Bill Text: FL S0954 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Parental Rights Amendment

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 9-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-05-05 - Reconsidered -SJ 969 [S0954 Detail]

Download: Florida-2011-S0954-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2011                                     SM 954
       
       
       
       By Senator Flores
       
       
       
       
       38-00425-11                                            2011954__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to propose to the states for
    4         ratification an amendment to the United States
    5         Constitution relating to parental rights.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, the right of parents to direct the upbringing and
    8  education of their children is a fundamental right protected by
    9  the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Florida,
   10  and
   11         WHEREAS, our nation has historically relied first and
   12  foremost on parents to meet the real and constant needs of
   13  children, and
   14         WHEREAS, the interests of children are best served when
   15  parents are free to make childrearing decisions about education,
   16  religion, and other areas of a child’s life without state
   17  interference, and
   18         WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court in Wisconsin v.
   19  Yoder held that “This primary role of the parents in the
   20  upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as
   21  an enduring American tradition,” and
   22         WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court in Troxel v.
   23  Granville produced six different opinions on the nature and
   24  enforceability of parental rights under the United States
   25  Constitution, creating confusion and ambiguity about the
   26  fundamental nature of parental rights in the laws and society of
   27  the several states, and
   28         WHEREAS, a number of members of Congress have introduced
   29  joint resolutions that propose an amendment to the United States
   30  Constitution to prevent erosion of the enduring American
   31  tradition of treating parental rights as fundamental rights,
   32  commonly referred to as the Parental Rights Amendment, and
   33         WHEREAS, the Parental Rights Amendment will add explicit
   34  text to the Constitution of the United States to forever protect
   35  the rights of parents as they are now enjoyed, without
   36  substantive change to current state or federal laws respecting
   37  these rights, and
   38         WHEREAS, such enumeration of these rights in the text of
   39  the United States Constitution will preserve them from being
   40  infringed upon by the shifting ideologies and interpretations of
   41  the United States Supreme Court, NOW, THEREFORE,
   42  
   43  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   44  
   45         That the Florida Legislature respectfully petitions the
   46  Congress of the United States to propose to the states an
   47  amendment to the Constitution of the United States to read as
   48  follows:
   49                             ARTICLE ___                           
   50         Section 1. The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing
   51  and education of their children is a fundamental right.
   52         Section 2. Neither the United States nor any State shall
   53  infringe upon this right without demonstrating that its
   54  governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest
   55  order and not otherwise served.
   56         Section 3. No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of
   57  international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret,
   58  or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article.
   59         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
   60  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   61  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   62  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
   63  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.