Senate Finance, 4/22/26, 9am

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Call Senate Finance Committee to order. Today is April 22nd. We're in the Senate Finance Room in the State Capitol. Present today, Chairman Steadman. Chairman Olson is excused from the call.

We have Senator Keele, Senator Merrick, Senator Kaufman, Senator Cronk, myself, Senator Hoffman. We have two items on today's agenda. First being HB 10, add faculty member to the University Board of Regents. And secondly, we have HB 39, Education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. First item, HB 10, adding a faculty member to the Board of Regents.

This is the first hearing on this piece of legislation. I invite Representative Carrick to the table to identify herself and introduce the legislation to the Finance Committee. Representative Carrick.

Thank you. Good morning, members of the Senate Finance Committee. For the record, Ashley Carrick representing House District 35, West Fairbanks, and also the district which includes the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. Pleased to bring you House Bill 10 today, which simply adds a faculty member who is tenured to serve a 2-year term on the University Board of Regents. Members are likely aware that current board members serve for 8-year terms after appointment by the governor.

This legislation would allow for a tenured faculty member after a rigorous selection process and appointment by the governor, as well as confirmation by the legislature, to serve for a shorter 2-year term. And this legislation is being brought forward to provide better representation for this key stakeholder group. Our university system currently has a voting member with all board powers and responsibilities. That's reserved for a student regent. This legislation adds a faculty member for that same purpose.

Functionally, the change would be going from 11 board members to 12 board members, and the legislation provides that to establish a quorum, you would just have to have a majority of members present, which is currently the case. And for a motion to pass, you would have to have a majority vote, so 7 votes to pass. In practice, most board— most Regent votes are unanimous, so we don't anticipate a strong challenge around voting with this legislation. And then finally, there's a fiscal note for $4,500, which just accounts for the travel to and from board meetings that would be required for this. Additional member.

And then in the House, we added a 6-year sunset date. So this bill essentially provides an opportunity for us to try for a couple of terms— would be 3 terms total— a faculty Regent, and then come back as a legislature and decide if we want to continue that practice. It's my belief that this would be such a positive change for the University that this legislature would come back in 6 years likely codify this permanently. But I'm happy to see a sunset so that we have the opportunity to take a look at that and reflect. And that is all, Mr.

Chair. Thank you, Representative Carrick. Do members of the Senate Finance Committee have questions of the prime sponsor?

Seeing none, we will go to invited testimony. On line, we have Jacqueline Kaysen, the chair of the University of Alaska Faculty Alliance. Please identify yourself for the record and present your invited testimony.

Thank you, Chair. My name is Jackie Kasen. I currently chair the UA Faculty Alliance, and I want to thank the Senate Finance Committee for this opportunity to testify in support of HB 10. All three faculty senates have passed resolutions to support this bill. UA Faculty Alliance has included a detailed letter of support in the current bill packet.

Other university systems have voting faculty regents on their equivalent of the Board of Regents. I'll begin by emphasizing a distinction between collective bargaining and shared governance, because I think the blurring of that distinction has led the system president and the regents to oppose this bill. Collective bargaining seeks agreement that governs compensation and working conditions. Shared governance, by contrast, is a collaborative decision-making process that involves all groups with a stake in the decisions that affect the educational environment. A faculty regent would not function as a labor leader, but would provide programmatic insight.

Shared governance is a critical part of the university, and while UA has a longstanding tradition of shared governance, this current structure is limited. The Board of Regents would gain a more comprehensive view of the university if faculty had a seat at the table throughout the process, including executive sessions. First and foremost, the University is an institution of learning, and faculty play a central role in creating conditions conducive to learning. Not all Regents have earned a college degree, and those who have don't fully understand the academic aspects of the University. I didn't as a student.

Faculty are the ones who create and deliver curricular programs. There's the teaching and learning relationship is central. The faculty perspective provides on-the-ground insight that complements an aerial view of economic incentives senses and constraints. The Faculty Regent would promote academically informed decisions. As Alliance Chair, I serve in a shared governance capacity attending all board meetings over the past year, and I've worked collaboratively to align the faculty in support of the Regent's student-first agenda, which establishes metrics for increasing recruitment, retention, and graduation as a means to increase revenue and supply the state's workforce.

The Regent hired an outside consultant to help formulate that agenda, If you were to read the 30-page report on the system website, you'd find faculty mentioned just 3 times. Each mention focuses on a retention metric that's to increase faculty use of the consultant software program to track student progress. So it has required creative effort among faculty to imagine ourselves into the framework as written. The relative absence of faculty in the student-first agenda underscores the region's knowledge vacuum when it comes to the many ways faculty mentor students in reaching academic and career goals. Students are more than revenue generators or outputs.

They are complex human beings with goals, whom faculty have a close and often longstanding relationship. Please don't get me wrong, an outside community and business perspective each have value in governing a university, but without a ground truth understanding of teaching, learning, and research, our board will function from a myopic perspective. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Kacen. Do members of the Finance Committee have questions for Ms. Kacen?

Seeing none, we will proceed to invited testimony.

So we finished that, so we have no questions. So we'll open the public hearing. We have Mary Wagner from Juneau to testify.

Please come forward. Are you in the room or online? I am online. Co-chairs, Senators Hoffman, Olson, and Steadman, and members of the Senate Finance Committee. My name is Dr. Mary Wagner, faculty at the University of Alaska Southeast.

And I'm speaking in support of HB 10. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. The core work of the university is academic with direct impact on the economic vitality of our state. Strong governance requires not only financial and public oversight, but also academic expertise. Faculty bring direct knowledge of curriculum, accreditation, student learning, and academic quality, which are areas essential to institutional success and risk management.

Adding a faculty regent strengthens alignment between board decisions and the academic mission they are meant to support. Alaska recognized the value of board-level perspective over 50 years ago with the addition of a student regent, strengthening governance through lived student experience. Adding a faculty regent is a natural next step that brings both lived experience and professional academic expertise into board deliberations. All Regents bring perspectives from their professional backgrounds and are bound by the same fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the university as a whole. The University of Alaska already applies this principle with a student Regent who serves as a full voting member.

A faculty Regent would operate under the same expectations, including recusal where appropriate. The value added is not in advocacy, but informed decision-making grounded in academic expertise. Alaska has the opportunity to take this final step in strengthening its governance model by aligning Board of Regents composition with the full scope of expertise required to steward the university. With this bill already passed by the House, this is an opportunity for the Senate to complete that alignment and position the University of Alaska for the future. Thank you for your time and for your work on behalf of education in Alaska.

Thank you, Dr. Wagner. At this time, I'd like to recognize Senator Gray Jackson, who is in the audience and is a sponsor of a companion bill here in the Senate. We will go to Dillingham and hear from Tav Amu. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony. Hello, I am Tav Amu, the Alaska Sea Grant Moon Advisory Program agent for Bristol Bay.

I live and work in Dillingham and represent myself. I strongly support HB 10, adding a faculty member to the Board of Regents. We currently have a student regent, which I think is a fantastic opportunity for the individual student as well as for the board to have a distinct and directly impacted perspective. Having a faculty regent would be able to offer a different and unique perspective from those who are strongly invested and impacted by the board's decisions. Decisions.

Having a tenure-track faculty member would provide incredible insight and be a wealth of knowledge and information for the board, as well as be able to help bridge the gap between the two different perspectives and worlds. Thank you for your time. Thank you. We will move to Fairbanks where we'll hear from Ingrid Johnson. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Thank you, Chair. This is Dr. Ingrid Johnson, um, as you said, in Fairbanks. I'm faculty in the Justice Department here at UAF. I was also faculty at the Justice Center at UAA for 6 years prior to being at UAF. I'm calling to strongly support HB 10.

I think that faculty are the lifeblood of the university. We know what happens in the classroom. We know what happens in faculty meetings. We know what happens in committee meetings in ways that all of the policies that the Board of Regents are setting don't necessarily have experience actually engaging in. And so, so many of the core functions, and arguably the most core functions of the University, which are teaching and learning, there are— that perspective is not necessarily represented on the Board of Regents without a faculty member on the board.

So I would strongly encourage the policy and priority setting body for the University System to have someone with that experience. Thank you. Thank you, Ingrid. Is there anyone else online? Seeing none, no one else online.

Is there anyone in the audience that would like to testify on this legislation at this time?

Please come forward, identify yourself for the record, and proceed with your testimony.

Good morning. My name is Dr. Jill Dumasnell. I'm a professor of mathematics here in Juneau at UAS Southeast. I'm also president of United Academics, the statewide union that represents over 1,100 full-time faculty members. I support HB 10, the addition of a faculty regent to the Board of Regents.

Adding a faculty regent would complement the existing student regent and ensure that faculty perspectives and professional expertise delivering the educational mission of the university are utilized when governance decisions are made. It is quite rare for the current Board of Regents to have any member with past or present experience as a full-time faculty member. Currently, one faculty member, the Faculty Alliance Chair, is allowed 7 minutes to address the board at each meeting.

For other faculty members to speak directly to the board, we must call in to a 1-hour public testimony and are allowed only 2 minutes to speak. The addition of a faculty regent has broad support from faculty members, including faculty senates and the faculty union. All 3 faculty senates, the Statewide Faculty Alliance, and the faculty union have passed motions or resolutions in favor of this bill. In fact, the union's representative assembly passed a motion reaffirming its support as recently as Saturday, April 18th. Concerns about tie votes or conflicts of interest can be easily resolved since a majority is by definition more than 50%.

Then a tie vote clearly fails. As it is not a majority. Conflicts of interest can also be avoided as they are now by disclosure and recusal from decisions, discussion, and voting. A faculty regent, for example, would abstain from votes relating to the United Academics Collective Bargaining Agreement. These and other minor procedural issues are regularly handled in board and committee work.

They don't detract from the overwhelming benefit of including a faculty perspective on the University Board of Regents. Thank you for your time, your work on behalf of Alaskans, and your consideration of HB 10. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the audience that would like to testify on this piece of legislation?

Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing. We go to Senator Keel for review of the fiscal notes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. House Bill 10 has one fiscal note. It's from the University of Alaska system-wide.

As the sponsor discussed, it is for $4,500 of unrestricted general funds. That number stays flat going forward. Thank you, Senator Keel. Set this bill aside. Representative Carrick, do you have any closing comments?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, for the record, Ashley Carrick representing West Fairbanks. Just want to thank the Senate Finance Committee for hearing this bill today. As you heard with the public and invited testimony, there are natural safeguards on potential concerns around conflict of interest or voting, and I'd be very happy to talk offline about any questions or issues that may come up for you. And I also just want to note too that not only do the faculty very strongly support this across our entire system, we also have had letters of support from students over time as they've seen the value of their full voting student regent member and want to support their counterparts in the faculty.

So there's a broad coalition of support here. Again, there is a sunset date, so we have the opportunity to come back and take a look at this again should we pass the legislation and make sure that it's doing what we hope it will do. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Representative Carrick. We will set this bill aside.

The second item on today's agenda is HB 39, Education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. This is the first hearing on this bill. I invite Representative Allard and her staff to the table to introduce HB 37 to the committee. Please identify yourself for the record, Ms. Allard, and enlighten us on what you're trying to do to us today.

Thank you, Chairman Olson and members of the Finance Committee, for the sec— For the record, I'm Representative Allard representing Eagle River, and I'm sitting next to me is Senator Elvie Gray Jackson. She has carried the co-companion bill here for Senate. I'm here to represent and present HB 39, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Bill. Approximately 30 new— 33 new babies are born each year in Alaska diagnosed with permanent hearing loss. Many individuals with the hearing loss go unnoticed because their hearing loss is inside versus noticeably different on the outside.

As many as 15 in every 1,000 in Alaska children have some degree of hearing disorder. Alaska has a high prevalence of hearing loss compared to other states with high frequency hearing loss found up to 29.7% in certain rural cities. This is an impact of the threshold of children 7 years and older a critical point, a cutoff point for normal hearing. This bill aims to establish consistency in the information provided to parents by school districts, allowing parents to choose the best method of communication for their children and require school district to provide services with the parent's chosen method of communication. The services currently offered by school districts vary site by site.

The deaf and hard of hearing children possess the same inherent ability to acquire language and other children They have the right to capacity to be educated, graduate from high school, pursue further education, and embark on careers. They also have the right to hear the ability to communicate, acquire language, and treat it as priority. This bill does this. We know what the lack of access in the classrooms can result in: students missing essential information, lectures, discussion, potentially leading to low academic achievement, and reduced language acquisition. This bill establishes that parents receive unbiased information regarding hearing technology, different methods of communication for the child who is deaf or hard of hearing, available services and programs, support services offered by public and private agencies.

This bill also allows the parent to choose the method of communication deemed appropriate for their child. And that's the services where the deaf and the hard of hearing be delivered by the school district through professionals with training experience and a background in the chosen method of communication. Therefore, this bill mandates the Department of Education and Early Development to establish and operate centralized program for students with primary language in ASL, long-term American Sign Language, and provide residential services. Chair Olson and members of the committee.

This is something everybody should support. Thank you. Thank you, Representative Ballard. I know Senator Olson and I get mixed up all the time, but I'm Senator Hoffman. Sorry, I apologize.

No problem. Senator Grey Jackson, do you have comments? Certainly. First, I want to say thank you to you, Mr. Chairman, and the committee for hearing this bill. And I want to say I'm really proud to be sitting here today with my friend and colleague from the other body.

This bill has been a work in progress over the past year, and it was introduced as Senate Bill 8, and it received hearings in Senate committees last year. And this reflected the continued commitment to advancing this effort. We've also visited several schools in the Anchorage area that support deaf and hard of hearing students. I know this legislation is deeply personal to my colleague here, and I'm honored to join her in advocating for this important bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Do members of the Senate Finance Committee have questions regarding this bill of the prime sponsor? Senator Keel. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative, Senator, thank you for bringing forward a good bill with good goals.

I have a question just about some of the mechanics on the last couple of lines of the bill.

It— as I understand, the program that's offered now is offered by the Anchorage School District on contract with the state. It—. The last lines of the bill seem to talk about a student in another district who attends this school. That other district, we'll use Juneau as an example. If a Juneau student goes, it says that the— I think it says the Juneau School District has the responsibility to provide special education.

Doesn't the ADM count in the Anchorage School District for that student? Does the Juneau School District obtain any funding? Thank you, Senator Keel. What I'm going to do is I'm going to refer to Ms. Clara Baldwin. She is online right now.

She represents the deaf and hard of hearing community. I also have Duane Mays, who is president of the board for the deaf and hard of hearing. She's going to speak.

Clara Baldwin, did you hear Senator Keele's question? Yes. Hello. This is the interpreter. Can everybody hear me in the room?

Yes, we can. Perfect. I just want to make sure. We were having some technical difficulties earlier.

Hello, through the chair, this is Clara Baldwin, and I am using my first language of American Sign Language. I'm a deaf individual myself, and I have an interpreter, so thank you, Andrew, for interpreting this today. So I would like to answer your question. So the Alaska State School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is the one who has the agreement with DEED. We do partner with other districts through a memorandum of agreement, and the district will continue to provide special education services, and we will provide consult services, ASL assessments, support, and help picking qualified people who have sign fluency to be able to support them.

We do also partner with the Special Education Service Agency, or CISA as well for rural districts to collaborate with us. So we do sponsor other districts. We stand ready to continue that service as needed. So if they want to keep their deaf and hard of hearing student in their district, we obviously respect that as well, and we stand ready to provide services.

Thank you for that explanation. Do members of the Finance Committee have Further questions at this time before we go to invited testimony? Seeing none, Claire Baldwin, you're up for your invited testimony on this legislation.

Hello. Through the chair and Finance Committee, Finance Committee members, thank you for having me as an invited testimony participant today. My job is that I oversee the Alaska State School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Our physical location is in Anchorage.

We have an elementary, a middle school, a high school, and another special program if our students qualify. For example, some of our students are in the ACT program or the Adult Community Transition Program. So we don't have a deaf ed teacher there, but we do provide support with an ASL educational interpreter. And additional adults to support those students as well.

So it has come a very long way with this bill, even though, you know, some of the legislators say, "Oh, 3 years, not that bad." 3 years is a little bit long for me and for my group of Alaskan deaf people who are here. So we just visited last February, so— and we actually brought 3 of our young ladies of our students, and some of them from 12, some of them were 7, some of them 9. They all have various stages of hearing loss, and they all have different communication modalities. So today you are actually in for a treat. We actually have Linnea, who just arrived.

I just saw her walk into this room, but she has hearing loss as well, so she can communicate in both sign language and spoken language. And Linnea is able to do that. And the reason is, is all of their families have been impacted, and they are actually lucky and fortunate to have the right providers and the right infant learning services providers to be able to give them a non-biased opinion and the non-biased information of how their child can communicate and the options that is available to them and the technology that's available to them, they are lucky. All over the state of Alaska, parents might not have the same experience. So I think this bill is a good place to establish that and make sure that we value all children with hearing loss in the state of Alaska as well as their future, to give them the option to have different communication modalities.

Maybe they pick more than one, maybe they they just pick one. The goal is to have parents fully informed and have the knowledge, because again, knowledge is power. So that's what I want to close with. So hearing loss is a low incidence disability, especially at birth. And again, it is a spectrum.

For example, Representative Allard, she has hearing loss as a result of her service for our country, and that's called being late deafened. So, but when you are born, the act of birth, you know, if it's hearing loss, it's a little bit overwhelming for families. Families feel scared, you know, maybe it's the first person with hearing loss they've ever met and it's their child. So they are a little bit confused as to what to do. The bill will make sure that families are well informed and have the options for their child and that their child can have a successful future no matter what communication whatever communication modality they choose.

Thank you for having me. Thank you, Ms. Baldwin. We will continue with invited testimony, and we have an individual that's here in the room, Julian Schroeder. I think Leanna, her daughter, is accompanying her. Please come forward, identify yourself for the record, and proceed with your invited testimony.

Thank you. My name is Jillian Schroeder. I'm a clinical social worker by training. I live in East Anchorage with my husband Jesse and our two kiddos. Our son Matthias just turned 10, and Linnea, who's here with me today, will turn 7 next month.

Um, we are here today in support of House Bill 39 because in addition to being a feisty, creative very funny girl. Linnea was born deaf.

This bill is important for the reasons that Clara mentioned. I'll say it's very important to families like ours.

The two things it does: ensuring that families are provided more consistent and unbiased information on the language and communication options available to their child in the school system, information is very important. I talked to family after family after family, and our own experience is that the information being provided to families is incredibly varied, at times contradictory and even biased. And that is really— it's harmful to families. And it's harmful to kids. The second thing it does is recognizes the importance of maintaining a state school for the deaf, which as a family who accesses that educational service, it's really vital to us.

I'd like to thank Representative Allard and Senator Gray Jackson for championing this bill. I'd like to thank the Alaska Deaf Council under the leadership of Duane Mays for supporting this advocacy and really leading this, the advocacy work that we've been doing. I'd like to thank all of the legislators who've given us their time and attention listen to the needs of our families like ours and our students, our kiddos.

I know that this bill affects a relatively small number of students in the state, but to those of us parents and caregivers of kiddos who are deaf or hard of hearing, this bill is deeply meaningful. I would like to thank you for hearing it today. Thank you. Juliana, and I would give a special thanks to Linnea for coming forward and coming to the Senate Finance Committee supporting your mother. She's very excited to be on TV.

So we will move forward and hear from Duane Mays, former director for the Division of Vocal Rehabilitation, in person today. Please come forward and identify yourself and proceed with your invited testimony.

Good morning. For the record, my name is Duane Mays, and I am currently the president of the Alaska Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deafblind Council.

I have another qualification in that I am a CODA, Children of Deaf Adults. I was raised in the deaf community. My mom and dad, who have since passed away, both deaf, and generations of deaf aunts and uncles and cousins. So what I remember is growing up in the deaf community and going to major social events. I would like to thank the Senate Finance Committee for scheduling House Bill 39, an act related to public schools for the education of deaf and hard of hearing students.

I can tell you how much this means to us. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I would also like to thank Representative Allard and Senator Elvie Gray Jackson for their support of this bill. It means a lot to the deaf community. Over 20 states have passed similar legislation in the last 10 years on improving deaf and hard of hearing education.

So it's been very active throughout the country. Literacy and social-emotional development are fundamental pillars in the education of deaf and hard of hearing children. Research consistently shows that bilingual environments which nurture both American Sign Language and English provides significant cognitive and social advantages. Bilingual settings support stronger literacy skills, enhance critical thinking, communication, and self-esteem, empowering students to participate fully in academic and social life. Very important.

Culturally responsive teaching grounded in the respect for deaf culture and identity creates inclusive classrooms where every child's language and experiences are valued.

The Deaf Education Bill of Rights, as outlined in House Bill 39, ensures that these essential components are integrated within educational systems. House Bill 39 access to bilingual instruction and culturally sensitive practices, promoting equitable opportunities for lifelong success. This bill affirms the right of every deaf and hard of hearing child to achieve their fullest potential, laying the foundation for improved educational outcomes and a brighter future. In summary, we are proud that this bill is bipartisan as evident from the number of co-sponsors, both in the House and in the Senate. In the House, 19, in the Senate, 12.

And I again want to thank Jillian Schroeder for bringing her daughter. She's going to have quite a thrill today. We have several meetings and this will be something that she'll remember when she's an adult. So thank you. Thank you.

We will go to open up public hearing.

And we will go to Jamie Klimczak, the Council on Disabilities and Special Education. Please identify yourself and proceed with your testimony. Thank you. To the Chair and members of the Senate Finance Committee, Committee. My name is Jamie Klimchak, and I'm a Program Coordinator II with the State of Alaska Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education.

I'm here to provide personal testimony on behalf of the council in support of HB 39. I was born in Alaska and raised in the Matanuska Valley with significant hearing impairment in both ears and have had hearing aids since 1983. I also had cataracts in both eyes, was legally blind in my left eye, and ADHD that went undiagnosed until I was an adult, because everyone was so focused on my hearing and my vision. In school, I was forced to wear hearing aids that were painful, they didn't fit correctly, and had poor quality sound. I was reprimanded for taking them out or not wearing them at all.

My teachers did not know what to do with me. Other options were not made available to me or my family, like closed captioning or American Sign Language. My mom did not know how to help me other than to let me go without hearing aids, which also led to a protective services report board. I spent a lot of time looking at the back of teachers' heads because they were writing on a chalkboard. I couldn't see their mouths moving to read their lips, so their voices, they went into the wall.

My educational challenges were described in detail throughout my school records and clearly showed that I needed help, and they still said that I did not meet the criteria for an IEP. They also said they didn't have time to help me. I fell behind and was threatened to repeat I had to repeat school grades each year and I gave up recesses to catch up on reading skills. I took basic correspondence and summer school to catch up. I barely graduated high school and I almost did not get into college.

It was the girl sitting next to me in psychology class that told me about the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, not my educators. They invested in me and with their help I went from failing classes to getting A's and even made the Dean's List twice. And here I am talking with you all today. The council urges you to support HB 39 and help families with children who are deaf and hard of hearing like me and reinforce to them they are valued members of the community. We thank you so much for your consideration of this bill.

Thank you for that testimony. We'll go to Anchorage where we'll hear from Richard Saville, the Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education. Richard, identify yourself and proceed with your testimony.

Good morning. Thank you, Chairs Hoffman, Stegman, and members of the Senate Finance Committee. My name is Richard Saville. I'm the Education and Early Intervention Coordinator for the Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education. I'm testifying today in favor of HB 39.

Deaf and hard of hearing children have the right to have their ability to communicate and to acquire language treated as a priority. They have the right to learn from qualified professionals who could communicate directly with deaf children. They have the right to an opportunity to have opportunities to interact with deaf adult role models and to have deaf peers of the same language mode, level, and age. And they have the right to have full access to unbiased information, specialized personnel, school programs, and social activities. HB 39 ensures these rights are protected.

It will ensure parents and families of the children who are deaf and hard of hearing have the information and access to resources they need to make informed decisions about what's best for their children's future regarding language acquisition, development, and their education. Information and resources on American Sign Language, or ASL, are not always presented to families of children who are hard of hearing, leaving them unaware of that option. Children who are hard of hearing are often put into regular classrooms where spoken English is the mode of communication. Communication. When this happens, those children do not develop language as quickly or normally as hearing children do.

Missing language milestones can lead to language deficits and will fall behind in their education because they're unable to communicate and/or understand the lessons effectively. The council urges you to support HB 39, which will ensure information resources are available to all families who have children who are deaf and hard of hearing. And we'll reinforce them. They are valued members of our communities. Thank you.

Thank you for that testimony. We'll go to Eagle River. Karen Strake, I'm probably mispronouncing your name, but please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Yes, good morning. My name is Karen Strake and I live in Eagle River. I am the mother of a deaf daughter. And I am here today in strong support of the Deaf Child Bill of Rights, HB 39. When my daughter was born, she did not pass her newborn hearing screening.

And like many new parents, we were overwhelmed and trying to make the best decisions that we could with the information that we were given. And we quickly realized that we were not being provided with complete, neutral information about all of her communication and educational options. American Sign Language is often overlooked or actively discouraged, so we began to do our own research. Our family ultimately chose cochlear implants and a multimodal communication approach that includes spoken English and ASL. Because of those choices and many years of hard work, my daughter is thriving today.

She's a spirited little girl with a big personality and no shortage of opinions. She now learns through an individualized educational approach that combines multiple learning environments, an opportunity that we have spent years years advocating to make available to her. It has not been an easy road, and securing meaningful educational access has required persistence from every student along the way. She learns alongside mainstream peers in a general education classroom, oral deaf students in the Listening and Spoken Language program, and deaf students at the Alaska State School for the Hard of Hearing. Some of her peers use only spoken English, some use ASL, and some use both.

There is no one right way to be deaf or hard of hearing. Every child and every family is different. Families deserve full, unbiased information from the beginning so that they can make the choices that best fit their child's needs. And this is exactly what the bill supports. It helps ensure that our deaf and hard of hearing children have access to language, education, peers, and the opportunity to reach their full potential.

This is a bipartisan bill centered on our deaf and hard of hearing children and their families, and I respectfully ask for your support. Thank you for your time. Thank you. We will go to hear from Amy Bobich. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Yes, hello.

Give me one— give the interpreter one second.

We're going to switch some cameras real quick and make sure that I can fully see her. Perfect.

Yes, hello. So my name is Amy Bobich. This is my name sign.

So I'm here to testify as a deaf individual. I was born deaf. But my family didn't know until I was 2.

So right now I currently teach preschool at the Alaska State School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. So I teach ages 3, 4, and 5, so I am very passionate about language acquisition. Sorry, one second, hold on, I have a student right here. One second.

Sorry about that, students are here.

So I was born deaf. My parents found out at 2, and my family didn't know what to do. And I want to emphasize, at 2 years old, what language looks like. A 2-year-old should already be using 3 to 4-word sentences or phrases and being able to express themselves. At 2, I had nothing.

You know, I was able to point pointly, I was able to gesture, you know, I was able to kind of like mime out what I wanted, and I was already behind at 2. When my family found out, they knew nothing about sign language, they didn't know anything about language development, they didn't know about communication modalities or what to do with their child. And so my family struggled to try to figure out what resources were available. So all of that to today, I grew up and I was behind, you know, I I spent my years playing catch-up, and now as a deaf adult, I am finally fully caught up with my language skills. But looking at the students we currently have, and again, I teach preschool, I moved here about 4 years ago until now, I have data that shows students who enter at 3, their language skills are 61% 61% of those students were not at age level.

So that's more than half of my class that is currently language delayed. So this bill is very important to be able to provide the support and resources for all of the families from the beginning to be able to pull their language skills up in any modality that they choose. So early language access, and again, it doesn't matter what modality, that early language access is important for for all deaf and hard of hearing children. So please support this bill. Thank you for having me.

Thank you for that testimony. We will go to Courtney Westman. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with her testimony. Perfect. Yes, hello.

So I'm currently sharing a room with Amy, so we're sharing a camera. So hello. So for the record, my name is Courtney Westman. And I would like to thank the chairperson and the City Finance Committee for all of you for being here today to be able to bring this bill to the floor for the discussion. The reason I'm in support of this bill is it's important for deaf and hard of hearing children from, again, from birth to 5.

It is important to emphasize sign language or spoken language or any modality because with a hearing family, with parents, they're a little bit unsure what to do with their child who is experiencing hearing loss. And I would like to say a little bit more about my background. I was born and raised here in Anchorage. I'm a proud Alaskan myself, but I am from a hearing family. I was born and raised here.

I graduated high school here. I graduated college, I came back to get my master's, and I got a job as a school counselor for the Alaska State School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

So when my mother found out I was deaf, I was about 3 months old. Luckily, my mother had experienced some deafness in Montana because they have a deaf institute in Montana, and so she kind of knew what to do. But if it wasn't for that deaf institute attitude exposure, my mother would have struggled just like the other students. I would have been behind. You know, I, you know, there was limited resources to be able to support me growing up in education.

So it is important to support HB 39, you know, with parents having that choice because parents, parents often face that challenge. You know, there is a grieving process. My mother actually went through a grieving process and and she accepted it and she was able to support me through my upbringing. You know, she was able to see me successful.

So I was able to be successful with my parents having all the information. And so having parents who have new deaf and hard of hearing children having access to full unbiased information will help them succeed.

And so plus, you know, I grew up here in Alaska I work for the State School of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and I see, you know, many students who come in at 10 or 7 with no language at all, and it is a challenge for their life because, you know, compared to my life, you know, I was able to succeed because my parents had that access. But what I have seen with these students coming in is these parents don't have that unbiased information given to them, and I would like to see it be more streamlined and have that unbiased unbiased. For example, like Jillian and Linnea and Karen, you know, they were able to get that information, but they had to search for it. And so I want the same parents all over the state of Alaska to be given that information from the get-go so they have all the information and unbiased opinion to be able to make a decision.

So Representative Allard and Senator Gray Jackson, I want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for supporting HB 39. And please vote in favor of HB 39. Thank you. Thank you very much. Do we have anyone else online to testify?

Is there anyone in the audience that would like to testify on this bill at this time? Seeing none, we— do we have any closing comments by Representative Allard and Senator Gray Jackson? We do. Thank you, Senator Hoffman. So, and to the committee, I appreciate you letting me be here.

I just wanted to leave on a little bit of a personal note.

So when I was little, I appreciate what Claire Baldwin had said, but there's also a little bit more to that tale about my hearing loss. So when I was an infant, probably about a year and a half to 2 years old, I did have hearing loss and I had surgically implanted tubes put in my ears so I could hear better and I would stop getting my hearing and my ear infections, and it was basically brought on by an infection that I got when I had chickenpox back in the 1970s. Then I went on, the tubes had eventually fallen out, and by the time I was in the 4th grade, I was having a pretty hard time. During that time frame, my teacher didn't understand that I couldn't hear. So instead of trying to send me to a school nurse or get some help along the way, I had Scotch tape put over my mouth so I wouldn't speak and step on people and interrupt them when they were speaking.

I was put put in the front of the room with a little dunce hat on my head sitting on a stool. Eventually they figured out that I couldn't speak properly and I couldn't hear properly either. So I did end up getting the help that I needed and it worked out pretty well. And I went through speech therapy and today I still sometimes have a hard time with my words. Because as I got older, my hearing did get better, but then when I entered in the military, I was behind an M1 tanker and the driver didn't know I was there.

And if you're behind an M1 tanker in the Army, And anybody puts on the gas, it's almost like having jets, a jet come at you and thrust. And it blew me off the back of the tanker. My ears caught a little bit here. And the only thing that saved my life was that my Kevlar fell in front of my face, broke my nose, and it burned inside my ears just a smidge. So then it triggered a lot of hearing loss for me as an adult.

But one thing that I haven't explained to some people, and I think it needs to be said, So over the course of this session, my hearing devices have kind of come in and out and weren't working. They were about 4 years old. I use my phone, and I brought it up here to show that my hearing devices are connected through my phone, and depending on what room I'm in, I can calculate the noise. I can turn it up, down, take out the background noise, but my hearing devices weren't working. And luckily, this past Monday, we only have 3 audiologists here in the state that represent the military veterans in the state of Alaska, which is not many for all of us.

She ended up coming here to Juneau on Monday, got me in an appointment, and set me up with temporary hearing devices that are about $8,000 apiece. When I go home, I get 2 new sets, which will be about $16,000. My hearing today is very well, um, corrected from what I was going through for this past session. But I wanted to explain that even in my community, I have individuals who ridicule me, make fun of me, think I don't understand things, and it's all related to my hearing loss. So when we have a disability, even though it's not on the outside, it is on the inside and not recognizable.

I've had people in the community say to me, and outside of our community, that this bill shouldn't happen, that it doesn't matter. But it does matter. And if I'm at 55 years old getting bullied already by individuals and adults in my own community and outside my community, you can only imagine what happens to a little girl that's 6 years old or a young high school student that's 15. I hope you guys will pass this out and please do what's right for our communities. Thank you for being here and thank you for allowing me.

And one last thing, Senator Hoffman, I might need glasses, so I apologize. But what I will say is congratulations on your upcoming retirement. I respect everything you've done for us here in the state of Alaska. Your knowledge is very well respected in this building. Thank you.

Thank you. That's much appreciated. With that, we will go to fiscal notes. Senator Keehl. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

House Bill 39 has one fiscal note. It is from the Department of Education and Early Development in Student and School Achievement. It is a zero fiscal note, although they do note they'll need to update the existing regulations. Thank you. With that, we will set this bill aside.

That does conclude this morning's meeting. Our next meeting is scheduled for this afternoon at 1:30. We will be introducing CS-1 for the operating budget and get an update— updated fiscal outlook and summary from legislative finance. Is there anything else to come before the committee? With that, we are adjourned.