[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3550 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3550

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to clarify 
                that ASL students are English learners.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2017

   Mr. Larsen of Washington introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to clarify 
                that ASL students are English learners.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Signing is Language Act''.

SEC. 2. AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY.

    Section 3111(c)(3)(A)(i) of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6821(c)(3)) is amended by inserting before the 
semicolon the following: ``and, which, through consultation with such 
Department, the Secretary shall ensure includes the English learners 
described in section 8101(20)(C)(iv)''.

SEC. 3. ENGLISH LEARNER DEFINITION.

    Section 8101(20)(C) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(20)(C)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (ii)(II), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in clause (iii), by striking ``and'' at the end and 
        inserting ``or''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(iv) whose native language is American 
                        Sign Language, and who comes from an 
                        environment where American Sign Language is 
                        dominant; and''.
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