[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5483 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5483

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

                           December 18, 2019

 Mr. Larsen of Washington (for himself, Ms. Jayapal, Ms. Jackson Lee, 
and Mr. Heck) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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)))--
            (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 sign 
                        language, without regard to country of origin 
                        or primary spoken language, including any 
                        international variation of American Sign 
                        Language; and''.
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