2-23-10 | Lawmakers' silence kills sex ed bill | Salt Lake Tribune

After months of negotiations, a bill that would have changed sex education in Utah died with barely a whisper Monday morning after lawmakers chose not to talk about it.

SB54 sought to change language in state law to clarify that Utah teachers are allowed to talk about contraception. The bill also would have directed the State Office of Education to develop materials on contraception for teachers to use and would have made those materials available for parents to review.

But the bill proved so controversial that lawmakers chose not to even talk about it Monday morning, disappointing many who had come to speak in favor of the bill and thrilling others who showed up to speak against it. Members of the Senate Education Committee refused to let sponsor Sen. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, present a new version of the bill.

Urquhart had hoped to replace an earlier version with one that he created after weeks of negotiations with fellow lawmakers and others. But the lawmakers present -- Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, and Sen. Karen Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights -- would not make a motion to allow Urquhart to substitute the old version with the new one. Instead, lawmakers sat in silence.

Urquhart said if he couldn't present the new version, he didn't want to present any version at all.

"The substitute is the product of a lot of give and take, a lot of negotiations," Urquhart said. "I would not feel

comfortable proceeding with a bill other than the first substitute."

Stephenson said he didn't want to make the motion because he knew he couldn't support the bill.

"I don't think the classroom is a place for this type of instruction," Stephenson said. "Human sexuality is a very private, personal and intimate thing and discussions of it in groups is not always positive or beneficial."

Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, said as chairman of the committee he could not have made the motion because of certain rules, but said he wouldn't have supported it anyway. Late last week, Bramble said he'd likely support the bill, but he said he changed his mind after he did his own research over the weekend.

"The data, the outcomes that currently we see in Utah compared to other states that have a much different view of high school sex education, Utah's doing pretty well," Bramble said.

The committee's silence stunned many in the audience.

"You know, it hurts," said Emma Waitzman, a senior at West High who has been leading a group of students, partly through Facebook, to rally for changes to sex education. "I represent 800 people on Facebook, and we all just got shot down by 10 people. It's hard to think that's how our government works."

Melissa Bird, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Council (PPAC), which had worked with Urquhart on the bill, said she was "shocked."

"This is a process, a democratic process, and the fact that there was no room for public debate on the issue when there were people from the community and medical providers and teachers and people here to talk about the issue, [that they] couldn't have their voices heard because no one wanted to have that dialogue, I think that's shocking."

Liz Zentner, state PTA health commissioner, said she thinks people were confused about the purpose of the bill. The state PTA, which had also worked with Urquhart on the bill, had decided to support the bill. She said the PTA will likely see if some of the bill's goals can be accomplished without changing the law, now that it's failed in committee.

"It was a very good bill," Zentner said. "It would have done some good things."

Others, however, were glad the committee ended the bill's run so quickly.

Gayle Ruzicka, leader of the conservative Utah Eagle Forum, said she opposed the bill partly because it included the word "contraception." She felt that would have broadened what schools could teach.

State law already allows schools to teach students about contraceptives, but it prohibits "advocacy or encouragement" of their use. That language has resulted in some educators avoiding the topic out of fear of accidentally crossing the line.

The new version of SB54 still would have prohibited advocacy of contraception, but it would also have added that "the prohibitions ... do not preclude a discussion related to curriculum objectives about contraception that complies with state law and state board rules."

Joyce Kimont, head of the LDS Homeschool Association, called it "fortunate" that the bill died so quickly.

"It goes against the values of the state constitution, which, of course, the law of God is right in there, in the state constitution," Kimont said. "To try to help children avoid the consequences of immoral behavior ... it goes in the wrong direction."

Urquhart said he does not plan to bring the bill back this session, though Rep. Lynn Hemingway, D-Holladay, has a similar version of the bill that he said Monday he was still deciding whether to try to push forward.

Stephenson also had intended to try to amend Urquhart's bill to ask the State Board of Education put sex education courses online, hoping eventually to take it out of the classroom completely. He said he might try to get lawmakers to study that idea after this legislative session is over.