Legislative Update: SB272 (Parents Bill of Rights) - May 26, 2023 Windham Independent
Legislative Update: SB272 (Parents Bill of Rights)
On May 18, the House of Representatives debated SB272 (Parents Bill of Rights) and indefinitely postponed it, which means it is dead until 2025. A similar house bill (HB10) failed by a 189-195 vote on March 22, so this was the last chance to pass this important legislation this year. The Senate had approved SB272 by a 14-10 vote, and if the House would have passed it without amendments, SB272 would have headed towards Governor Sununu’s desk for their signature before becoming law.
The bill summarized existing parent rights, required that parents be notified of those rights by their school district every year, and in a shorter, but very controversial portion (sections t-w) it added the right of parents to be informed if their child is identified by a different name or gender than the one they were enrolled under, if they received gender identity based accommodations, and what extracurricular activities, clubs or organizations their child is participating in.
I can understand the argument for a right to privacy for a minor child in regard to confidential conversations they have with medical providers, school counselors, etc.. This is not what this bill was about, though - it was about requiring schools to stop keeping public actions taken by a student during school activities secret from their parents.
Those new requirements drew most opposition, from people claiming this legislation would lead to transgender youth being abused by their parents unless the school kept the above secret, even though the bill also contained a provision that those rights could be infringed in “a circumstance in which the school or school personnel have an actual and objectively reasonable belief, supported by clear and convincing evidence, to believe that any action or inaction that infringes upon any of the rights identified in RSA 189-B:3 is likely to cause a child to be abused or neglected as defined in RSA 169-C:3, except that a compelling state interest shall not be found to exist solely because the school or school personnel believe that the child's best interest is served by impinging upon parental rights.”
There is a very simple question to ask ourselves - who is primarily responsible for children? Their parents, or the state? I believe that since parents are responsible for their children, they have the right to know what is happening in their children’s life. I have been raised in a communist country, where the children belonged to the state, not their parents, and have seen first hand how toxic and harmful that approach to raising children was.
A culture that presumes that parents are abusive to their children and therefore they should not have the right to know what their child is doing in school is not the culture we should encourage in our state. There are legal recourses when a parent is abusive - every adult in the state is a mandatory reporter in cases of child abuse, and school employees are trained in how to recognize and report such situations so action can be taken. Denying parents their right to know what is happening in their children’s lives is simply wrong.
During the debate, every proposed amendment passed, each with the Democratic representatives voting for it as a block, joined by a few Republicans. Every provision of the bill that could have been considered objectionable had already been removed before the bill was indefinitely postponed - why not pass it after it was fixed?
It is crystal clear that Republicans believe in parent rights and will fight for them… and that Democrats, having won every vote, with the complete power to pass any parent rights bill they wanted, chose not only to kill it, but to also prevent any new parent rights bills from being introduced in 2024, showing their staunch opposition to any possible parents rights bill.
This battle was lost - on to the next battle. Next week, I will be sharing my thoughts on the unprecedented actions taken during the debate over SB263 that afternoon..
I would be happy to engage with any Windham resident on my legislative work - you can reach me with concerns or questions about any legislative matters at 603 267 4142 (call or text), email me at dpm@leg.state.nh.us or send me a letter at 12 Clarke Farm Rd., Windham, NH 03087.
Daniel Popovici-Muller
Windham Representative
Division II Clerk,
House Finance Committee