Chapter 18, Chapter 18

(a) On or before January 1, 2002, the division shall approve minimum standards and criteria to be used in approving or rejecting procurements by state agencies for adaptive technologies for nonvisual access uses. (b) Nothing in this article shall require the installation of softw…

As used in this article the following words and phrases have the following meanings: (a) "Disability history" means the people, events and timelines of the development and evolution of services to, and the civil rights of, people with disabilities. Disability history includes the…

(a) To obtain and maintain an equivalent license from a receiving state under this compact, a licensee must: (1) Hold and maintain an active home state license; (2) Satisfy any applicable state specific requirements established by the member state after an equivalent license is g…

Pursuant to Article III I of the compact, the commission shall file a copy of its bylaws and any amendments thereto with the Secretary of State of West Virginia.

Except as otherwise provided by law the division shall provide vocational rehabilitation services to disabled individuals determined by the director to be eligible therefor, and for this purpose the division is authorized among other things to: (1) Cooperate with other department…

(a) The primary focus of the supported employment program is providing employment supports for persons with severe disabilities who have never worked or have only worked intermittently due to their disability. (b) To be eligible for the supported employment program, a person must…

No later than October 15 of each year, the State Superintendent shall distribute the information collected by the State Board of Education in §18-10P-3 of this code: (1) To every public high school in the state for distribution to students by school guidance counselors; and (2) T…

Instruction in braille reading and writing shall be provided with the goal of enabling each blind or visually impaired child to communicate effectively and efficiently with the same level of proficiency expected of the child's peers of comparable ability and grade level. The chil…

(a) To be eligible for assistance from the Ron Yost personal assistance program, a recipient must have a physical, mental or sensory impairment that affects one or more major life activity, and who: (1) Experiences any physical, mental or sensory impairment, or combination of imp…

The purpose of this section is to declare the intent of the state to enable severely physically disabled adults to enter or continue in the workforce, to enhance the opportunities for disabled individuals to participate fully in society through self-fulfillment and economic indep…

(a) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special fund designated the Ron Yost Personal Assistance Services Fund. The fund shall be an appropriated account within the Division of Rehabilitation Services and the moneys shall be expended exclusively for the purposes of th…

The provisions and purposes of the act of Congress of February twenty-third, nineteen hundred and seventeen, entitled "An act to provide for the promotion of vocational education; to provide for cooperation with the states in the promotion of such education in agriculture and the…

The West Virginia Board of Education shall maintain and expand an annual vocational-technical education administrator's academy. The purposes of this academy are to stimulate excellence in vocational-technical education programming statewide through the development of progressive…

The state board, through the division, is hereby designated the sole state agency to cooperate with the federal government in any federal program relating to the establishment, operation and maintenance of vocational rehabilitation facilities; and is hereby authorized and empower…

The departments, boards, agencies, commissions, officers and employees of the state and its subdivisions are authorized to cooperate with the council in the furtherance of any of its activities pursuant to this compact.

All publishers of textbooks or other instructional materials sold to the state or any local education agency (including post-secondary institutions) shall furnish computer diskettes for literary subjects in the American standard code for information interchange from which braille…

A licensee who is an active military member or is the spouse of an active military member shall be considered to hold a home state license in any of the following locations: (a) The licensee’s permanent residence; (b) A member state that is the licensee’s primary state of practic…

Any individual with a significant disability, as defined in the state plan, is eligible for services that may be made available pursuant to this article.

(a) The third week of October annually is designated as Disability History Week for the State of West Virginia. (b) In recognition of and to further the purposes of Disability History Week, each public school shall provide instruction on disability history, people with disabiliti…

(a) If an existing or a new vending machine or a replacement for an existing vending machine is installed after the effective date of the amendments to this article on any public property, vending machine income shall accrue to the licensed blind person operating the food service…

The State Board of Education may execute a memorandum of understanding with any department, agency, or division for information required to be collected by this article. Any department, agency, or division that possesses information required to be collected by this article, at le…

The division, or if required by federal law the board, commission or council appointed by the secretary of the Department of Education and the arts to oversee certain functions of the division, shall make agreements or plans to cooperate with the federal government in carrying ou…

There is created in the State Treasury a special revenue fund to be known as the "Rehabilitation Services Vending Program Fund." The fund shall operate as a special revenue fund whereby all deposits and payments thereto do not expire to the General Revenue Fund, but shall remain …

The Division of Rehabilitation Services, as directed by the consumer board, shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, necessary for the effective administration of this article including a …

(a) Any blind person aggrieved by a decision of the division of vocational rehabilitation under this article may apply for an administrative review or a full evidentiary hearing to be conducted in accordance with the procedures established and approved by the division of vocation…

As part of the professional certification process, teachers seeking to become certified in the education of blind and visually impaired children shall demonstrate competence in reading and writing braille. Before issuing a professional certificate to teach the blind and visually …

The requirements of this article are effective on January 1, 2021.

(a) Nothing in this compact shall be considered or construed to limit the authority of a member state to investigate or impose disciplinary measures on licensees according to the state’s practice laws. (b) Member states may receive, and shall provide, files and information regard…

(a) The West Virginia Statewide Independent Living Council is continued as a not-for-profit corporation which has been organized to meet the requirements of the federal Rehabilitation Act, as amended. The council may not be established as an entity within any agency or political …

The Legislature may appropriate such funds as it deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter, article, and sections.

The state board, through the division, and the state department of health shall cooperate to assure coordination of the vocational rehabilitation facility program under this article with the hospital construction program provided for under chapter sixteen, article one, section fo…

The State Treasurer is hereby designated as the custodian of all funds received from the federal government under any federal statutes pertaining to vocational rehabilitation. The State Treasurer shall make disbursements from such funds and from all state funds available for voca…

(a) There is hereby established in the State Treasury a separate account which shall be designated the “West Virginia Rehabilitation Services Special Account”. The director of rehabilitation services shall deposit promptly into the account all fees received for services provided …

(a) The member states hereby create and establish a joint government agency whose membership consists of all member states that have enacted the compact, and this agency shall be known as the School Psychologist Interstate Licensure Compact Commission. The commission is an instru…

(a) The state plan shall direct the use of federal funds provided to the state under the federal act and appropriated by the Legislature to the designated state entity in a line item for this purpose, in addition to any state funds that may be appropriated to the designated state…

The director is hereby authorized and empowered to accept and use gifts made unconditionally by will or otherwise for carrying out the purposes of this article. Gifts made under such conditions as in the judgment of the state board are proper and consistent with the provisions of…

(a) The division of vocational rehabilitation shall provide for the establishment and operation, including the payment of all reasonable expenses, of a committee of blind vendors to be elected biennially by the licensed blind vendors. Members of the committee of blind vendors sha…

The director shall appoint in accordance with chapter eighteen, article ten-a, section five of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all personnel he deems necessary for the efficient and economical operation and maintenance of vocational rehabilitation facilities establis…

If for any reason any section or provision of this article shall be held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect the remainder of the article.

There shall be an advisory committee of not less than five and not more than ten members to serve as advisors and consultants to the director of the division. The committee shall meet at least twice each year and at the call of the director of the division. The members of the com…

(a) Funds appropriated to the designated state entity for independent living services shall be administered by the designated state entity and may be used to fund any service or activity included in the state plan for independent living, including funding centers for independent …

Vocational rehabilitation services shall be provided to any disabled individual who is present in the state at the time of filing his application therefor, if the director after full investigation shall determine that his rehabilitation can be satisfactorily achieved. Such servic…

The state Board of Education is hereby authorized and empowered to accept for the State of West Virginia, and expend for the purpose designated, any funds that may hereafter be made available to the board out of the federal treasury by an act or acts of Congress and allocated to …

(a) The commission shall provide for facilitating the exchange of information to administer and implement the provisions of this compact in accordance with the rules of the commission, consistent with generally accepted data protection principles. (b) Notwithstanding any other pr…

(a) The commission shall exercise its rulemaking powers pursuant to the criteria set forth in this interstate compact and the rules adopted thereunder. Rules and amendments shall become binding as of the date specified in each rule or amendment. (b) The commission shall promulgat…

The state Board of Education as to educational matters other than those relating to the West Virginia University, the board of Governors of West Virginia University as to educational matters relating to said university, and the state commissioner of public institutions, as to fin…

Any individual applying for or receiving vocational rehabilitation who is aggrieved by any action or inaction of the division shall be entitled, in accordance with regulations, to a fair hearing.

Whereas, it is considered to be an essential part of any complete rehabilitation program to provide remunerative employment to severely handicapped or blind persons in order to prepare them to take their place in the competitive labor market, the division is hereby authorized to:…

The board of Governors of West Virginia University shall have authority, as provided in this article, to issue revenue bonds of the state, not to exceed $10 million in principal amount thereof, to finance the costs of providing new buildings for the college of agriculture, the ag…

The board of Governors of West Virginia University shall have authority, as provided in this article, to issue revenue bonds of the state, not to exceed $20 million in principal amount thereof, to refund bonds issued and outstanding under and pursuant to the provisions of article…