Page 484 – Family Council

Good Bill Would Establish Adoption Education Curriculum in Public Schools

Mar 16, 2023Jerry CoxAbortion, LegislationAbortion, Adoption, Arkansas Legislature, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

A good measure filed at the Arkansas Capitol would help public school students learn about adoption and foster care.

S.B. 384 by Sen. David Wallace (R – Leachville) requires public schools to provide at least one hour of education regarding adoption awareness to students in grades 9-12.

This will help educate high school students about adoption and foster care in Arkansas.

The education provided under S.B. 384 must include:

The benefits of adoption to society
The types of adoption available
The difference between adoption through the foster care system and private adoption
The reasons adoption is preferable to abortion
Public and private resources and agencies available to assist in the adoption process
Statistical data on abortion, adoption, and childbirth
Public and private resources available for pregnant mothers and parents enrolled in a public school
A description of child and human development.

Promoting adoption and foster care is good for children and families, and it is one way that Arkansans can reduce the demand for abortion.

S.B. 384 is a good bill that will help do that.

House Committee Passes Bad Bill Legalizing Delta-8 THC

Mar 16, 2023Jerry CoxLegislatureArkansas Legislature, Marijuana

On Wednesday the House Rules Committee passed H.B. 1605 by Rep. Jeremiah Moore (R – Clarendon) and Sen. Josh Bryant (R – Rogers).

H.B. 1605 is a bad bill that would legalize Delta-8 THC and other drugs made from cannabis.

Just like marijuana, these drugs impair users and pose a danger to children. That is why several states have passed laws making them illegal.

Instead of prohibiting Delta-8, H.B. 1605 legalizes it for people over age 21.

The marijuana industry did not get its way at the polls last November. Now powerful interests want to legalize a form of recreational marijuana at the Arkansas Capitol.

H.B. 1605 creates a way for wealthy companies to manufacture and sell Delta-8 and other dangerous drugs. The bill’s regulatory framework simply won’t protect kids from being exposed to these drugs.

Lawmakers could pass a measure that would actually restrict drugs. H.B. 1605 takes Arkansas the wrong direction by legalizing these drugs instead.

This measure passed in committee, but H.B. 1605 is not currently on the Arkansas House calendar. We are continuing to oppose this bill and monitor the situation surrounding it.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

Arkansas House Narrowly Passes Bill to Protect Children from Obscenity at Libraries

Mar 16, 2023Jerry CoxLegislation, LibraryArkansas Legislature, Library, Obscenity, Pornography

On Wednesday the Arkansas House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill addressing obscenity and other harmful material in public libraries.

S.B. 81 by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R – Russellville) and Rep. Justin Gonzales (R – Okolona) prohibits giving or sending harmful sexual material to a child.

The bill eliminates exemptions for libraries and schools in the state’s obscenity statute, and it clarifies how library patrons can work to remove objectionable material from a library’s catalog.

On Wednesday, the measure received 56 votes in the Arkansas House of Representatives; it takes 51 votes to pass a bill.

Family Council has heard repeatedly from people who are deeply troubled by obscene children’s books that some librarians have placed on the shelves of their local libraries.

For example, the Jonesboro public library has been at the center of multiple controversies over its decision to place books with sexually-explicit images in its children’s section and for failing to adopt a policy that separates sexual material from children’s content.

The library in Jonesboro went so far as to post on Facebook that it isn’t the library’s responsibility to protect kids from obscenity.

Other public libraries in Arkansas have failed to separate sexual material from children’s material as well.

Some of the people who have testified publicly against S.B. 81 this year have signaled that they want to be free to share obscene material with children at a library.

S.B. 81 is a good bill that will help prevent that.