4/13/07: SB 124 Redefines

As relayed by Rep. Kevin Lundberg, "This is a technical bill that deals with Coloradan's eligibility for federal housing assistance. In many ways this bill is a necessary action to clarify some details in Colorado statutes. The difficulty is that the Senate amended the bill so that instead of continuing to say that a family is a group of persons related by blood, marriage or adoption it now reads that a family is a group of persons who live together or plan to live together, WHETHER OR NOT they are related by blood, marriage or adoption. When we tried to amend these three words back out of the bill, the opposition to the amendment was too intense for it to have been an innocent oversight. This is an attempt to piggyback a radical redefinition of the family onto a sensible proposal. After all of our debate, the bill still passed, with the new definition of a family."

SB 124 is now on its way to Governor Ritter. If you find this bill's definition of family objectionable please call and email the Governor's office asap and ask for a veto on SB 124. The Governor's email is: governor.ritter@state.co.us and his phone is: 303-866-2471. Attempts to amend the language out in the House failed - so the only way to stop this new definition of family is a veto. Please act immediately and let family, friends, churches, and everyone you can know about this important issue. It will take a major effort to stop this attempt to redefine the traditional family here in CO.


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4/11/07: Call the Governor's Desk NOW regarding HB1292

HB1292 has passed both the State House and Senate against the outspoken opposition of legislative conservatives! It has now moved to the Governor's Desk for his signature making this bill the law in the State.

The full text of the bill can be found at this link..

In short, this bill "requires school districts, family resource centers, and teen pregnancy prevention programs that offer instruction regarding human sexuality, to adopt science-based content standards for such instruction. Specifies the minimum requirements for a school district curriculum concerning human sexuality."

Colorado Family Action, "a nonprofit, research and lobbying organization committed to strengthening the family", has stated the following:

If this bill becomes law:
It will force all school systems that teach sex-education in Colorado to teach both abstinence and contraception including Emergency Contraception.

School systems can choose not to teach any sex-education and then they will not have to comply with this bill.

It will necessitate significant instruction time will likely cause most school districts to demand one curriculum to be taught that will be all inclusive. This will most likely prevent abstinence-until-marriage curricula from being taught in most Colorado schools.

Federal "Title V" monies - which support abstinence programs in many states - cannot teach contraceptive education in the fullest sense because it is against federal guidelines. This will clear the path for Planned Parenthood to take over sex education in the state of Colorado.

Planned Parenthood has lobbied hard for this bill. They have done so because HB1292 is a targeted rejection of abstinence-only education, and a radical policy statement of intolerance toward training children how to act responsibly when it comes to sexual behavior.

The HEARTH Fund urges our members and readers to consider carefully your response to this legislation and act on your convictions accordingly. If you oppose this bill, you should IMMEDIATELY contact the Governor's Office to register your opposition.


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