WK 5: Bill to Stop Transgender Medical Abuse Passes Senate Health Committee

Legislative Week 5

Legislative Days 7-9 of 30

VCAP Passes Out Of

Senate Health Committee!

Footnotes here.

SB184 Sen. Shelnutt HB266 Rep. Allen

BILL DESCRIPTION: This bill prohibits the use of puberty blockers, cross sex hormones or surgeries for the sole purpose of changing a healthy minor's gender until they are 19 years old. It also provides for disclosure of certain information concerning students to parents by schools.

BILL STATUS: On Wednesday, the Senate Health Committee held a public hearing on SB184. Dr. Patrick Lappert testified about the dangers of these medical interventions on vulnerable children and why this bill must pass. The bill was unanimously given a favorable report and is headed to the Senate floor for a vote.

EF's POSITION: VCAP is one of EF's priority bills. This bill overwhelmingly passed the AL Senate and 2 House committees in 2020 and 2021. Unfortunately, it was never brought to a vote on the House floor. Please watch our 2-minute clip to understand the importance of passing VCAP. Please show your support by sharing this clip on your social media pages.

ACTION: We need your help to get VCAP across the finish line this year! Start by contacting your Senator and ask him/her to support SB184 (VCAP) to stop medical child abuse. See our talking points paper here.

The Numeracy Act

SB171 SPONSOR: Sen. Orr

BILL DESCRIPTION: This bill would establish the Alabama Numeracy Act and would prohibit the use of the curriculum standards, commonly known as the Common Core State Standards, in public K-12 schools. (Don't get too excited. This bill does nothing to rid Alabama of Common Core math. See our position below.)

EF's POSITION: Following are our fundamental concerns about SB171.

That the 2019 Alabama Math Course of Study now being used in classrooms is a continuation of Common Core math is documented in these highlighted side-by-side comparisons. View K-5th grades, 6th-8th grades, 9th-12th grades. Eagle Forum provided these comparison documents to all State School Board members and Superintendent Mackey before they voted for them in Dec. 2019. Watch our 1 minute explanation with visuals recorded right after that vote showing that the 2019 AL Math Course of study is still Common Core. SB171 requires the use of teacher training, assessments and curricula from the 2019 AL Math Course of Study. How in the world does that remove Common Core? It doesn't-it just puts it into AL law!

Unless SB171 specifies a replacement for the 2019 Math Course of Study, it will undermine the whole bill. There are good options readily available including that which the State of Florida adopted in 2020 and those being used in Minnesota. The Alabama math standards 2003 – 2009 before Common Core are sound and were producing success (26th in the country and climbing). They may be the surest option.

OGAP (The Ongoing Assessment Project) defined on p 5. Line 1 and mentioned throughout the bill IS Common Core. The definition used in the bill is taken directly from the OGAP website. On that same webpage they admit to representing 80% of Common Core State Standards (CCSS). “OGAP has developed a rich bank of assessment items, detailed learning progression frameworks, and professional development materials for three major strands of grades 3-8 mathematics content: multiplicative reasoning, fractions, and proportions. These mathematics topics represent almost 80% of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) at respective grade levels." (Highlighting added by Eagle Forum.) OGAP also states at the bottom of the same webpage that they have been working in Alabama. By the way, AMSTI is riddled with OGAP. How can this bill purport to get rid of Common Core when it requires OGAP which admittedly represents Common Core?

Further, as we look at the organizations which will appoint the members of the Task Force to select the “math czar” we find that every single entity has supported common core math from its inception. At least they have never spoken out against it or predicted that it was flawed in any way. To the contrary, they have defended this debacle. So AASB, CLAS, SSA, AEA, ACHE, ACTM, SDE can all be expected to appoint advocates of Common Core math failed methodology instead of appointing those professionals who have identified its problems and already know how to correct them in the classrooms – if given the resources.

BILL STATUS: On Wednesday, the Senate Education committee held a public hearing for SB171. EF Executive Director Becky Gerritson spoke in opposition to the bill. However, it did pass out of the Senate Education Committee. We have shared our concerns with the sponsor. He is taking them into consideration as he tries to address additional concerns from multiple entities. We will be watching this closely and will keep you updated.

The Alabama Parents' Choice Act

SB140 Sponsor: Sen. Del Marsh HB245 Rep. Charlotte Meadows

BILL DESCRIPTION: This bill would create the Parent's Choice Act. This bill would provide for the process for creating, funding, and utilizing education savings accounts. This bill would specify which expenses are qualified expenses.

BILL STATUS: This bill passed the Senate Education committee on Wednesday, but it is stalled due to opposition. Sponsors are working on changes to address concerns from homeschoolers, private school parents and the AL State Department of Education. We will continue to watch this bill and update you when we have new info. For more details about the bill and EF's position see Week 4 link at the bottom of this email.

Bill to Remove Requirement of Notary Public For End-of-Life Decisions Passed The House Floor & Is Headed to the Senate.

HB191 Sponsor: Rep. Ed Oliver

BILL DESCRIPTION: Under existing law, a surrogate may be designated to determine whether to provide, withdraw, or withhold life-sustaining treatment or artificially provided nutrition and hydration to a terminally ill patient if the patient has no advance directive for health care, provided the surrogate meets certain qualifications and certifies and attests to meeting the

qualifications. This bill would remove the requirement that a surrogate's certification be notarized.

EF POSITION: Removing the notary public requirement opens the door to hospitals making end-of-life decisions for patients. The attestation provides an independent third-party verification of the identity of the surrogate thereby protecting both the hospital and the surrogate. We must protect patients and families. This bill is headed to the Senate Healthcare Committee. EF's General Counsel Margaret Clarke wrote an excellent memo on the importance of protecting patients by stopping this bill.

WATCH COMMITTEE MEETINGS

ON WEDNESDAY ONLINE

One of the goals of Eagle Forum is to help you engage in important legislative issues. We want to help break down barriers of intimidation or insecurities that may be hindering you from getting involved. Watching legislative House and Senate committees from home or in person can be interesting and eye-opening. Below are links to the House and Senate committee meetings happening next week. Most are on Wednesday. Take a look at the list of bills that will be discussed in the committees and watch the ones that are of interest to you. Let us know if you took us up on the challenge.

House committee meetings/bills

Senate committee meetings/bills