As of May 18, SB 303 is officially dead. Your diligent phone calls paid off! SB 303 would have given the final authority for doctors to make certain end-of-life decisions for sick children. It would have empowered doctors to place “Do Not Attempt Resuscitation” orders into the files of sick children.

HB 1340 is also dead. That bill would have allowed 14-year-olds to consent to their own immunizations. In the Texas House of Representatives, our work forced the author to dramatically limit the scope of the bill. In the Senate, the bill did not have enough time to gain traction and died in committee.

HB 772: HB 772 would have recorded the immunization records of all Texas families unless the family opted-out of the system. Currently, Texas families have the opportunity to choose whether to include their immunization record information in the Texas immunization database. Those who opt out of the system, though, may be accused of abusing their children for not immunizing their children. The bill is set to die on May 22, 2013.

II. Good bills that passed away

Parental Rights Bill: In the Texas House of Representatives, our parental rights bill passed through committee and was placed on the last calendar day. When the time clock expired, our bill had still not yet been heard.

In the Senate: Chairman West of Dallas torpedoed our parental rights bill and also pulled life support from his own insidious bill, which would have abridged parental rights. Your overwhelming opposition to the bill prevented him from moving his own bill.

During the 2013 session, our parental rights bill made good progress. This session we were able to file the bill in both the House and the Senate. This session we faced the unique challenge of having a chairman directly oppose our bill.

Tim Tebow Bill: The bill passed the Senate but Chairman Jimmie Don Aycock of Killeen single-handedly blocked the passage of the bill. The chairman prevented the bill from coming up for a vote. The Tebow Bill has made more progress this session than it ever has before. Had we had a different chairman, the Tebow Bill likely would have passed.

The post Good bills, bad bills appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

We spoke to Susan King, the House author of SB 303, who said that hospitals have better judgment than parents as to whether their child should continue to receive life-support treatment. This bill takes away the parents’ authority to make important healthcare decisions for their child and gives that authority to a doctor.

SB 303 grants doctors complete immunity from lawsuits from DNRs. Legal liability for DNR orders would hold the doctor responsible for their actions. Removing liability removes accountability.

Doesn’t the bill require notification before a DNR order is placed?
Doctors must give notification of a DNR order unless the patient’s death is considered “imminent,” but notification is not consent. Even if the doctor notifies the parent of the DNR, the parent can do NOTHING.

Can the hospital still remove artificially administered food and water?
Yes. SB 303 allows doctors to remove the artificially administered nutrition and hydration from a sick patient if the treatments: [Section 166.046(e)]

1. Hasten the patient’s death,
2. “Exacerbate other major medical problems not outweighed by the benefit of the provision of the treatment,”
3. “Result in substantial irremediable physical pain or discomfort not outweighed by the benefit of the provision of the treatment,” or
4. Are “Be medically ineffective in prolonging the patient’s life.”

Only the child’s family should have the authority to decide whether to withdraw the life-sustaining nutrition.

Are there beneficial aspects to the bill?
As with many controversial bills, SB 303 contains both positive and negative elements. For instance, the bill requires that a doctor give notice of a DNR order. Additionally, the bill extends the time that a patient has to transfer hospitals before life-sustaining treatment is withdrawn. Currently, a family has 10 days to transfer their child to another hospital. SB 303 extends the time clock to 21 days. However, the Texas Right to Life has helped 80 families through the transfer process and very few can complete the transfer process within 21 days.

Contact your Representative in opposition to this hospital euthanasia bill. Doctors should not have the power to issue death sentences in the form of Do Not Resuscitate orders against the will of the patient and the patient’s family.

For a comprehensive comparison of the bill with the current law, see: http://goo.gl/irwgF

TAKE ACTION:

The bill passed the Senate and will receive a hearing in the house committee on Monday, May 13, 2013. Please contact the following committee members in opposition to the bill:

Chair: Lois Kolkhorst
(512) 463-0600

Vice Chair: Elliot Naishtat
(512) 463-0668

Garnet Coleman
(512) 463-0524

Nicole Collier
(512) 463-0716

Philip Cortez
(512) 463-0269

Sarah Davis
(512) 463-0389

Bobby Guerra
(512) 463-0578

Susan King
(512) 463-0718

Jodie Laubenberg
(512) 463-0186

J.D. Sheffield
(512) 463-0628

Bill Zedler
(512) 463-0374

The post SB 303: Doctors of Death appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

1. Constitutional Amendment to Preserve Home Schooling

This week, Representative Jonathan Stickland filed a bill to prevent the state from regulating private schools. Since home schools are considered “unaccredited private schools,” the bill would preserve within the Texas Constitution the right to home school for years to come. The bill is House Joint Resolution 45.

2. Virtual School Network Bill

Recently, the Texas Watchmen added an additional bill to our legislative agenda. In addition to our parental rights and equal access bills, we have begun to work on a bill which would allow home school students to enroll in the state virtual school online program. Currently, only public school students are eligible to enroll full time in the program.

Our team has already drafted the bill and secured a likely author in the House of Representatives. We also have an interested senator who may serve as the senate author.

3. Response to the Concern: Will Home School UIL Participation Lead to Restriction of Home School Freedoms?

Texas home schoolers are currently denied the freedom to participate in UIL activities. This session, we hope to change that. THSC believes that giving home school students this opportunity will expand the freedoms that we as home schoolers enjoy without abridging our
precious rights.

For those concerned that accepting opportunities from the state would open up the door for increased regulation against home school students, it is advisable to look to the example set by other states. For instance, home schoolers in the state of New York receive very few
privileges from the state but still face very tough state regulations.

On the other end of the spectrum are states such as Arizona and Utah which have allowed home school participation in UIL activities without making efforts to bring additional regulation to bear against home schoolers. In both Arizona and Utah, home school parents simply must
sign a form which states that their children are passing their courses and that they are making academic progress. Home school students in Arizona have participated in UIL activities for over ten years.

Modeled after the Arizona statute, the THSC equal access bill simply requires that home school students sign a form stating that they are passing their classes and are advancing academically to be eligible to try out for UIL activities.

In Texas, the number of public opportunities home schoolers enjoy has no correlation to the
number of governmental restrictions imposed against them. Over the years, THSC has worked to pass legislation that guarantees Texas home schoolers the opportunity to take dual credit classes at community colleges, take PSAT tests at public school facilities, and to gain
acceptance as high school graduates to vocational schools and state-supported colleges and universities.

Additionally, through our work special needs students have enjoyed access to services at public schools for many years, and home school parents have been able to receive public assistance. We also successfully changed the law pertaining to fair treatment of home school parents in regard to child support payments in custody cases. At the federal level, home schoolers are equally eligible for Social Security benefits beyond their eighteenth birthday in similarity to other private or public schooled students. In Texas, home school graduates are also now eligible for federal student aid. None of these advancements have resulted in increased regulation on Texas home schoolers.

THSC assiduously works to preserve the freedom of Texas parents to home school. The only way to prevent future regulation is to vigilantly oppose any regulation every time the Texas legislature convenes. Within every legislative session, THSC leads the battle against any regulation of home schooling and degradation of parental rights. UIL participation would not be supported by the Coalition if we believed for a moment that the change would jeopardize our cherished rights.

The post Inundated Yet Elated appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

Two weeks ago THSC President Tim Lambert flew to Austin and met with several representatives about authoring our Parental Rights bill and our UIL bill. We obtained an author for our UIL legislation, and our team continues to make significant progress toward securing an author for our Parental Rights bill.

This week the THSC Watchmen met with a staff member of a Representative who is considering legislation to regulate “diploma mills” that sell high school diplomas online for a small fee. Although THSC opposes the existence of these diploma mills, regulations of such institutions could have the unintended consequence of curtailing the freedom to educate children at home.

In our conversation, the staff member expressed genuine concern that the proposed legislation not adversely affect home schoolers. We will continue to work with this particular office to ensure that his legislation will not negatively affect the freedom to home school.

Our team also is working with two different representatives to file a bill that would allow home school students to enroll in the state online virtual school network as full-time students.

The THSC Watchmen are tracking 18 pieces of legislation which pertain to subjects such as parental rights, school choice, and parent-taught driver education. Two of the proposed pieces of legislation would abridge parental rights by allowing grandparents to obtain visitation rights to their grandchildren against the desires of parents.

On January 29 THSC Watchmen Nathan Exley and Jeremy Newman visited with families in Caldwell about what Texas’ 83rd legislative session holds for home schoolers. The meeting was the third and final community meeting that the Brazos Valley Rhetoric Club hosted to political awareness and involvement in the Brazos Valley home school community.

Nathan Exley also spoke to the 200 home school competitors at the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA) Speech and Debate Tournament in Houston, where he encouraged them to actively protect the form of education that makes the NCFCA possible.

On February 9th THSC’s Watchmen will speak to approximately 325 competitors and parents at NCFCA’s Austin Tournament as well.

You and your friends are welcome to judge at the Austin tournament on February 7-9. Your input will actively assist home school students to become better communicators. You will also have a chance to meet the THSC Watchmen. For more information see here.

The post 1600 Bills Later… appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.