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53	53	STATE OF OKLAHOMA
54	54
55	55	2nd Session of the 59th Legislature (2024)
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57	57	HOUSE BILL 3951 By: Blancett
58	58
59	59
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63	63	AS INTRODUCED
64	64
65	65	An Act relating to schools; requiring hearing
66	66	screening for certain students within certain
67	67	timeframe; specifying screening be conducted by
68	68	certain personnel; providing for notification of
69	69	certain information; directing advisory committee to
70	70	make certain suggestions ; providing composition;
71	71	directing State Board of Health to adopt certain
72	72	rules; requiring State Department of Health to
73	73	maintain a statewide registry; recommending ce rtain
74	74	students receive certain hearing examination;
75	75	requiring certain person to forward written report to
76	76	certain parties; specif ying contents of report;
77	77	allowing school attendance in event of failure of
78	78	certain parties to furnish certain report; providing
79	79	for school districts to notify certain parents of
80	80	certain requirements; directing the State Board of
81	81	Education to adopt certain rules; directing the State
82	82	Department of Education to issue c ertain annual
83	83	report; providing for codification; and providing an
84	84	effective date.
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86	86
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89	89
90	90
91	91	BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
92	92	SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
93	93	in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1210.286 of Title 70, unless
94	94	there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
95	95	As used in this act:
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147	147	1. "Audiologist" means a person licensed by the state of
148	148	Oklahoma to practice medicine who has a specialty in hearing ;
149	149	2. "Board" means the State Board of H ealth;
150	150	3. "Commissioner" means the State Commissioner of Health of the
151	151	Oklahoma State Department of Health ;
152	152	4. "Comprehensive Hearing Exam " means a clinical assessment and
153	153	tests administered by a licensed, certified audiologist t o assess a
154	154	person's level of hearing as well as detect any abnormality or
155	155	diseases;
156	156	5. "Department" means the Oklahoma State Department of Health ;
157	157	6. “Draining Ear” means an ear is not able to be screened due
158	158	to a pustulent drainage from the ear canal;
159	159	7. “Equipment” means th e necessary items needed to carry out a
160	160	hearing screening pursuant to this legislation and consists of a
161	161	tablet computer with audio port ; a clinically validated auditory
162	162	assessment tablet-based software that uses both high frequency t ones
163	163	and speech-in-noise screening; high resolution headphones that
164	164	provide ambient noise attenuation ;
165	165	8. "Hearing screening" means the process or system used to
166	166	identify children in grades K, 1, 2, 3, 7 and 11
167	167	th
168	168	grade who may be
169	169	at risk of having or deve loping hearing problems that may adversely
170	170	affect their ability to acquire knowledg e, skill or learning, for
171	171	the purpose of recommending further evalua tion by an audiologist ;
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223	223	9. "A hearing screening app" means one that determines relative
224	224	auditory pathway integrity for speech un derstanding using speech in
225	225	quiet, speech in noise, and tones in noise methods , in addition to
226	226	pure tones;
227	227	10. "Hearing screening provider(s)" means a person(s) who has
228	228	successfully completed hearing screening training using curric ula
229	229	approved by the Depa rtment, submitted an application to the
230	230	Department, and has been approved by the Department as being a
231	231	hearing screening provider ;
232	232	11. "Hearing Screening Registry" is a system for collecting and
233	233	maintaining in a structured manner t he names of individuals that
234	234	have been approved by the Department as hearing screening providers ;
235	235	12. "Hearing screening trainer(s)" is a person(s) who has been
236	236	approved as a hearing screening provider and completed additional
237	237	training approved by the Dep artment to provide training to potential
238	238	hearing screening providers;
239	239	13. "Infant and Children's Health Advisory Council" means the
240	240	advisory council to the Board and Department in the area of infant
241	241	and child health including vision and audiology screening;
242	242	14. “Middle Ear Pathology: refers to the presence of either
243	243	outer ear obstructions by a foreign object and/or middle ear
244	244	pressure and/or fluid;
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296	296	15. “Noise Induced Hearing Loss” referred to as NIHL is the
297	297	loss of hearing sensitivity due to excessive ex posure at damaging
298	298	levels of noise;
299	299	16. "Pure Tone" means a hearing screening that determines
300	300	relative hearing sensitivity for pure tone frequencies. Pure tone
301	301	audiometry is recommended for school age chil dren;
302	302	17. "Referral" means parent or guardian notification that the
303	303	student's screening results indicate a need for a comprehensive
304	304	hearing exam by an aud iologist; and
305	305	18. "Auditory Administrator" means a state licensed and
306	306	certified audiologist with familiarity of pediatrics and/or
307	307	educational audiology matters who will ma nage all aspects of the
308	308	hearing screening programs regionally, along with the Department of
309	309	Health.
310	310	SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
311	311	in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1210.287 of Title 70, unless
312	312	there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
313	313	A. 1. The parent or guardian of each student enrolled in
314	314	kindergarten at a public school or public charter school in this
315	315	state shall provide certification to school person nel that the
316	316	student passed a hearing screening within the previous six (6)
317	317	months or during the school year. Such screening shall be conducte d
318	318	by personnel listed on the statewide registry as mainta ined by the
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370	370	State Department of Health , which may include, but not be limited
371	371	to, Oklahoma-licensed audiologists.
372	372	2. The parent or guardian of each student enrolled in first ,
373	373	second, third, seventh, and eleventh grade at a public school or
374	374	public charter school in this state shall provi de, within thirty
375	375	(30) days of the beginning of the sch ool year, certification to
376	376	school personnel that the student passed a hearing screening within
377	377	the previous six (6) months. Such screening shall be conducted by
378	378	personnel listed on the statewide regi stry as maintained by the
379	379	State Department of Health; provided, Oklahoma licensed audiologists
380	380	shall be exempt from such standards.
381	381	3. The parent or guardian of each student who receives a
382	382	hearing screening as required by this section shall receive
383	383	notification that a hearing screening is not the equivalent of a
384	384	comprehensive hearing exam.
385	385	B. Hearing screening must, at a minimum, utilize both of the
386	386	following hearing screening and/or tests using standard
387	387	screening/testing procedures for relative hearing integrity:
388	388	1. For school aged children, Speech-In-Noise Testing and high
389	389	definition pure tone audiometry on a clinically-validated auditory
390	390	assessment tablet-based software that uses both high frequency pure
391	391	tones and Speech-In-Noise screening or any new hearing screening
392	392	tool determined by the Department to be a comparable screening tool
393	393	that utilizes both methods;
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445	445	2. Otoacoustic Emission screening can suffice for difficult -to-
446	446	test patients; or
447	447	3. A child who is unable to be screened within the school
448	448	using methods mentione d should be referred to an audiologist.
449	449	C. The following hearing acuity criteria shall be used as a
450	450	basis for referring a child for further evalua tion by an
451	451	audiologist: refer for scoring 76.4 or less on a clinically-
452	452	validated tablet-based auditory assessment software using both high
453	453	frequency pure tone and speech -in-noise testing for two screenings
454	454	(within 24 hours apart) and/or referring the pure tone frequencies,
455	455	and/or a draining ear, and/or a refer on an OA .
456	456	D. 1. The Infant and Children's Health Advisory Council
457	457	created in Section 1-103a.1 of Title 63 of the Okl ahoma Statutes
458	458	shall make recommendations to the State Board of Health on:
459	459	a. qualifications for initial reco gnition and renewal of
460	460	recognition of hearing screeners,
461	461	b. qualifications for initial recognition and renewal of
462	462	recognition of hearing screener trainers,
463	463	c. qualifications for initial re cognition and renewal of
464	464	recognition of trainers of hearing screener trainers;
465	465	provided, Oklahoma licensed audiologists shall be
466	466	exempt from any training requirements,
467	467
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518	518	d. qualifications for initial recognition and renewal of
519	519	recognition of administrators of regi onally based
520	520	audiologists, and
521	521	e. grounds for denial, refusal, suspension, or revocation
522	522	of recognition of hearing screeners, hearing screener
523	523	trainers, and trainers of hearing screener trainers.
524	524	2. The Department shall:
525	525	a. establish and thereaft er maintain a statewide
526	526	registry, available via the Internet, which shall
527	527	contain a list of approved hearing screeners,
528	528	b. maintain a list of approved hearing screener trainers
529	529	and trainers of hearing screener trainers,
530	530	c. maintain a list of approved auditory administrators,
531	531	and
532	532	3. After notice and hearing, the Department may deny, refuse,
533	533	suspend, or revoke approval to an applicant who has a history of:
534	534	a. noncompliance or incomplete or partial compliance with
535	535	the provisions of this section or the rules ad opted by
536	536	the Board to implement the pro visions of this section,
537	537	b. referring persons to a business in which the applicant
538	538	has a financial interest or a busines s which is owned
539	539	or operated by someone within the third degree of
540	540	consanguinity or affinity of t he applicant, or
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592	592	c. conduct which demonstrates that the applicant is
593	593	providing services in a manner which does not warrant
594	594	public trust.
595	595	4. The Board, giving consideration to the recommendations of
596	596	the Council, shall promulgate rules to implement th e provisions of
597	597	this section.
598	598	E. 1. The parent or guardian of each student who fails the
599	599	hearing screening required in subsection A of this section shall
600	600	receive a recommendation to undergo a comprehensive hearing
601	601	examination performed by an Oklahoma-licensed audiologist.
602	602	2. The Oklahoma licensed audiologist shall forward a written
603	603	report of the results of the comprehensive hearing examination to
604	604	the auditory administrator regionally designated, the student's
605	605	school, parent or guardian, and prim ary health care provider
606	606	designated by the parent or guardian . The report shall include, but
607	607	not be limited to:
608	608	a. date of report,
609	609	b. name, address, and date of birth of the student,
610	610	c. name of the student's school,
611	611	d. type of examination,
612	612	e. a summary of significant findings, including
613	613	diagnoses, medication used, duration of action of
614	614	medication, treatment, prognosis, whether or not a
615	615	return visit is recommended and, if so, when,
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667	667	f. recommended educational adjustments for the child, if
668	668	any, which may includ e: preferential seating in the
669	669	classroom, the use of hearing aids, specific
670	670	interventions, FM systems, and any other
671	671	recommendations, and
672	672	g. name, address, credentials, and signature of the
673	673	examiner.
674	674	F. No student shall be pr ohibited from attending school for a
675	675	parent's or guardian's failure to furnish a report of the studen t's
676	676	hearing screening or an examiner's failure to furnish the results of
677	677	a student's comprehensive hearing examination required by t his
678	678	section.
679	679	G. School districts shall notify parents or guardians of
680	680	students who enroll in kindergarten, first, second, third, seventh,
681	681	and eleventh grade for the 2025-2026 school year and each year
682	682	thereafter of the requirements of this section.
683	683	H. The State Board of Education s hall adopt rules for the
684	684	implementation of this section except as provided in subsec tion B of
685	685	this section. The State Department o f Education shall issue a
686	686	report annually on the impact and effectiveness of this section.
687	687	SECTION 3. This act shall become effective November 1, 2024.
688	688
689	689	59-2-9405 MJ 01/18/24

Oklahoma 2024 Regular Session

Oklahoma House Bill HB3951 Compare Versions