LEGISLATIVE SESSION UPDATE 1
2011 LEGISLATIVE SESSION UPDATE:
H117 STATE SOVEREIGNTY/ “NULLIFICATION”
PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE BAN S 1070
Please be in prayer for all of the elected officials
» UPDATE: Rep. Marge Chadderdon began an aggressive chemo regime to combat cancer. Please BE IN PRAYER for her.
» ANALYSIS Anti-Bullying Bill, Blocking Tax-Payer Funded Abortion in Obamacare, Physician Assisted Suicide, State Sovereignty (Fails in the Senate), Parental Rights, Fetal Pain Read more >>
• State of Idaho Legislature website: Read copies of all printed bills >>
Legislative update 3-25-11
· H205 Public Library Internet Filter Bill designed to protect kids from being unwittingly exposed to pornography at their public library was amended in the senate education committee after lengthy testimony for and against the bill. Those opposing the bill were from the librarian community and they complained of censorship, cost issues, intellectual freedom, i.t. management, inconvenience, and local control. Those of us who supported the bill discussed the danger of another patron being exposed to pornography, especially children, and the fact that many children have had their lives and innocence destroyed at the library. A police officer and federal prosecutor spoke of their professional experience in arresting, prosecuting people who used public library computers to access porn which resulted in harming children.
In my opinion, for some reason, the concerns of time, money, manpower, and the disingenuous censorship argument hold a higher priority to those in the library community than protecting the innocence of a child.
The bold sponsors of h205, rep. Mack shelley, and sen. Dean mortimer, will amend h205 in order to save the piece of the bill that requires filters on library computers to which minors have access.
Good News!
Parental Rights Amendment Hjm1 Has Been Adopted! 3-7-11
S1070aa Passed The Senate Floor Vote And Moves On To The House! 3-11-10
S1148 Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act Will Be Heard In The Senate State Affairs Committee Wed. 3-16-11 8:00 Am
S 1115 Tax-Payer Funded Abortion/Obamacare Will Be Heard In The House State Affairs Committee Mon. 3-14-11
Update: parental rights amendment hjr1 will be heard in senate state affairs on monday march 7, 2011
Update: good news ! S1115 blocking idaho tax-payer funded abortion in obamacare passed out of the senate 27-7-1! Now on to the house!
Update: good news! S1105 sent to the amending order! To fix objectionable & confusing language!
Update: fetal pain bill “pain capable unborn child act” was voted to print and a hearing will be scheduled soon in the senate state affairs committee
UPDATE: Good News! S1105 sent to the amending order! S1105 Anti Bullying BilL After researching and conferring with attorneys at Alliance Defense Fund, Cornerstone Family Council testified in opposition to this bill.
While no one supports bullying, this bill is highly problematic and is legally ill-advised. S1105 has the appearance of a “Trojan Horse” component that is being used across the country a to instill “sexual orientation” protection in state law. The Senate Education Committee voted to send this bill to be amended.
Here is a brief piece of our testimony:
“We agree with the sponsors in seeking a remedy to the problem of bullying. However, S1105 is not the remedy.
Sadly, I must testify in opposition to S1105. This proposed legislation is highly problematic does nothing to strengthen the anti-bullying policy.
I’d like to address two broad-based concerns:
1. The inherent subjective determination of motive which logically evolves into the “thought police” component. The definition of “harassment, intimidation or bullying” is expanded to include “incidents perpetrated against a student because of any actual or perceived differentiating characteristics or by association with a person who has or is perceived to have one (1) or more of these characteristics.”
The language is extremely vague and provides no objective guidance for finding (or preventing) bullying.
2. The enhanced criminal charges levied on a student. The subjective nature of the definition of bullying could conceivably lead to grammar school criminals who get caught in the judicial system, sometimes based only on perception.
While none of us condones or supports bullying, S1105 is not the answer to the problem. Bullying can be adequately addressed without adding this troublesome language.”
UPDATE: Good News ! S1115 Blocking Idaho Tax-Payer Funded Abortion In Obamacare Passed Out Of The Senate 27-7-1! Now on to the HOUSE!
03/01 3rd rdg - PASSED - 27-7-1
AYES -- Bair, Bilyeu, Brackett, Broadsword, Cameron, Corder, Darrington, Davis, Fulcher, Goedde, Hammond, Heider, Hill, Keough, McGee, McKague, McKenzie, Mortimer, Nuxoll, Pearce, Schmidt, Siddoway, Smyser, Tippets, Toryanski, Vick, Winder
NAYS -- Andreason, Bock, LeFavour, Malepeai, Stegner, Stennett, Werk
Absent and excused -- Lodge
Floor Sponsor - McKenzie
Idaho Chooses Life brought forward this bill to in order to protect Idahoans from having their hard earned tax dollars be spent on the destruction of human life via the federal health insurance mandate being forced down our throats in Obamacare.
S1115 was heard in the Senate State Affairs and passed on to the floor of the Senate to be voted on sometime in the next few weeks!
Cornerstone Family council testified in support of S1115. Here is a portion of our testimony:
“….We should never allow the government to use our finances to continue engaging in a battle in which countless families have been shattered. The collateral damage imposed by the combination of Roe and the Great Society is inestimable…both in lives, and in dollars.
It is immoral to require Idahoans to be complicit in the destruction of other Americans. It is a Constitutional affront to compel one citizen to fund an action that they believe is immoral and repugnant.
Until this century, tax dollars were off limits for the triumvirate of Roe, the Great Society and the Courts. The latest addition to the arsenal rumbling over America is taxpayer funded abortions in Obamacare….a dangerous takeover of our heritage.
Cornerstone Family Council urges your yes vote on S1115.
As Thomas Jefferson said,
‘To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. ‘”
· UPDATE: S1070 Physician Assisted Suicide:
2-25-11: Senate Is Amending Some Of The Language. S1070 should be heard on the Senate floor sometime next week. We will review any changes in language for pro-life content.
HOMICIDE – S1070 Adds to existing law relating to homicide to provide for a felony relating to the causing of or assisting in a suicide, to provide penalties, to provide for the revocation of a certain license or certification, to provide injunctive relief, to provide exceptions and to define terms. Read the full bill here:
http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2011/S1070Bookmark.htm
Under the skillful guidance of Senate sponsor, Senator Russ Fulcher, the legislation making it a homicide to assist another person in committing suicide, S1070 passed soundly out of the Senate State Affairs Committee. Next step is that it goes for a vote of the full Senate.
Idaho is one of many states that has been targeted by a pro-euthanasia, pro-physician assisted suicide group called “Compassion and Choices”. Their goal? To legalize Kevorkian-type physician assisted suicide in Idaho as they did in Oregon and Washington. S1070 is a proactive move to make such a goal illegal here in Idaho.
CORNERSTONE FAMILY COUNCIL testified in support of S1070. Here are a few bullet points from our testimony:
· The issue is whether physicians should be allowed to intentionally kill their patients by providing the means of death. There is a tremendous distinction between allowing someone to die naturally when medical technology cannot stop the dying process and causing someone to die through assisted suicide.
· There are many reasons for Idaho to statutorily deny giving any group of citizens the right to end the life of another
· Not one compelling reason can be advanced to legalize PAS. Arguments based on “choice” and “compassion” lead logically to generalized killing.
· Allowing physician assisted suicide is a very slippery slope. For example, here is a brief look at this experiment in the Netherlands: Under Dutch law, PAS is legally permitted at the “explicit request” of the patient. However, the reality is that the Dutch guidelines have been widely flouted and the Dutch have been rapidly descending that slippery slope. Dutch surveys have shown that in 1000’s of cases doctors have broken the leagal and professional guidelines. In 1990, over 80% of cases were unreported and illegally certifies by doctors as deaths from “natural causes”. In 2005, 80% of cases were REPORTED with 20% illegally certified as death from “natural causes” In 1990 no fewer than 1000 patients were given a lethal injection without having made an explicit request. In 2005, 500 patients. Dutch authorities continue hurling their country down that slippery slope with the warning that patients may now be euthanized unless they make it CLEAR THAT THEY DO NOT want it. Dutch physicians have extended the practice of euthanasia to include comatose patients, handicapped infants and healthy but depressed adults. INVOLUNTARY EUTHANSIA has become so prevalent that many Dutch citizens carry “Life Passports”, cards that state they do not want so-called “physician aid in dying” if they are hospital
UPDATE: H117 State Sovereignty – Defeated (Nullification) Adds to and amends existing law relating to state sovereignty and health insurance to provide that certain public laws shall not be enforced by the state of Idaho.