Tag Archives: Topic: Legislation

LifeSiteNews: “A Tennessee law opting the state out of the new national health care reform’s abortion mandate went into effect Wednesday, after Democratic governor Phil Bredesen refused to either sign or veto legislation passed by overwhelming majorities in both chambers of Tennessee’s state house.”

ACLU: “Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Scott Brown (R-MA) and Congressmen Jason Altmire (D-PA) and Charlie Dent (R-PA)today introduced legislation that would strip American citizenship from Americans who have not been convicted of any crimes and are suspected of being involved with terrorism organizations. The bill would direct the State Department, which designates groups as terrorist organizations, to determine if a suspect is involved with or working for such an organization and whether or not to remove a suspect’s citizenship . . . ”

LifeSiteNews: “A Tennessee law opting the state out of the new national health care reform’s abortion mandate went into effect Wednesday, after Democratic governor Phil Bredesen refused to either sign or veto legislation passed by overwhelming majorities in both chambers of Tennessee’s state house.”

AnnArbor.com: “Lawmakers in the Michigan Senate are demanding the state’s public universities report on how they’re protecting the religious beliefs of students in counseling degree programs, nearly a year after an advocacy group sued Eastern Michigan University on behalf of student Julea Ward . . . In April 2009, the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom, a conservative public interest group focusing on religious freedom sued EMU alleging Ward’s civil rights were violated when she was dismissed from her counseling degree program at EMU because of her religious beliefs regarding homosexuality.”

Parlementario.com [Google Translation]: “After 12 hours of debate, the House approved the amendment of Civil Code for two people of the same sex can marry. Now is the turn of the Senate. The session was adjourned until Wednesday at 14 to treat the income of the initial approval of the Senate to change the sharing of the tax check.”

Beliefnet (RNS): “More than a decade after it was first introduced, an on-again off-again bill to protect employees’ religious expression in the workplace is attracting renewed attention that could lead to action on Capitol Hill in coming weeks . . . If passed, the now narrowly tailored legislation would require employers to make reasonable accommodation in the three areas where the vast majority of religious accommodation claims fall: religious clothing, grooming, and scheduling of religious holidays.”

Joplin Globe: “Southwest Missouri residents who have been battling an adult video store and spa near Sarcoxie want action this week on legislation that would regulate sexually oriented businesses in the state. A bill has been passed by the Missouri Senate and is set for final action in the House.” | SB 586

WRAL: “Four years after the General Assembly thought it had banned video poker gambling machines, the House and Senate could consider in the upcoming legislative session whether to try to ban an alternate form of the games or find a more profitable way to live with them.”

OneNewsNow: “The Michigan legislature is working on a measure in the state higher education budget that would require state-funded universities to report steps they’re making to protect religious freedom on campus . . . In early April 2009, [Julea] Ward brought a lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University through the Alliance Defense Fund, claiming a violation of her constitutional rights.”

LifeNews: “The top Republican in the House of Representatives said today that GOP lawmakers will try to repeal the pro-abortion health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law if Americans give them the majority after the November congressional elections.”

Capitol News Service: “With the House spending more than two hours debating the abortion legislation, dozens of bills that passed the senate are being ignored. A bill that would lessen penalties for teens caught emailing or texting nude pictures of themselves or their peers, an offense known as sexting, is one of those bills. Bill Sponsor Dave Aronberg is upset that the House is delaying the measure.” | HB 1335

Sun Gazette: “As expected, the state Senate and House of Delegates on April 21 concurred with recommendations made by Gov. McDonnell on legislation establishing new specialty license plates. Lawmakers adopted the governor’s recommendations by a 38-0 vote in the Senate and 78-7 vote in the House of Delegates. The legislation creates a pro-choice license plate as a counterweight to the ‘Choose Life’ plate that was approved last year.” | SB 704 | HB 1108 | For more information see the ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/state-virginia+topic-license-plates/

“The Kansas House failed to override Gov. Mark Parkinson’s veto of a bill that would have rewritten the state’s laws on late-term abortions, falling two votes short on Friday . . .”

“. . . Speculation now is that Crist will veto the bill and return to his pro-abortion roots after trying to woo GOP voters in the primary bid . . . ”

The Capitol Fax Blog: “The problems of bullying at schools has attracted much attention over the past several years, and the General Assembly has just sent an anti-bullying bill to the governor. Schools will have to adopt anti-bullying policies. It was watered down from its original format, which also required education and record-keeping . . . Even so, Focus on the Family is not pleased . . . ‘There are good alternatives that provide protection to kids, but avoid entrapment in identity politics—such as the fair and objective model anti-bullying policy language drafted by the Alliance Defense Fund.’”

“The bill now goes to Gov. Linda Lingle, . . . a Republican, has not said whether she would sign, veto or allow the bill to become law without her signature . . . ”

“The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) late yesterday sent a letter to Governor Bredesen urging him to veto SB 2686/HB 2681, which would prevent any woman purchasing a qualified health plan through a state exchange from obtaining coverage for abortion. The legislation goes significantly further than longstanding rules against federal funding for abortion, which have traditionally permitted exceptions in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest. SB 2686/HB 2681 would not permit coverage even under those extreme circumstances.”

LifeSiteNews: “Citing the shortage in organs available for transplant, a state assemblyman in New York has proposed that all citizens of the state become automatically enrolled as candidates for organ harvesting. New York State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky has introduced a new bill in Albany that aims to enroll all New Yorkers as organ donors unless they take action to opt out.” | A09865

C-FAM: “Last Friday, a Congresswoman from Brooklyn, New York introduced a bill in the United States House of Representatives that would greatly expand international funding for abortion, contraception, and sex education, and would effectively eliminate the long-standing Helms Amendment prohibiting the use of U.S. foreign assistance funds for abortion. The Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act of 2010, sponsored by Representative Yvette Clarke and co-sponsored by at least 17 other House members, appears to be linked to the U.S. statement at the recently concluded United Nations Commission on Population and Development (CPD).”

WIBW: “Victims of child pornography would be able to sue people who distribute their images for at least $150,000 under a new bill approved by the legislature.” | SB 549 | HB 2509

KLFY (AP): “The bill by Democratic Rep. Patricia Smith, of Baton Rouge, would require the courses from grades four through 12 beginning with the 2011-12 school year. It would include teaching about abstinence, contraceptives and sexually transmitted diseases.”

LifeNews: “None of the pro-life Democrats who backed the pro-abortion health care bill in the House have signed on a co-sponsors of new legislation to apply the Hyde amendment to it. The new bill, the Protect Life Act, would fix the several different ways in which the measure funds abortions . . . ”

Randy Barnett writes at the Wall Street Journal: “First Congress said it was a regulation of commerce. Now it’s supposed to be a tax. Neither claim will survive Supreme Court scrutiny.”

WFMJ (AP): “A bill that would require Pennsylvania’s public schools to provide sex education to students is on its way to the state House of Representatives.” | HB 1163. Today’s Education Committee Roll Calls can be viewed here. | For more information on Pennsylvania and “sex ed” see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/state-pennsylvania+topic-sex-indoctrination/

Chicago Tribune: “Teens who forward or post online racy pictures of their underage classmates would get juvenile court supervision that could result in mandatory counseling or community service, under legislation sent to Gov. Pat Quinn on Tuesday.” | HB 4583 | For more on this legislation see the ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/state-illinois+topic-sexting/

LifeNews: “Florida senators today added an amendment to a health care bill that would allow women considering an abortion to see an ultrasound of their baby. Although abortion centers frequently conduct pre-abortion ultrasounds, they don’t necessarily give women a chance to see them. Sen. Alex Villalobos, a Miami Republican sponsored the amendment the Florida Senate approved on a 22-17 vote.” | HB 1143

The Samford Crimson: “[House Bill 432], Alabama’s first anti-human trafficking legislation, passed in both houses of the Alabama State Legislature merely hours before the 2010 legislative session ended on Thursday, April 22. The bill, which provides extensive protection for victims of labor and sex trade, will add Alabama to the list of 44 states that have strictly criminalized human trafficking under state law, according to the Polaris project.”

Topeka Capital-Journal: “The Senate narrowly rejected Wednesday a House bill that would have imposed state regulation of the adult entertainment industry in Kansas. A vote of 20-20, with Topeka Sen. Vicki Schmidt casting the deciding vote, prevented the measure from advancing to Democratic Gov. Mark Parkinson.” | SB 514

Public Discourse: “In a recent interview, Representative Bart Stupak accused the National Right to Life Committee and the Catholic bishops of ‘hypocrisy’ and of ‘just using the life issue to try to bring down health-care reform.’ Meanwhile, the editors at the Catholic magazine Commonweal piled on, suggesting that pro-life groups, including the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, were ‘lobbying groups hoping to stop Obamacare.’ They praised Stupak for resisting ‘Republican efforts to sabotage health care reform.’ In the heat of the debate, the Commonweal blog angrily announced that Americans United for Life ‘has herewith lost whatever credibility it still had as a nonpartisan prolife organization.’ These charges are serious, but are they also true? Did pro-lifers abandon their principles in order to score a partisan victory?”

Associated Press: “The New Hampshire Senate is voting this week whether to repeal the state’s archaic ‘blue laws’ restricting business activity on Sunday. The unenforced laws date to 1883 and limit business activity ‘except works of necessity and mercy’ to repair mills and factories that couldn’t wait.”

Times-Picayune: “Lengthy and passionate testimony in the Senate Judiciary A Committee today ended with a 3-1 party line rejection of a measure that would have expanded gay adoption in Louisiana. Senate Bill 129, which ended up as a combination of two measures by Sens. Ed Murray and J.P. Morrell, would have allowed unmarried couples to jointly adopt and allow an existing parent to petition a court to add a second adult as a legal parent.”

Sun-Herald (AP): “The Mississippi House fought briefly Saturday before passing passed a bill to ban public funding of abortions under health exchanges that will be created under a new federal law . . . The bills are Senate Bill 3214 and House Bills 1627 and 1644.”

“The House of Representatives today easily overrode the governor’s vetoes of two anti-abortion measures, including one requiring women to hear a description of an ultrasound examination before an abortion could be performed . . . ”

LifeNews: “State legislators in Tennessee may have beat their colleagues in Arizona in passing a law to allow the state to opt out of some of the abortion funding in the government-run health care bill President Barack Obama signed. But Governor Jan Brewer made Arizona officially the first to have the bill become law.” | Center for Arizona Policy Press Release | SB 1305

CBS 5 (AP): “California lawmakers have voted to modify a decades-old law designed to find the causes and cures of homosexuality.”

LifeNews: “Louisiana is the latest state to move ahead with a bill that would allow it to opt out of some of the abortion funding on the national health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law. HB 1247 cleared the Louisiana House floor without any negative amendments by a vote of 76-13 . . . ”

Citizen Link: “Four political action committees are targeting incumbents who voted for the health care reform law, despite their ‘pro-life’ claims.”

The Hill: “A new government report from Rick Foster, the chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), finds that President Barack Obama’s new healthcare reform law would cost $828 billion over the next decade while saving $577 billion.”

LifeNews: “The Missouri state Senate voted today to approve a bill that would help women with a pre-abortion ultrasound and give them information they need to make a better decision than abortion. The Senate voted 26-5 to expand the requirements of the current 24-hour waiting period.” | SB793

The Sydney Morning Herald: “Tough reforms to NSW child pornography laws that scrap the ‘artistic merit’ defence have passed through parliament . . . Rather than relying on the defence of artistic purpose, as has previously been the case, artists who create images of naked children will now have to pay for a commonwealth classification to ensure against prosecution.”

Albany Times Union: “Dr. Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, was in Albany on Wednesday to ask state legislators to update New York’s abortion law. New York was one of the first states to legalize abortion 40 years ago, but the law still is part of the penal code. Pro-choice advocates want it moved into the public health law, where it can better protect the privacy of patients and withstand legal challenges.”

LifeNews: “The Canadian parliament on Wednesday defeated a bill that would have legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia. MPs form all parties voted against the measure, Bill C-384, the private members bill sponsored by Francine Lalonde that was opposed by pro-life and disability rights organizations . . . ”

Miami Herald (AP): “A watered-down school prayer bill inspired by a Florida Panhandle lawsuit has cleared the Florida House. The bill that passed Thursday would bar schools from infringing on the First Amendment freedoms of teachers, staff or students unless they sign a written waiver of those rights.” | SB 1580

Citizen Link: “Concern over federal funding of abortion in the health care reform law has prompted several states to move toward ‘opting out.’”

USA Today: “The Hawaii Legislature is close to passing a law that would allow the state to ignore repeated requests for to produce the document. ”

Anchorage Daily News: “Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell said Tuesday the state will join 20 others led mostly by Republican governors in suing to overturn the health care overhaul bill signed into law last month by President Barack Obama.”

The Hill: “Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports show the crucial yes votes cashed in between March 21 and the end of the first quarter on March 31. They received big money from Democratic-leaning political action committees (PACs) and fellow Democratic members of Congress.”

LifeNews: “Oklahoma became the 22nd state to file a lawsuit seeking to overturn the government-run health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law that funds abortions. Because state Attorney General Drew Edmondson refused to file suit, the Oklahoma legislature took it upon itself to do so.”

ADF attorney Austin R. Nimocks appears in this CBN News Video along with Tony Perkins of FRC and Regent Law Professor Bradley Jacob to discuss the threat that ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act), legislation pending in Congress, poses to religious freedom.

The MP4 Video runs just over 5 minutes.

Memphis Daily News (AP): “Legislation that would prohibit Tennessee tax dollars from being used for abortion services is headed to the governor for his consideration.” | SB2686 / HB2681

Arkansas’s Unmarried Couple Adoption Ban: Depriving Children of Families
Catherine L. Hartz, 63 Ark. L. Rev. 113 (2010)

“The purpose of this article is to explore the history of the Initiative in limiting the foster and adoptive rights of cohabitating couples in Arkansas and the arguments for and against the ban. In doing so, this article will explain why Initiated Act 1 is unconstitutional, and how it will have a detrimental effect on the best interests of children in foster care in Arkansas.”

Baptist Press: “In the same way America’s views on abortion were transformed by the debate over partial-birth abortion, a first-of-its-kind Nebraska law spotlighting unborn child pain could further change hearts and minds and eventually lead to a gutting of Roe v. Wade and its companion cases, pro-life leaders say . . . ‘It is one of the first attempts to circumscribe the otherwise illimitable scope of the Doe v. Bolton health exception,’ Steven H. Aden, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, told BP. ‘It asserts the interest of the state not to allow the Bolton health exception to become the exception that swallows the rule.’”

LifeNews: “Lawmakers in Nebraska put their state on the pro-life map by passing a first-of-its kind piece of legislation that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the notion that unborn children feel pain. The legislation will likely be headed for court, but that’s exactly what pro-life groups are after.”

Tallahassee.com: “Stripped of its controversial references to prayer, a Senate bill that protects school faculty free-speech rights is more likely to move forward. The House has acted on its version, but amended it as well to delete specific references to ‘inspirational message’ and ‘school prayer.’”

Sierra Vista Herald: “Navajo lawmakers convening Monday for their spring session will consider adding the sexual exploitation of children via the Internet to the list of crimes punishable by the tribe.”

ADF attorney Matt Bowman appeared on the Schilling Show to discuss abortion and the healthcare legislation.

The MP3 runs approximately 9 minutes.

Illinois Family Institute: “Rev. Senator James Meeks (D-Chicago) sponsored and passed the bi-partisan school vouchers legislation (SB 2494) that now moves to the Illinois House. This bill would enable 22,000 Chicago elementary students who attend the city’s 49 worst performing schools to attend private schools.”

Fox11AZ.com: “The bill would put into law a current requirement set by Department of Health Services rules for confidential reports by abortion providers on individual abortions and circumstances without names of the women involved. The bill also requires court reports on how many times judges bypass parental consent requirements.”

The Times and Democrat: “South Carolina’s centuries-old gambling laws would be revised to legalize charity raffles and friendly poker games in residents’ homes under legislation given tentative approval Tuesday. A House subcommittee advanced the proposals 4-1, with legislators saying it’s time to fix the 1802 antigambling laws enforced haphazardly across the state.”

H.B. 189: Teaching Contraception in Utah’s Abstinence-Only Public Schools
Ian Atzet, 12 J. L. & Fam. Stud. 273 (2010)

“Voting against H.R. 189 would likely result from the Utah Legislature mistakenly prioritizing the inculcation of community values above education that would reverse STD infection trends. To support this assertion, this paper analyzes the changes proposed by H.R. 189 and their potential impact. Section II outlines the current statute, § 53A-13-101 of the Utah Code, and the resulting curriculum; Section III presents potential problems with sex education curricula; Section IV discusses the changes H.R. 189 will statutorily impose; and Section V presents arguments in favor of enacting H.R. 189.”

2theAdvocate.com: “A Louisiana House committee advanced Wednesday morning legislation that would prohibit insurance companies from covering the cost of abortions.”

ABC Action News: “Florida Lawmakers are debating a bill that would lessen the penalties for teens who send or receive nude picture of themselves or another minor.” | For more information see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/wordpress/tag/state-florida+topic-sexting/

Boston Herald (AP): “Gov. Deval Patrick has signed a bill outlawing the sending of sexually graphic instant messages to minors. The new law closes a loophole in Massachusetts law that led the state’s highest court earlier this year to overturn the conviction of a man accused of sending explicit instant messages to a 13-year-old girl.”

“Voters would be asked in November to amend the Florida Constitution by lifting a ban on the use of tax dollars ‘directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.” The proposal would repeal a 19th century provision known as the Blaine Amendment . . . ”

NPR: “In a setback for the insurers, Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel told the health plans to exhaust their administrative appeals before asking the court to decide if they can raise their premiums by eight to 32 percent for individuals and workers at small firms. The companies had asked the state court to invalidate the Massachusetts insurance commissioner’s rejections of 235 proposed rate increases . . . ”

LGBT POV quoting Barney Frank: “I’m hoping to get a vote on it in committee [House Committee on Education and Labor, chaired by California Democrat George Miller]. I’m doing a lot of work on it quietly, to get the issues involving transgender access to rooms where people have their clothes off. That’s a fact that you have to deal with, particularly for people who have not had an operation . . . So what the committee needs to do now is make sure we have the votes. There’s only one way to do it – it doesn’t mean marching, it doesn’t mean waving signs. It means calling up their representatives – the members of the House who represent them – and say, please vote for this bill and please oppose watering down the transgender provision . . . ”

LA Times: “The new law doesn’t prevent rate hikes such as Anthem Blue Cross’ double-digit increase last year. ‘It is a very big loophole,’ says Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is pushing regulatory legislation.”

Robert Pear writes at the NY Times: “In a new report, the Congressional Research Service says the law may have significant unintended consequences for the ‘personal health insurance coverage’ of senators, representatives and their staff members . . . The confusion raises the inevitable question: If they did not know exactly what they were doing to themselves, did lawmakers who wrote and passed the bill fully grasp the details of how it would influence the lives of other Americans?”

The California Family Council reports on a dangerous bill pending in the California legislature. “AB 2380 (Lowenthal, D-Long Beach) would allow “hearsay” statements to be included in the definition of “reasonable suspicion” in child abuse cases.”

Anthony Picarello, General Counsel to the USCCB, and Michael Moses, Associate General Counsel to the USCCB, have prepared this legal memo that begins: “The purpose of this legal memorandum is to identify the problems of the recently-passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Pub. L. No. 111-148 (“PPACA” or “the Act”), in relation to abortion funding and conscience protection, and then to assess whether (and if so,how) the corresponding Executive Order of March 24, 2010, corrects those problems. Although we wish it were otherwise, we must conclude that PPACA poses serious problems in these two areas, and that the Executive Order does not correct those problems.”

EdmondSun.com: “Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson Friday said his office will only enter a Florida lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the federal health care law if required to do so by legislative action . . . ”

Speak Up Church Blog: “In Yuma, Arizona, city officials denied Centro Familiar Cristiano a permit to operate a church in a building it had purchased on Main Street. The reason for the denial? According to the city, a downtown church was inconsistent with the economic development the city was trying to obtain in that area. Yuma is not alone. Churches across America have been harassed by city officials for no other reason than city officials do not see the economic value of having a church located within the town . . .”

Pensacola News Journal: “At the urging of a recent Pace High School class president, and over the warnings of civil libertarians, a House panel this morning unanimously approved a watered-down school-prayer measure that sponsors hope will protect religious freedom. … The bill is a response to a 2008 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union against Santa Rosa schools. The ACLU challenged teacher-led Bible study and administration-promoted prayer.” | CS/HB 31

East Valley Tribune: “The House gave preliminary approval Thursday to legislation making it illegal for state or local governments to include coverage for elective abortion in their health insurance plans for employees.” | SB 1305

On Top Mag (“gay advocacy website”): “A Pennsylvania lawmaker says he’s preparing to introduce a bill in the House that would recognize gay and lesbian couples with civil unions. Representative Mark Cohen, a Democrat, says he expects to debut his bill by April 14, gay weekly Philadelphia Gay News reported.”