Update on IDEA Reauthorization
December 2003

From the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (e-mail DREDF)

IDEA Rapid Response Network (RRN)

News Briefing #32 November 26, 2003

LATEST INFORMATION ON SENATE IDEA BILL: There were four holds on S. 1248 that prevented it from coming to the Senate floor. All four have been lifted. In addition, a unanimous consent agreement was passed in the Senate on November 21. The agreement locks in the number of amendments (see below) allowed when S. 1248 comes to the floor and remains in force the end of the 108th Congress. The bill did not come up for a vote before the holiday recess, so there will be no further activity until January. See RRN #30 at DREDF website for analysis of specific provisions in the S. 1248.

CONSENT AGREEMENT: The consent agreement permits S. 1248 to be considered with a limit on amendments. Allowed substantive amendments are:

• Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) on IDEA attorney fees
• Sen. Judd Gregg on IDEA funding
• Sen. Judd Gregg on IDEA paperwork reduction
• Unknown Republican amendment*
• Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) on IDEA funding
• Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) on IDEA for the homeless
• Sen. Hilary Clinton (D-NY) on coordinating data on developmental disabilities
• Unknown Democratic amendment*

* Standard protocol permits one open amendment for each party under a consent agreement.

AMENDMENTS: We don't know the substance of the amendments that will be proposed. But we continue to anticipate a nasty attempt to limit attorney fees. An attack on attorney fees is an attack on parents, because rights to counsel and representation are at the core of civil rights protections in all arenas. Republicans are trying to argue that special education attorneys prey on unsuspecting parents. But special education law is a particularly non- lucrative branch of law unless you represent a school district.

TO JOIN THE RRN: Visit DREDF website and complete our online subscription form. Earlier Briefings can also be found on our website.

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