On Dec. 10, 2012, NJ Assemblyman Nelson Albano and NJ Assemblyman Ron Dancer introduced 5 bills and 1 resolution into the NJ Assembly. We are waiting for the Assembly Education Committee Chair, Assemblyman Patrick J. Diegnan Jr., to post the bills to the education committee for a vote by the committee. If the committee votes to approve the bills, then the bills will go to the floor of the Assembly and will need to be voted on and passed by the General Assembly.
The same process will need to take place in the NJ Senate. If the bills are passed in both houses of the state, then they will be moved onto the governor for his signature. If the governor signs the bills they become law and then off to the NJ Dept. of Education to turn the laws into action through required regulations, which the individual school districts will have to follow. Please note this process can take a while and not all the bills might make it through, but we need all NJ parents to help us spread the word and meet with their local legislators and ask them to support the bills.
Here are copies of the Assembly bills for you to review: NJ Assembly Dyslexia Bills 2012
Could you tell me the status of the bills that were introduced last year?
We are just in the beginning stages with the bills. Right now we are waiting for the Education Committee Chair in the Assembly and NJ Senate (we have duplicate bills in both houses) to “post” the bills to committee. This means the committee chairs would actually post the bills on a list that would then be reviewed and voted on by the education committee. If the bills get approved by the committee then it’s onto the floor of the Assembly and Senate and we wait again for them to be reviewed and voted on by the assemblymen and/or senators. During the review process, they may call a hearing where they will hear testimony from the public on the subject. We are really hoping they do so many of us can tell our stories! Here is a link that explains the process pretty well. http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/legprocess.asp
Thanks for asking! — Decoding Dyslexia-NJ