This wonderful news found its way to my desk this morning! The AB 2072 was vetoed, and rightfully so. I completely agree with Governor Andrus on all points. You can read about it at the link I'm going to attach here. That is more than John Egbert really want to show you, readers.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/asm/ab_2051-2100/ab_2072_vt_20100929.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2072
VETOED DATE: 09/29/2010
To the Members of the California State Assembly:
I am returning Assembly Bill 2072 without my signature.
I appreciate the strong feelings from advocates on both sides of this
issue. Parents, when first advised that their child has been
identified with a hearing loss, are in need of information. It is in
the parents' and the affected child's best interest to have
information that is timely, appropriate, unbiased, and linguistically
and culturally sensitive. This bill is an attempt to provide that
type of comprehensive information. Unfortunately, the mechanism is
through an advisory committee that is anything but unbiased. It's
also an advisory committee that will not only duplicate efforts by
other state programs and materials by nationally recognized and
respected organizations, but it represents a significant workload
that will require fiscal resources that cannot be spared.
I do believe that our state's Newborn Hearing Screening Program,
along with other state agencies and departments, already coordinate
and work to provide the best programs for California children that
are deaf or hard of hearing. This bill is unnecessary and
potentially contradictory to those successful efforts.
For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill.
Sincerely,
Arnold Schwarzenegger
End quote.
You see, parties from both sides quickly formed advisory committees to represent their own best interests, including deafhoodized folks. The Governor stated how important it was to provide the parents with unbiased information. All communication options. That was really simple but the radical deaf-power group wanted to enhance ASL as the superior choice. End result? It produced a long wrangled battle and complicated the bill. I was happy with how the final bill turned out but always thought that the original draft was unbiased and yes, much better.
Now that it's been vetoed, it's being sent back to the drawing table. Going back to the basics, that of "all communication options". Keeping it simple is what the Governor wanted and California is going to get exactly that.
The Governor also did not want anything duplicated with what's already offered by other State programs and national organizations.
And lastly, the Governor did not want to expend anything on this bill therefore the complicated and costly information packages won't be financed. Sorry Californians. Private organizations like AG Bell, DCARA, NORCAL, GLAD are now financially responsible for their own promotions, if any. Say good bye to this free publicity machine that was once offered. The audiologists are now back in power, thanks to the radical few who did not know a good thing when they had it.
This was an interesting experience and I know many of us learned from it. I'm moving on now that the bill is dead and you Californians are back to square one.
Good job Governor!