Bill Text: MA H487 | 2009-2010 | 186th General Court | Introduced
Bill Title:
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-04 - Bill reported favorably by committee and referred to the House Committee On Ways and Means [H487 Detail]
Download: Massachusetts-2009-H487-Introduced.html
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
PRESENTED BY:
Tom Sannicandro
_______________
To the
Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill:
An Act to provide equal opportunities for special education.
_______________
PETITION OF:
|
Name: |
District/Address: |
|
Tom Sannicandro |
7th Middlesex |
|
David P. Linsky |
5th Middlesex |
|
Martha M. Walz |
8th Suffolk |
|
Benjamin Swan |
11th Hampden |
|
Alice K. Wolf |
25th Middlesex |
|
Robert L. Rice, Jr. |
2nd Worcester |
|
Steven A. Tolman |
Second Suffolk and Middlesex |
|
Walter F. Timilty |
7th Norfolk |
|
William Lantigua |
16th Essex |
|
Carl M. Sciortino, Jr. |
34th Middlesex |
|
Barbara A. L'Italien |
18th Essex |
|
Frank I. Smizik |
15th Norfolk |
|
Marian Walsh |
Suffolk and Norfolk |
|
Matthew C. Patrick |
3rd Barnstable |
|
Ellen Story |
3rd Hampshire |
|
Stephen L. DiNatale |
3rd Worcester |
|
Robert L. Rice, Jr. |
2nd Worcester |
|
Patricia D. Jehlen |
Second Middlesex |
|
Marian Walsh |
Suffolk and Norfolk |
|
Geraldine Creedon |
11th Plymouth |
|
Gloria L. Fox |
7th Suffolk |
|
Kay Khan |
11th Middlesex |
|
Ellen Story |
3rd Hampshire |
|
Jennifer M. Callahan |
18th Worcester |
|
Richard J. Ross |
9th Norfolk |
|
Alice Hanlon Peisch |
14th Norfolk |
|
Theodore C. Speliotis |
13th Essex |
|
Geraldine Creedon |
11th Plymouth |
|
Garrett J. Bradley |
3rd Plymouth |
The Commonwealth of
Massachusetts
_______________
In the Year Two Thousand and Nine
_______________
An Act to provide equal opportunities for special education.
Be
it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court
assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Section 3 of chapter 71B of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the twelfth paragraph the following paragraph:—
Parents, guardians or persons with custody of a student and, in the case of students with legal authority to act in their own behalf, students who have either requested a hearing before the bureau of special education appeals seeking resolution of any dispute or are parties to a proceeding initiated by a school committee at such bureau shall be entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, including the costs of experts, as a prevailing party if they obtain relief on a significant claim as a result of such request, or an appeal thereof, that effects a material alteration in the parties’ legal relationship, and is not merely de minimis, or if they achieve a favorable result in defense of the school committee’s action, whether such relief is the result of a voluntary change in the school committee’s conduct, a settlement agreement, or a decision or order issued by a hearing officer or court.
