INDReporter

Jindal supports $1M allocation for deaf services

by Walter Pierce

The legislation, signed Tuesday, will steer a slice of state sales tax to the Telecommunications Fund for the Deaf. It was a compromise reached after Jindal opposed a proposal to charge a new, 2-cent monthly tax on cell phones to drum up money for the fund.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A bill that funnels $1 million a year to help provide services for people with hearing impairment has been signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

The legislation, signed Tuesday, will steer a slice of state sales tax to the Telecommunications Fund for the Deaf. It was a compromise reached after Jindal opposed a proposal to charge a new, 2-cent monthly tax on cell phones to drum up money for the fund.

Representatives from the Louisiana Commission for the Deaf said new dollars were needed because revenue from a 5-cent tax on landline phones had dropped because of increased cell phone use.

The Telecommunications Fund for the Deaf provides hearing aids, sign language interpretation, captioning and telecommunications services for the hearing-impaired.