United States HR 9196: Helen Keller Education Act

Bill Text

I 
119THCONGRESS 
2
DSESSION 
H. R. 9196 
To promote and ensure delivery of high-quality special education and related 
services to children and youth who are deafblind, and for other purposes. 
IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  
JUNE8, 2026 
Mr.  M
CGARVEY(for  himself,  Mr.  GARBARINO,  and  Mr.  RILEYof  New  York)  
introduced  the  following  bill;  which  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  
Education and Workforce 
A  BILL  
To  promote  and  ensure  delivery  of  high-quality  special  edu-
cation  and  related  services  to  children  and  youth  who  
are deafblind, and for other purposes. 
Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION    1.    SHORT    TITLE;    REFERENCES;    DEFINITION;    3
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 4
(a)  S
HORTTITLE.—This  Act  may  be  cited  as  the  5
‘‘Helen Keller Education Act’’. 6
(b)   R
EFERENCES.—Except   as   otherwise   expressly   7
provided,  whenever  in  this  Act  an  amendment  or  repeal  8
is  expressed  in  terms  of  an  amendment  to,  or  repeal  of,  9
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a  section  or  other  provision,  the  reference  shall  be  consid-1
ered to be made to a section or other provision of the Indi-2
viduals  with  Disabilities  Education  Act  (20  U.S.C.  1400  3
et seq.). 4
(c) D
EFINITION.—For purposes of this Act, the term 5
‘‘deafblind’’,  when  applied  to  an  individual,  means  the  in-6
dividual  has  concomitant  hearing  and  visual  impairments,  7
the combination of which— 8
(1) prevents access to information; 9
(2) causes severe communication challenges; 10
(3)  interferes  with  social  and  emotional  well-  11
being; and 12
(4)   impacts   other   developmental   areas   in   a   13
manner  that  adversely  affect  a  child’s  educational  14
performance  (including  children  who  are  deafblind  15
with additional disabilities). 16
(d) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 17
this Act is as follows: 18
Sec.  1.  Short title; references; definition; table of contents. 
TITLE  I—GENERAL  PROVISIONS  
Sec.  101.  Identifying children and youth who are deafblind. 
Sec.  102.  Related services. 
Sec.  103.  State plans. 
Sec.  104.  Evaluations. 
Sec.  105.  Consideration of special factors. 
Sec.  106.  Technical  assistance  for  parents  and  educators  of  children  and  youth  
who are deafblind. 
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Sec.  107.  Conforming regulations. 
TITLE   II—IMPROVING   THE   EFFECTIVENESS   OF   EARLY   INTER-
VENTION  FOR  INFANTS  AND  TODDLERS  WHO  ARE  DEAFBLIND  
AND  THEIR  FAMILIES  
Sec.  201.  Content of plan. 
TITLE  III—NATIONAL  ACTIVITIES  TO  IMPROVE  THE  EDUCATION  
OF  CHILDREN  WITH  DISABILITIES  
Sec.  301.  Personnel  development  to  improve  services  and  results  for  children  
with  disabilities;  ensuring  sufficient  teachers  of  children  who  
are deafblind, interveners, and early intervention specialists. 
TITLE I—GENERAL PROVISIONS 1
SEC.  101.  IDENTIFYING  CHILDREN  AND  YOUTH  WHO  ARE  2
DEAFBLIND. 3
(a)  S
ERVINGALLCHILDRENWHOAREDEAFBLIND 4
R
EGARDLESS    OFCLASSIFICATION.—Section   612(a)(3)   5
(20  U.S.C.  1412(a)(3))  is  amended  by  adding  at  the  end  6
the following: 7
‘‘(C)    S
ERVINGCHILDRENWHOARE 8
DEAFBLIND.—When  a  State  classifies  children  9
by  disability,  the  State,  in  complying  with  sub-10
section (a)— 11
‘‘(i)  identifies,  locates  and  evaluates  12
children  with  concomitant  vision  and  hear-13
ing  losses  who  are,  or  may  be,  classified  in  14
a      disability      category      other      than      15
deafblindness; and 16
‘‘(ii)   provides   (without   prejudice   to   17
such  classification)  special  education  and  18
related  services  to  such  children,  including  19
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the   specific   services   determined   appro-1
priate  based  on  proper  evaluation  as  would  2
be  provided  to  children  classified  in  the  3
State as having deafblindness.’’. 4
(b)  D
ATACOLLECTION   ANDREPORTING.—Section 5
618  (20  U.S.C.  1418)  is  amended  by  adding  at  the  end  6
the following: 7
‘‘(e)    A
CCOUNTINGFORCHILDRENWHOARE 8
D
EAFBLIND.—In addition to the other data collection and 9
reporting  requirements  of  this  section  and  subject  to  such  10
provisions,  the  State  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  11
shall, with respect to children classified in a disability cat-12
egory  other  than  deafblindn