(a) The General Assembly finds, determines, and declares:

(1) That hearing loss occurs in newborn infants more frequently than any other health condition for which newborn infant screening is required;

(2) That 80 percent of the language ability of a child is established by the time the child is 18 months of age and that hearing is vitally important to the healthy development of such language skills;

(3) That early detection of hearing loss in a child and early intervention and treatment has been demonstrated to be highly effective in facilitating a child's healthy development in a manner consistent with the child's age and cognitive ability;

(4) That children with hearing loss who do not receive such early intervention and treatment frequently require special educational services and that such services are publicly funded for the vast majority of children with hearing needs in the state;

(5) That appropriate testing and identification of newborn infants with hearing loss will facilitate early intervention and treatment and may therefore serve the public purposes of promoting the healthy development of children and reducing public expenditure;

(6) The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the American Academy of Audiology, and the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery have recently endorsed the implementation of universal newborn hearing screenings and recommended that such screenings be performed in all birthing hospitals and coordinated by state departments of public health; and

(7) That consumers should be entitled to know whether the hospital at which they choose to deliver their infant provides newborn hearing screening.

(b) As used in this Code section, the term "newborn infant" means an infant after delivery but before discharge from the hospital.

(c) For reasons specified in subsection (a) of this Code section, the General Assembly determines that it would be beneficial and in the best interests of the development of the children of the state that newborn infants' hearing be screened.

(d)(1) There is established an advisory committee on hearing in newborn infants for the purpose of studying and collecting the informational data specified in this Code section and reporting such information to the General Assembly and Governor by December 1, 2001, and for the purpose of providing recommendations to hospitals, physicians, and other health care institutions, the Department of Human Resources, and the public concerning, but not limited to, the following:

(A) Appropriate methodologies to be implemented for hearing screening of newborn infants, which methodologies shall be objective and physiologically based. An audiologist licensed pursuant to Chapter 44 of Title 43 shall perform such screening and a person not licensed as an audiologist may perform such screening provided such screening by the unlicensed person is performed pursuant to the exception in subsection (h) of Code Section 43-44-7;

(B) The number of births sufficient to qualify a hospital or health institution to arrange otherwise for hearing screenings; and

(C) Guidelines for reporting and the means to assure that identified children received referral for appropriate follow-up services. The advisory committee on hearing in newborn infants shall present its findings and recommendations to the Board of Human Resources. Said board shall consider the findings and recommendations of such advisory committee in the adoption of rules and regulations for purposes of such screening.

(2) The advisory committee on hearing in newborn infants shall consist of at least 11 members who shall be appointed by the director of the Division of Public Health of the Department of Human Resources. Such advisory committee shall be a joint subcommittee of:

(A) The Maternal & Infant Health Council; and

(B) The State Interagency Coordinating Council for Early Intervention.

There shall be one member from each of these councils on the advisory committee. Members appointed to the committee shall have training, experience, or interest in the area of hearing conditions of children and shall include at least one audiologist, one pediatrician, one hospital administrator from a hospital which offers perinatal services, one deaf or hard of hearing adult, and one parent of a deaf or hard of hearing child. In addition, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint one member from the House of Representatives, and the President of the Senate shall appoint one member from the Senate to serve on the advisory committee.

(3) The members of the advisory committee on hearing in newborn infants shall serve without compensation.

(4) The advisory committee on hearing in newborn infants shall meet as often as necessary to study and collect the information necessary and report to the General Assembly and Governor by December 1, 2001, to develop and make the recommendations specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection in a sufficiently timely manner to allow for state-wide hearing screening of newborn infants by July 1, 2002, and to make recommendations to promote universal newborn infant hearing screening pursuant to subsection (h) of this Code section.

(5) This subsection is automatically repealed effective July 1, 2005.

(e) It is the intent of the General Assembly that, by July 1, 2002, newborn hearing screening be conducted on no fewer than 95 percent of all newborn infants born in hospitals in this state, using procedures established by rule and regulation of the Board of Human Resources after review of any recommendations of the advisory committee on hearing in newborn infants, created in subsection (d) of this Code section. Toward that end, on and after July 1, 2001, every licensed or certified hospital and physician shall educate the parents of newborn infants born in such hospitals of the importance of screening the hearing of newborn infants and follow-up care. Education shall not be considered a substitute for the hearing screening described in this subsection. Every licensed or permitted hospital shall report annually to the Department of Human Resources concerning the following:

(1) The number of newborn infants born in the hospital;

(2) The number of newborn infants screened;

(3) The number of newborn infants who passed the screening, if administered; and

(4) The number of newborn infants who did not pass the screening, if administered.

(f) The advisory committee on hearing in newborn infants shall determine which hospitals or other health care providers in this state are ordering and administering newborn hearing screening to newborn infants on a voluntary basis and the number of newborn infants screened. The advisory committee on hearing in newborn infants shall report to the General Assembly and Governor by December 1, 2001, concerning the following:

(1) The number of hospitals and other health care providers administering such voluntary screenings;

(2) The number of newborn infants screened as compared to the total number of infants born in such hospitals and institutions;

(3) The number of newborn infants who passed the screening, if administered; and

(4) The number of newborn infants who did not pass the screening, if administered.

(g) Subject to available appropriations, the advisory committee on hearing in newborn infants shall make the report described in subsection (f) of this Code section available throughout the state and specifically available to physicians whose practice includes the practice of obstetrics or the care of newborn infants, to consumer groups, to managed care organizations, and to the media.

(h) If the number of newborn infants screened does not equal or exceed 95 percent of all newborn infants born in hospitals in this state by July 1, 2002, or falls below 95 percent at any time thereafter, the advisory committee shall continue to work with hospitals and physicians to achieve that goal. The advisory committee shall advise and assist hospitals and physicians regarding the conditions and procedures under which a parent or guardian of a child may object to and thereby exempt the child from such screening for religious reasons. The advisory committee shall study and address those hospitals with a low volume of births, as determined by the Department of Human Resources based upon recommendations by the advisory committee on hearing in newborn infants, which may arrange otherwise for newborn infant hearing screening.

(i) A physician, registered professional nurse, including a certified nurse midwife, or other health professional attending a birth outside a hospital or institution shall provide information, as established by the department, to parents regarding places where the parents may have their infants' screening and the importance of such screening.

(j) The department shall encourage the cooperation of local health departments, health care clinics, school districts, health care providers, and any other appropriate resources to promote the screening of newborn infants' hearing and early identification and intervention for those determined to have hearing loss for those infants born outside a hospital or institution.