BILL NUMBER : S.B. No. 811
AUTHOR : O'Connell
TOPIC : Curriculum.

TYPE OF BILL :
Active
Non-Urgency
Non-Appropriations
Majority Vote Required
Non-State-Mandated Local Program
Fiscal
Non-Tax Levy

BILL HISTORY

2002
Feb. 12 To Com. on ED.
Jan. 30 In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.
Jan. 30 Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 24. Noes 12. Page 3304.) To Assembly.
Jan. 28 From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. Read second time. To third reading.
Jan. 23 From committee: Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 3. Page 3214.) Read second time. Amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
Jan. 7 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time. Amended. Re-referred to committee.

2001
Apr. 26 Hearing postponed by committee.
Apr. 16 Set for hearing April 26.
Apr. 16 From committee with author's amendments. Read second time. Amended. Re-referred to committee.
Apr. 4 Placed on ED. suspense file. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.)
Mar. 19 Set for hearing April 4.
Mar. 12 To Com. on ED.
Feb. 26 Read first time.
Feb. 24 From print. May be acted upon on or after March 26.
Feb. 23 Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

SB811 as amended in Senate, Jan. 23, 2002

BILL NUMBER: SB 811 AMENDED

BILL TEXT

AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 23, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 7, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 16, 2001

INTRODUCED BY Senator O'Connell
(Coauthor: Senator Vincent)

FEBRUARY 23, 2001

An act to amend Section 51226.3 of the Education Code, relating to curriculum.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 811, as amended, O'Connell. Curriculum.

Existing law specifies the course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, and requires the State Department of Education to incorporate specified materials in department publications used as curriculum resources.

This bill would express the Legislature's intent that all, whenever relevant, state and local professional development activities provide teachers with content background and resources to assist in teaching that promotes compassion and respect for both humans and animals. This bill would require that the promotion of compassion and respect for both humans and animals be considered, where relevant, in the next cycle in which the science, and history/social science curricula frameworks and the accompanying instructional materials are adopted.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Section 51226.3 of the Education Code is amended to read:

51226.3. (a) The State Department of Education shall incorporate, into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use, those materials developed by publishers of nonfiction, trade books, and primary sources, or other public or private organizations, that are age-appropriate and consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science that deal with civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust.
(b) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist in teaching about civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust.
(c) The Legislature encourages all state and local professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist in teaching about the Great Irish Famine of 1845-50.
(d) The Great Irish Famine of 1845-50 shall be considered in the next cycle in which the history/social science curriculum framework and its accompanying instructional materials are adopted.
(e) The Legislature encourages all, whenever relevant, state and local professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist in teaching that promotes compassion and respect for both humans and animals.
(f) The promotion of compassion and respect for both humans and animals shall be considered, where relevant, in the next cycle in which the science, and history/social science curricula frameworks and the accompanying instructional materials are adopted.

Letter to Sen. O'Connell from FCUSA

Date: April 3, 2002

Re: California SB 811

Fur Commission USA represents over 600 mink and fox farming families on over 400 farms in 31 states. Our volunteer board and committees work to ensure superior standards of animal husbandry through our own certification program, and to educate the public about responsible fur farming and the merits of fur. Fur Commission USA supports sustainable use, sound science and animal welfare.

The Doris Day Animal League’s website promotes SB 811 as an "Humane Education Bill" which will establish a "humane curriculum." We are concerned about what may be established as "humane" since virtually all the supporters of SB 811 are animal "rights" groups and all the currently available "humane" education materials available are produced by programs run by such groups. Do the supporters of SB 811 believe that the current California curriculum fails to teach compassion and respect for humans and animals or fails to teach humane values? Or do they see this bill as an opportunity to underwrite their programs with California taxpayer dollars?

Our major objections regarding the current draft of SB 811 are that the bill:

1. promotes an animal rights philosophy under the cover of "compassion and respect for animals and humans."

2. attempts to present animal rights as a mainstream belief system by grouping it with such universally held concerns as "human rights violations, genocide, slavery and the Holocaust."

3. attempts to place this animal rights philosophy on the same level as important civil rights movements of the past, when in actuality the philosophy of animal rights reduces and restricts the rights of humans.

4. would allow an opening for animal and Earth "liberation" propaganda to infiltrate California schools without critical review and under the guide of "compassion."

5. requires materials to be used in the schools as "content background" and "resources" for "instructional materials" to promote "compassion and respect" for animals. Such a loose definition could evade rigorous content standards now in place for textbooks used in classrooms (www.cde.ca.gov/standards) circumventing the process designed to protect our children from propaganda.

6. would require schools to source materials from groups offering "humane education" materials. Since all such "humane education" programs are controlled by animal rights groups opposing virtually all use and ownership of animals, California taxpayers would be forced to underwrite such corporations as the National Association for Humane and Environmental Education program, www.nahee.org, a subsidiary of the Humane Society of the United States (assets $90 million, income $60 million) or the National Humane Education Society, www.nhes.org (assets $5 million, income $7 million).

7. would fund, with taxpayer dollars, animals rights-focused corporations, offering them free promotion, creating a multi-million dollar conduit for advancing their agenda through our children.

8. would require a massive counter campaign by California citizens, businesses and institutions raising animals for food, fiber, research, protection, companionship, etc.

9. would promote a curriculum that is anti-science, anti-wildlife management and anti-animal husbandry.

In short, SB 811 is an attempt to force California schools to underwrite the costs of programs run by extreme groups promoting animal "rights" philosophy. SB 811 is selling a product that taxpayers should not be forced to buy and our children should not be forced to consume.

Sincerely,

Teresa Platt
Executive Director
Fur Commission USA

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