guidance around the use of elevators, there are sleds, there are different types of wheelchair-like devices that are able to get down stairs very easily and quickly,” Cohen said. “We’ve seen schools in other divisions that utilize chairlifts, we’ve also seen slides that come out from that second story window.”
School districts will pick up costs to implement any necessary provisions, according to the bill impact statement. Cohen’s plan is to work with school districts and the Virginia School Board Association to look at costs and to use available state and federal grants.
“I'm excited to hopefully dig in a little bit and make sure that school systems don't … tense up and think that this is another unfunded mandate from Richmond,” Cohen said. “That's not what it's intended to be, but it is entitled to get our kids with mobility issues out safely.
The bill had unanimous support as it moved through the House. It now heads to the Senate.
“I was really pleased to see it get that,” Cohen said. “I struggle to understand a world where folks think that it’s OK to just leave kids in a room … in an emergency and not have them evacuate and not have them practice drills with their differently-abled peers.”
In Senate hearing, ‘very offensive’ scorecard comment draws rebuke from lawmakers - Va Mercury
by Charlie Paullin
An environmental lobbyist’s comment in support of a bill spurred rebukes from several senators who interpreted it as threatening political consequences for opposition.
Testifying on a bill that would have allowed local governments to impose stricter energy efficiency requirements than those set by the state, Bob Shippee, a lobbyist with the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, told members of the Senate Local Government Committee, “This is an important bill for us. It’ll be on our legislative scorecard.” Shippee then went on to discuss the policy implications of the measure.
Virginia lawmakers seek to end tax break for Confederate heritage group - WaPo
by Greg Schneider
The Virginia Senate voted Tuesday to tear down another Confederate memorial — but instead of a bronze figure on a pedestal, this one consists of words tucked into state law.
With two Republicans joining all 21 Democrats, senators agreed to dismantle a pair of obscure tax breaks for the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the organization that sponsored most of the Confederate statues that dotted Virginia’s landscape until localities began removing them over the past several years.
Youngkin official sought to change transgender policy for high school sports - RTD
by Anna Bryson
A key Youngkin administration education official proposed and then withdrew a bid to revise the policy on transgender athletes for the Virginia High School League, a private entity that facilitates interscholastic sports competition throughout the state. Under the withdrawn proposal, transgender athletes would have been barred from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity.
At the VHSL headquarters in Charlottesville on Tuesday morning, Raley did not provide an answer to a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter, who asked four times why he sought to remove the proposal.
A bill to ban public utility companies from political donations advances - WTKR
by Brendan Ponton
Once again, Virginia lawmakers are debating whether to ban public utility companies from being able to donate for political campaigns in Virginia.
The Virginia Senate Committee on Privileges & Elections voted to advance a bill to ban their donations on Tuesday afternoon.
The bill will now move to the Finance Committee. It has failed to become law multiple years in a row.