2 Bad Bills Undermine Parents
Two bad bills undermining parental rights PASSED the House and are now in Senate H&W. This committee meets at noon TODAY! Please CALL and EMAIL members now -- everything is below. Thank you!
THE BILLS
HB 270: Mental Health for Minors without Parental Consent
HB 188: Increases CPS Authority/Unannounced Visits
PHONE
Call 800-372-7181 (open 7am)
Message is for: Members of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, All Senate Leadership, and YOUR Senator
MESSAGE
“Oppose HB 270 it violates parent’s rights to give consent to any treatment their child should have or not have. Also oppose HB 188, reform CPS, don’t give it more authority.”
Details on both Bills -- From Take Back Kentucky Alert
Stop House Bill 270: Mental Health for Minors without Parental Consent
UPDATE: PASSED THE HOUSE, DIED IN THE SENATE (pdf here)
Sponsor: M. Denham
This bill passed the House 69-23, now in Senate Health and Welfare
Timeframe: Committee meets @ 12PM in Annex Room 169 TODAY
INFO: If a child 16 and up requests mental health treatment it may be given or a minor in other circumstances may be given mental health treatment without consent of the parent, as well as the parent may not even be informed of such treatment as it is up to the judgment of the provider.
Stop House Bill 188: Increases CPS Authority/Unannounced Visits.
UPDATE: PASSED THE HOUSE, DIED IN THE SENATE!!!
Sponsors: J. Greer, L. Belcher, J. Bell, R. Benvenuti III, G. Brown, Jr., R. Bunch, L. Clark, L. Combs, W. Coursey, R. Crimm, M. Denham, B. DeWeese, J. Donohue, D. Floyd, D. Hale, C. Harris, D. Horlander, K. Imes, M. King, T. McKee, R. Meeks, D. Osborne, D. Owens, J. Richards, S. Riggs, S. Santoro, D. Schamore, J. Short, R. Smart, D. St. Onge, F. Steele, J. Stewart III, W. Stone, G. Stumbo, J. Tipton, T. Turner, D. Watkins, G. Watkins, S. Westrom, B. Yonts
Status: March 3 passed the House 88-0-12 Not Voting (an odd collection of Not Voting Members)
Now in Senate Health and Welfare
Timeframe: Committee meets @ 12PM in Annex Room 169 TODAY
INFO: This bill will give CPS the authority to make ongoing unannounced visits to the location a child was allegedly abused. While this may sound good on the surface there are a few problems with this.
For example, a neighbor thinks he overhears you disciplining a child and without seeing and knowing the details, construes it falsely, and calls it in. CPS shows up later but finds out it was not your child but your niece (did your sister go too far or was it an out of control tantrum).
This bill would REQUIRE more visits (to your residence) to try tracking down your niece.
Two major problems, one is who decides if the child is safe or unsafe, and the other is why do we want to require visits when they may be unnecessary or unconstitutionally intrusive?
Furthermore it is common knowledge that CPS has more cases that it can actually handle, yet now we are going to mandate these visits instead of each of these cases being handled based on their merits.
Finally CPS is known for its corruption as reported by the media in 2006 and 2007. An entity that is conducted in such a manner as CPS should be reformed not handed more authority.