Bill Text: HI HCR94 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Parental Rights Amendment; U.S. Constitution

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-10 - (H) Referred to HUS, JUD, referral sheet 34 [HCR94 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2011-HCR94-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	94
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

AFFIRMING THE PARENTAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO PROPOSE THIS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO THE STATES FOR RATIFICATION.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right protected by the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, our nation has historically relied first and foremost on parents to meet the real and continuing needs of their children; and

 

     WHEREAS, the interests of children are best served when parents are free to make childrearing decisions about education, religion, and other areas of a child's life without government interference; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court held in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) that the "primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition"; and

 

     WHEREAS, however, the United States Supreme Court in Troxel v. Granville (2000) produced six differing opinions on the nature and enforceability of parental rights under the United States Constitution; and

 

     WHEREAS, the decision in Troxel v. Granville has created confusion and ambiguity about the fundamental nature of parental rights in the laws and societies of the several states; and

 

     WHEREAS, Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan has introduced in the United States House of Representatives the following as an amendment to the United States Constitution to prevent the erosion of the long-standing American tradition of treating parental rights as fundamental rights:

 

     "Section 1:  The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right.

 

     Section 2:  Neither the United States nor any state shall infringe upon this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served.

 

     Section 3:  No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article." (Parental Rights Amendment); and

 

     WHEREAS, this amendment will explicitly add provisions to the United States Constitution to protect in perpetuity the rights of parents as they are now enjoyed, without substantively changing current state or federal laws regarding these rights; and

 

     WHEREAS, such enumeration of these rights in the United States Constitution will preserve them from being infringed upon by the shifting ideologies and interpretations of the United States Supreme Court; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2011, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature hereby affirms the Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution, introduced in Congress by Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature urges Congress to propose the Parental Rights Amendment to the states for ratification; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation; the presiding officer of each chamber of the legislature of each state, and to the presiding officers of Parental Rights Organization and Generation Joshua in Hawaii, respectively.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Parental Rights Amendment; U.S. Constitution