Changing Minnesota Law

A group of deaf students and teachers testified before Minnesota lawmakers this week in support of a bill sponsored by State Senator Rick Olseen. Another bill that Olseen recently passed the legislature required drivers of vans or suburbans to undergo physicals. Many teachers and coaches of deaf students could not pass the test because they are deaf themselves. Olseen’s new bill would correct that oversight. Olseen blames the Minnesota Department of Public Safety for a poor interpretation of the wording of the old bill for creating the problem in the first place.